Genetius

The study tracked cabbage stem flea beetle larval development and established a semi‑high‑throughput assay to phenotype antibiosis across 98 Brassica genotypes, finding little genotype effect in Brassica napus but strong antibiosis in Sinapis alba. Larvae also successfully developed on Brassica rapa and Arabidopsis thaliana, suggesting these relatives can be used to explore resistance genetics for future breeding.

The study investigates the gene regulatory network (GRN) controlling flowering time in the allotetraploid crop Brassica napus by comparing its transcriptome to that of Arabidopsis thaliana. While most orthologous gene pairs show conserved expression dynamics, several flowering‑time genes display regulatory divergence, especially under cold conditions, indicating subfunctionalisation among paralogues. Despite these differences, the overall GRN topology remains similar to Arabidopsis, likely due to retention of multiple paralogues.

Using kinetic 13CO2 labeling and GC‑MS, the study examined how visible and UV‑B light affect carbon assimilation and partitioning during the day‑night transition in Brassica napus seedlings. Visible light promoted dynamic redistribution and de novo synthesis of shikimic acid, TCA cycle and glutamate‑GABA metabolites in the dark, whereas UV‑B caused a delayed photosynthetic response and shifted synthesis toward sucrose and select organic acids later in the light period. These results reveal that light quality and photoperiod drive distinct metabolic phenotypes.

The study used a Brassica napus diversity panel to phenotype multiple seedling establishment traits in soil and applied associative transcriptomics to uncover genetic factors influencing post‑germinative vigor. Gene expression markers linked to cytokinin signaling and photomorphogenesis, including ARR4/5, SPA1, ASG7, and PRR7 orthologues, were significantly associated with traits such as emergence time and leaf development, highlighting a complex regulatory network controlling seedling vigor.

The study mapped the cis‑regulatory landscape of the winter rapeseed cultivar Express617, identifying thousands of novel regulatory elements and characterizing super‑enhancers that are asymmetrically enriched in the Cn subgenome of Brassica napus. An in‑silico pipeline combining population‑level expression data and machine‑learning models revealed that many SE‑associated genes are expressed above predicted levels, and structural variants disrupting SEs lead to reduced gene expression, highlighting their functional importance for gene regulation and breeding.

The study demonstrates that mutating just two genes in the allotetraploid oil crop Brassica napus can convert meiosis into a mitosis-like division, yielding over 95% viable clonal gametes and establishing a simplified MiMe system for synthetic apomixis in polyploids. This approach circumvents the need to inactivate three genes as required in diploid species, facilitating apomictic breeding in polyploid crops.

The study investigates late‑stage effector genes of the fungus Leptosphaeria maculans, which infects Brassica napus, to determine whether they are more genomically conserved than early effectors and thus could provide more durable plant resistance. Six candidate late effectors were screened against an expanded set of semi‑winter B. napus genotypes, revealing new resistance sources primarily within this genetic pool, supporting the hypothesis that late effectors are more stable and valuable for breeding resistant cultivars.

The study reveals that the pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae produces short peptides (pathoPEPs) that mimic host microPEPs, influencing host microRNA expression and downstream gene regulation in Brassica napus. Inverse expression patterns between pathoPEPs and their target miRNAs were linked to infection levels, affecting genes in auxin signaling, immunity, root development, and carbohydrate metabolism. This computational analysis provides the first evidence of pathogen‑derived miPEP‑like peptides hijacking plant post‑transcriptional regulatory pathways.

The study assesses a minimal stoichiometric model of carbohydrate‑to‑triacylglycerol conversion in developing seeds and finds that glycolysis and the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway alone cause NADH overproduction, leading to cofactor imbalance. Inclusion of glycolytic bypasses such as the malate shunt, the oxidative RubisCO shunt, or an NADPH‑producing GAPDH variant restores balance and requires mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Large‑scale modeling of Brassica napus seeds predicts that the use of these bypasses increases with seed oil content, facilitating high lipid biosynthetic fluxes.

The study examined whether early cold exposure primes rapeseed (Brassica napus) seedlings for improved heat tolerance and if this priming is transmitted to the next generation. Sequential cold‑heat stress enhanced physiological and biochemical defenses in both the treated plants and their progeny, including elevated phenolics, flavonoids, antioxidant activity, and altered expression of fatty acid metabolism genes, indicating intergenerational stress memory.