The molecular response of two Brassica napus cultivars to submergence

Heavy rainfall causes flooding of natural ecosystems as well as farmland, negatively affecting crop performance and yield. While the response of the wild model organism Arabidopsis thaliana to such stress conditions is well understood, we hardly know anything about the response of its relative, the important oil crop plant Brassica napus. Here, we analyzed the molecular response of leaves of rapeseed seedlings to full submergence under illumination. RNAseq experiments revealed a strong carbon starvation response under submergence, but no indication for a low-oxygen response. We used two cultivars in this study, one Asian flooding-tolerant cultivar and one European hybrid cultivar, but those genotypes did not show strong differences in their responses to submergence. Two Brassica napus cultivars (Avatar, Zhongshuang 9), one timepoint (24 h), two treatments (aeration, submergence), three replicates.