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Abstract: Leptosphaeria maculans causes blackleg disease on Brassica napus, an economically important oilseed crop. Brassica juncea has high resistance to blackleg and is a source for the development of resistant B. napus varieties. To transfer the Rlm6 resistance gene from B. juncea into B. napus, an interspecific cross between B. napus “Topas DH16516” and B. juncea “Forge” was produced, followed by the development of F2 and F3 generations. Sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) and cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) markers linked to the L. maculans resistance gene Rlm6 were developed. Segregation of SCAR and CAPS markers linked to Rlm6 were confirmed by genotyping of F2 and F3 progeny. Segregation of CAPS markers and phenotypes for blackleg disease severity in F2 plants had a Mendelian ratio of 3:1 in resistant vs. susceptible plants, respectively, supporting the assumption that genetic control of resistance was by a single dominant gene. The molecular markers developed in this study, which show linkage with the L. maculans resistance gene Rlm6, would facilitate marker‐assisted backcross breeding in a variety development programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blackleg (Phoma stem canker) of crucifers is a globally important disease caused by the ascomycete species complex comprising of Leptosphaeria maculans and Leptosphaeria biglobosa. Six blackleg isolates recovered from Brassica rapa cv. Mizspoona in the Willamette Valley of Oregon were characterized as L. biglobosa based on standard pathogenicity tests and molecular phylogenetic analysis. These isolates were compared to 88 characterized L. biglobosa isolates from western Canada, 22 isolates from Australia, and 6 L. maculans isolates from Idaho, USA using maximum parsimony and distance analysis of phylogenetic trees generated from the ITS rDNA (internal transcribed spacer rDNA) sequence, and the actin and β-tubulin gene sequences. The L. biglobosa isolates derived from B. rapa collected in Oregon formed a separate subclade based on concatenated gene sequences or a single gene sequence, regardless of the analyses. Pathogenicity tests showed that these isolates failed to infect either resistant or susceptible B. napus cultivars, but caused severe symptoms on three B. rapa cultivars (Accession number: UM1113, UM1112, and UM1161), a B. oleracea var. capitata (cabbage) cultivar (Copenhagen Market), and two B. juncea cultivars (CBM, a common brown Mustard, and Forge). These findings demonstrated that the L. biglobosa isolates derived from a B. rapa crop in Oregon were genetically distinct from existing species of L. biglobosa, and constitute a new subclade, herein proposed as L. biglobosa 'americensis'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]