Drought is one of the environmental factors inhibiting plant productivity and growth, leading to oxidative damage. This study aims to identify the role of sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) as a hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donor in drought stress tolerance in Brassica napus. Drought-induced stress symptoms appeared eight days after treatment, showing wilted leaves and a significant reduction of leaf water potential. Drought-induced increase of lipid peroxidation was significantly reduced by NaHS application. NaHS-treated plants mitigated stress symptoms under drought conditions by reducing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content, confirmed with H2O2 localization in situ. Furthermore, NaHS promotes photosynthetic activity by maintaining chlorophyll and carotenoid content, thereby supporting plant growth under drought conditions. Pyrroline-5-carboxylate and proline contents were significantly increased by drought but further enhanced by NaHS treatment, indicating the important roles of proline accumulation in drought stress tolerance. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insight into the roles of NaHS in alleviating drought stress by reducing oxidative stress and promoting proline accumulation. Therefore, NaHS may serve as an effective strategy to enhance crop production under drought-stress conditions.

Herbicide-resistant transgenic rapeseed (TG rapeseed) was developed by inserting phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (PAT, bar), a modified gene from the soil bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus, into the genome of a conventional variety of rapeseed (Youngsan). The TG rapeseed used for the test was confirmed to express the PAT gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunostrip. Feeding tests were conducted with Cyprinus carpio to evaluate the environmental risk of TG rapeseed, including the herbicide resistant gene. C. carpio was fed 100% ground rape suspension, TG rapeseed, or non-genetically modified (GM) counterpart rapeseed (Youngsan). As a result, the feeding test showed no significant differences in the cumulative immobility or abnormal response between C. carpio samples fed on TG rapeseed and non-GM counterpart rapeseed. The 48 h-LC50 values of the TG rapeseed and the non-GM counterpart rapeseed were 3,376 mg/L (95 % confidence limits: 3,169 - 3,596 mg/L) and 2,682 mg/L (95 % confidence limits: 2,267 – 3,123 mg/L), respectively. The rape NOEC (no observed effect concentration) value for C. carpio was suggested to be 625 mg/L. Based on these results, there was no significant difference in the toxicity for non-target organisms (C. carpio) between the TG rapeseed and non- GM counterparts.

Ammonium (NH4 +) serves as a nitrogen source, but its elevated levels can hinder plant growth and production. Excess NH4 + with α-ketoglutarate is assimilated into glutamate, a precursor of proline and glutathione (GSH). This study aimed to investigate the effects of excessive NH4 + on the regulation of proline and GSH synthesis. Detached leaves from oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) were fed with 0, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 mM NH4Cl for 16 h. As the NH4 + concentrations increased, the leaves exhibited progressive wilting and yellowing. Furthermore, total carotenoid and chlorophyll concentrations declined in response to all NH4 + treatments, with the lowest levels observed in 1000 mM NH4 + treatment. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration showed a minor increase at low NH4 + concentration (50 and 100 mM) treatments but a significant increase at high NH4 + (500 and 1000 mM), which was consistent with the localization of H2O2. Amino acid concentrations increased with increasing in NH4 + concentration, while the protein concentration displayed the opposite trend. Proline and cysteine concentrations exhibited a gradual increase in response to increasing NH4 + concentrations. However, GSH concentrations rose only in the 50 mM NH4 + treatment and decreased in the 500 and 1000 mM NH4 + treatments. These results indicate that excessive NH4 + is primarily assimilated into proline, while GSH synthesis is adversely affected.

The germination process is critical for plant growth and development and it is largely affected by environmental stress, especially salinity. Recently, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is well known to act as a signaling molecule in a defense mechanism against stress conditions but poorly understood regulating seed germination. In this study, the effects of NaHS (the H2S donor) pretreatment on various biochemical (hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content and amylase and protease activity) and physiological properties (germination rate) during seed germination of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L. cv. Mosa) were examined under salt stress. The seed germination and seedling growth of oilseed rape were inhibited by NaCl treatment but it was alleviated by NaHS pretreatment. The NaCl treatment increased H2O2 content leading to oxidative stress, but NaHS pre-treatments maintained much lower levels of H2O2 in germinating seeds under salt stress. Amylase activity, a starch degradation enzyme, significantly increased over 2-fold in control, NaHS pretreatment, and NaHS pretreatment under NaCl during seed germination compared to NaCl treatment. Protease activity was highly induced in NaHS-pretreated seeds compared to NaCl treatment, accompanied by a decrease in protein content. These results indicate that NaHS pretreatment could improve seed germination under salt stress conditions by decreasing H2O2 accumulation and activating the degradation of protein and starch to support seedling growth.

본 연구는 지역별로 수집한 유채 균핵병 균주에 대해 등록 된 3종의 약제를 사용하여 저항성 검정을 실시하였고, 저항성 발생 가능성이 있는 약제의 작용 기작과 관련한 유전자를 분석하여 변이 유무를 확인하였다. 1. Carbendazim-diethofencarb 약제배지의 경우, 0.1 ppm 농도에서 균사 생장 억제율은 13.3~41.9% 범위로 나타났으며, 1 ppm 이상의 농도에서는 모든 균주에서 96.1% 억제율을 보여 균주의 저항성이 확인되지 않았다. 2. Fludioxonil 약제배지는 0.1 ppm 농도에서 균사의 생장이 94.2% 이상 억제되었으며, 1 ppm 농도에서부터 100%의 억제 율을 보여 가장 약제 효과가 우수한 것으로 나타나 수집한 모든 균주에서 약제의 감수성을 확인하였다. 3. Boscalid 약제배지는 앞선 2종의 약제에 비해 균주의 균사 생장 억제가 뚜렷하지 않았다. 특히 10 ppm 농도에서 무안 수집 균주는 93.9%, 나주 수집 균주는 79.3%로 지역 간 차이가 있었으며, 1000 ppm의 높은 약제 농도에서도 균사의 생장을 100%까지 억제하지 못해 약제에 대한 균주의 저항성 발생 가능성을 추측하였다. 4. 3종의 시험 약제 농도별 균핵병 균주의 균사 생장을 50% 억제하는 농도(EC50)를 분석한 결과, Fludioxonil, Carbendazim-diethofencarb, Boscalid 약제순이었으며, 그 값은 각각 0.06, 0.16, 0.43 ppm으로 나타났다. 5. 또한, 3종의 시험 약제 농도별 발생한 균주의 균핵 형성 능력은 1 ppm 농도에서 Carbendazim-diethofencarb는 5.6개, Fludioxonil은 0개로 나타난 반면, Boscalid는 최대 11.3개의 균핵이 형성되어 차이를 확인할 수 있었다. 6. Boscalid 약제에 대한 균주의 저항성을 확인하기 위해 해당 약제의 작용 기작인 SDHI와 관련된 유전자 SdhB를 염기 서열 분석하였다. 염기서열 분석 결과 무안 및 부산에서 수집 한 균주의 경우 SdhB 표준 염기서열과 일치하여 감수성이었으나, 나주, 당진, 제주, 영암에서 수집한 균주는 32번째 염기 가 C→T로 치환되어 GCA(Alanine)→GTA(Valine) 점 돌연변이를 확인하였다.

Oilseed rape is known to crop having low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) but requires high levels of N fertilizer. NUE is associated with N remobilization from source to sink organ, consequently affects seed yield. Remobilization of leaf N is also related to transport of C/N metabolites in phloem. However, interaction between seed yield and phloem transport was not fully documented. In response to seed yield, N and C metabolites and their transport into seed from bolting to pod filling stage investigated in two contrasting genotypes (Capitol and Pollen) cultivated under ample (HN) or limiting nitrate (LN) supply. Seed yield was significantly reduced in N limitation and its reduction rate was much lower in Capitol than in Pollen compared to HN treated plants. Amino acid and protein content was higher in Capitol than in Pollen at bolting stage. They gradually decreased during plant development but not significant between two cultivars and/or two treatments. Glucose, fructose and sucrose content were 1.8-,1.6- or 1.25-fold higher in LN condition than in HN condition, respectively. Amino acid and sucrose content in phloem were largely higher in Capitol than in Pollen under LN condition. These results indicate that the higher seed yield might be related to greater transport ability of amino acid and sucrose in phloem under LN condition.

To investigate the impact of nitrogen (N) mineral on reproductive potential of Brassica napus L, plants were treated with different levels of N treatment (N0; N100; N500). The half of N content for each treatment were applied at the beginning of the early vegetative stage and the rest was applied at the late vegetative stage. Nitrogen content in plant tissues such as root, stem and branch, leaf, pod and seed was analyzed and harvest index (HI) was calculated as percentage of seed yield to total plant weight. Biomass and nitrogen content were significantly affected by different levels of N supply. Biomass was significantly decreased by 59.2% in nitrogen deficiency (N0) but significantly increased by 50.3% in N excess (N500), compared to control (N100). Nitrogen content in all organs was remarkably increased with nitrogen levels. N distribution to stem and branches, and dead leaves was higher in N-deficient (N0) and N excessive plants (N500) than in control (N100). However, nitrogen allocated to seed was higher in control (N100) than in other treatments (N0 or N500), accompanied by higher HI. These results indicate that the optimum level of N supply (N100) improve HI and N distribution to seed and excessive N input is unnecessary.