Brassica rapa is a crucifer that is grown worldwide, mainly as a vegetable. The quality of B. rapa crops is highly affected by the disease caused by the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc). Glucosinolates and phenolic compounds can confer resistance to Brassica crops against pests and diseases, but few works have been done to evaluate their role in Xcc resistance. The objective...

Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) is an important alternate oilseed crop in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. No information on plant density for rapeseed is available in this region. Therefore a study was initiated to investigate the effects of spacings between rows and spacings within rows on the yield and agronomic characteristics of two genotypes of spring rapeseed (Tower and Lirawell) in Erzurum, easte...

Recent advances, such as the availability of extensive genome survey sequence (GSS) data and draft physical maps, are radically transforming the means by which we can dissect Brassica genome structure and systematically relate it to the Arabidopsis model. Hitherto, our view of the co-linearities between these closely related genomes had been largely inferred from comparative RFLP data, necessit...

A water-soluble chlorophyll protein (WSCP) in cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L.) was purified and its N-terminal sequence was determined. Forty-six of 48 residues of the sequence completely matched those of the drought-induced 22-kD protein (BnD22) in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). All 40 sequenced residues of WSCP from rapeseed were perfectly matched to those of BnD22. Thus, WSCP may be identic...

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are fundamental signal transduction modules in plants, controlling cell division, development, hormone signaling, and biotic and abiotic stress responses. Although MAPKs have been investigated in several plant species, a comprehensive analysis of the MAPK gene family has hitherto not been performed in Brassica rapa. In this study, we identified 3...

Based on RFLP analysis, two evolutionary lineages for Brassica diploid species have been proposed. These are (I) the “nigra” lineage and (II) the “rapa/oleracea” lineage. The phylogenetic relationship of Raphanus species to these two lineages is still unclear because chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA genomic restriction site variation suggests that Raphanus is more closely related to the “rapa/...

DNA methylation is an important regulatory mechanism for gene expression that involved in the biological processes of development and differentiation in plants. To investigate the association of DNA methylation with heterosis in Brassica, a set of intraspecific hybrids in Brassica rapa and B. napus and interspecific hybrids between B. rapa and B. napus, together with parental lines, were used t...

FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), encoding a MADS-domain transcription factor in Arabidopsis, is a repressor of flowering involved in the vernalization pathway. This provides a good reference for Brassica species. Genomes of Brassica species contain several FLC homologues and several of these colocalize with flowering-time QTL. Here the analysis of sequence variation of BrFLC1 in Brassica rapa and its a...

Non-heading Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis Makino) is an important vegetable member of Brassica rapa crops. It exhibits a typical sporophytic self-incompatibility (SI) system and is an ideal model plant to explore the mechanism of SI. Gene expression research are frequently used to unravel the complex genetic mechanism and in such studies appropriate reference selection is vital....

Flowering time is an important agronomic trait, and wide variation exists among Brassica rapa. In Arabidopsis, FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) plays an important role in modulating flowering time and the response to vernalization. Brassica rapa contains several paralogues of FLC at syntenic regions. BrFLC2 maps under a major flowering time and vernalization response quantitative trait locus (QTL) at th...