Molecular genetics and functional genomics of abiotic stress-responsive genes in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.): a review of recent advances and future

Abiotic stresses are the key factors which negatively influence plant development and productivity and are the main cause of extensive agricultural production losses worldwide. Brassica napus is an oilseed crop of global economic significance and major contributor to the total oilseed production, quite often encounters abiotic stresses, resulting in reduced agricultural productivity. Hence, there is an immediate need being felt to raise B. napus cultivars which would be more suitable for various abiotic stress conditions presently and in the years to come. Biotechnology and molecular plant breeding has emerged as an important tool for molecular understanding of plant response to various abiotic stresses. Currently, various stress-responsive genes and mechanisms have been identified and functionally characterized in model plant Arabidopsis and other major crop plants such as Oryza sativa and Zea mays. However, very inadequate success has been achieved in this direction in a major oilseed crop such as B. napus. In this review, we present the latest methods and approaches of studying abiotic stress in B. napus. In this review, we describe the genes functioning as markers for crop breeding and discuss the recent progress and advances in genome editing by break through CRISPR/Cas9 multigene–multiplex approaches for developing multiple abiotic stress tolerance with our on-going research as a scheme. We also throw some light on molecular genetics, plant breeding and abiotic stress biotechnology of B. napus which offer a new prospective on the research directions for the practical plant breeding and functional genomics of B. napus in response to different abiotic stress conditions.