PhD Candidate University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Body of Abstract: Brassica napus, commonly known as canola, is an important oilseed contributing to over $29.9 billion CAD to the Canadian economy annually1. A major challenge facing Canadian canola is seed loss due to pod shattering, also known as silique dehiscence1. The inner most cell layers of the valve, endocarp a (ena) and endocarp b (end) are implicated in mediating pod shatter2. Ena is made up of parenchymal cells and are positioned closest to the seed, while the adjacent enb layer is comprised of lignified, narrow sclerenchyma cells2. Lignification of the enb layer is proposed to be essential for controlling pod shatter. Given the importance of enb lignin deposition for pod shattering, our research focuses on understanding of the genetic network behind enb lignification. Our preliminary evidence using arabidopsis as a model system suggests that coordinated temporal and spatial regulation of a hierarchical cascade of transcription factors is essential for lignin deposition in the enb layer. This transcriptional network converges on the activation of downstream secondary cell wall biosynthetic genes which result in lignification in endocarp b cells. Manipulation of these transcription factors significantly altered pod shatter phenotypes providing a novel solution to mitigating the pod shatter problem in canola.