Seedling Growth Habit. The growth habit of young seedlings is observed for the presence of a weak or strong rosette character. 1=weak rosette, 9=strong rosette. Seeds Per Pod. The average number of seeds per pod is observed.

Shatter Resistance. Resistance to silique shattering is observed at seed maturity. 1=not tested, 3=poor, 5=fair, 7=good, 9=does not shatter.

SI. Abbreviation for self-incompatible.

Site Specific Integration. Genes that create a site for site specific DNA integration. This includes the introduction of FRT sites that may be used in the FLP/FRT system and/or Lox sites that may be used in the Cre/Loxp system. For example, see Lyznik, et al., Site-Specific Recombination for Genetic Engineering in Plants, Plant Cell Rep (2003) 21:925-932 and PCT Publication Number WO/1999/025821.

SNP=Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism. SNP is a DNA sequence variation occurring when a single nucleotide in the genome differs between individual plant or plant varieties. The differences can be equated with different alleles and indicate polymorphisms. A number of SNP markers can be used to determine a molecular profile of an individual plant or plant variety and can be used to compare similarities and differences among plants and plant varieties.

Speed of Root Formation. The typical speed of root formation is observed when the plant has reached the four to eleven-leaf stage.

SSFS. Abbreviation for Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Field Severity score, a rating based on both percentage infection and disease severity.

Stem Anthocyanin Intensity. The presence or absence of leaf anthocyanin coloration and the intensity thereof, if present, are observed when the plant has reached the nine to eleven-leaf stage. 1=absent or very weak, 3=weak, 5=medium, 7=strong, 9=very strong.

Time to Flowering. The number of days when at least 50 percent of the plants have one or more open buds on a terminal raceme in the year of sowing.

Winter Survival (Winter Type Only). The ability to withstand winter temperatures at a typical growing area is evaluated and is expressed on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Field crops are bred through techniques that take advantage of the plant's method of pollination. A plant is self-pollinated if pollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower of the same plant or a genetically identical plant. A plant is sib-pollinated when individuals within the same family or line are used for pollination. A plant is cross-pollinated if the pollen comes from a flower on a genetically different plant from a different family or line. The term “cross-pollination” used herein does not include self-pollination or sib-pollination.

Canola breeding programs utilize techniques such as mass and recurrent selection, backcrossing, pedigree breeding and haploidy.

Recurrent selection is used to improve populations of either self- or cross-pollinating Brassica. Through recurrent selection, a genetically variable population of heterozygous individuals is created by intercrossing several different parents. The best plants are selected based on individual superiority, outstanding progeny, and/or excellent combining ability. The selected plants are intercrossed to produce a new population in which further cycles of selection are continued. Various recurrent selection techniques are used to improve quantitatively inherited traits controlled by numerous genes.

Breeding programs use backcross breeding to transfer genes for a simply inherited, highly heritable trait into another line that serves as the recurrent parent. The source of the trait to be transferred is called the donor parent. After the initial cross, individual plants possessing the desired trait of the donor parent are selected and are crossed (backcrossed) to the recurrent parent for several generations. The resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent. This approach has been used for breeding disease resistant phenotypes of many plant species and has been used to transfer low erucic acid and low glucosinolate content into lines and breeding populations of Brassica.

Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection breeding methods are used to develop varieties from breeding populations. Pedigree breeding starts with the crossing of two genotypes, each of which may have one or more desirable characteristics that is lacking in the other or which complements the other. If the two original parents do not provide all of the desired characteristics, other sources can be included in the breeding population. In the pedigree method, superior plants are selfed and selected in successive generations. In the succeeding generations the heterozygous condition gives way to homogeneous lines as a result of self-pollination and selection. Typically, in the pedigree method of breeding, five or more generations of selfing and selection are practiced: F₁to F₂; F₂to F₃; F₃to F₄; F₄to F₅, etc. For example, two parents that are believed to possess favorable complementary traits are crossed to produce an F₁. An F₂population is produced by selfing one or several F₁'s or by intercrossing two F₁'s (i.e., sib mating). Selection of the best individuals may begin in the F₂population, and beginning in the F₃the best individuals in the best families are selected. Replicated testing of families can begin in the F₄generation to improve the effectiveness of selection for traits with low heritability. At an advanced stage of inbreeding (i.e., F₆and F₇), the best lines or mixtures of phenotypically similar lines commonly are tested for potential release as new cultivars. Backcrossing may be used in conjunction with pedigree breeding; for example, a combination of backcrossing and pedigree breeding with recurrent selection has been used to incorporate blackleg resistance into certain cultivars of Brassica napus.

Blackleg tolerance is measured following the standard procedure described in the Procedures of the Western Canada Canola/Rapeseed Recommending Committee (WCC/RRC) Incorporated for the Evaluation and Recommendation for Registration of Canola/Rapeseed Candidate Cultivars in Western Canada. Blackleg is rated on a scale of 0 to 5: a plant with zero rating is completely immune to disease while a plant with “5” rating is dead due to blackleg infection.

Canola variety “Westar” is included as an entry/control in each blackleg trial. Tests are considered valid when the mean rating for Westar is greater than or equal to 2.6 and less than or equal to 4.5. (In years when there is poor disease development in Western Canada the WCC/RRC may accept the use of data from trials with a rating for Westar exceeding 2.0.)

The ratings are converted to a percentage severity index for each line, and the following scale is used to describe the level of resistance:

Classification
Rating (% of Westar)

R (Resistant)
<30

MR (Moderately Resistant)
30-49

MS (Moderately Susceptible)
50-69

S (Susceptible)
70-89

HS (Highly Susceptible)
90-100

Plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for type for many generations become homozygous at almost all gene loci and produce a uniform population of true breeding progeny. If desired, double-haploid methods can also be used to extract homogeneous lines. A cross between two different homozygous lines produces a uniform population of hybrid plants that may be heterozygous for many gene loci. A cross of two plants each heterozygous at a number of gene loci will produce a population of hybrid plants that differ genetically and will not be uniform.

The choice of breeding or selection methods depends on the mode of plant reproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and the type of cultivar used commercially, such as F₁hybrid variety or open pollinated variety. A true breeding homozygous line can also be used as a parental line (inbred line) in a commercial hybrid. If the line is being developed as an inbred for use in a hybrid, an appropriate pollination control system should be incorporated in the line. Suitability of an inbred line in a hybrid combination will depend upon the combining ability (general combining ability or specific combining ability) of the inbred.

Various breeding procedures are also utilized with these breeding and selection methods. The single-seed descent procedure in the strict sense refers to planting a segregating population, harvesting a sample of one seed per plant, and using the one-seed sample to plant the next generation. When the population has been advanced from the F₂to the desired level of inbreeding, the plants from which lines are derived will each trace to different F₂individuals. The number of plants in a population declines each generation due to failure of some seeds to germinate or some plants to produce at least one seed. As a result, not all of the F₂plants originally sampled in the population will be represented by a progeny when generation advance is completed.

In a multiple-seed procedure, canola breeders commonly harvest one or more pods from each plant in a population and thresh them together to form a bulk. Part of the bulk is used to plant the next generation and part is put in reserve. The procedure has been referred to as modified single-seed descent or the pod-bulk technique. The multiple-seed procedure has been used to save labor at harvest. It is considerably faster to thresh pods with a machine than to remove one seed from each by hand for the single-seed procedure. The multiple-seed procedure also makes it possible to plant the same number of seeds of a population each generation of inbreeding. Enough seeds are harvested to make up for those plants that did not germinate or produce seed. If desired, doubled-haploid methods can be used to extract homogeneous lines.

Mutation breeding is one of many methods that could be used to introduce new traits into 17GG0168N. 17GG0168N is suitable for use in a mutation breeding program. Mutations that occur spontaneously or are artificially induced can be useful sources of variability for a plant breeder. The goal of artificial mutagenesis is to increase the rate of mutation for a desired characteristic. Mutation rates can be increased by many different means including temperature, long-term seed storage, tissue culture conditions, targeted molecular techniques such as CRISPR, Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (TILLING) (see e.g., Kurowska et al., J Appl Genet. 2011; 52 (4): 371-390), radiation; such as X-rays, Gamma rays (e.g. cobalt 60 or cesium 137), neutrons, (product of nuclear fission by uranium 235 in an atomic reactor), Beta radiation (emitted from radioisotopes such as phosphorus 32 or carbon 14), or ultraviolet radiation (preferably from 2500 to 2900 nm), or chemical mutagens (such as base analogues (5-bromo-uracil), related compounds (8-ethoxy caffeine), antibiotics (streptonigrin), alkylating agents (sulfur mustards, nitrogen mustards, epoxides, ethylenamines, sulfates, sulfonates, sulfones, lactones), azide, hydroxylamine, nitrous acid, or acridines. Once a desired trait is observed through mutagenesis the trait may then be incorporated into existing germplasm by traditional breeding techniques, such as backcrossing. In addition, mutations created in other varieties may be used to produce a backcross conversion of 17GG0168N that comprises such mutation.

Molecular markers, including techniques such as Isozyme Electrophoresis, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs), Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPD), Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR), DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence Characterized Amplified Regions (SCARs), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs), Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), may be used in plant breeding methods. One use of molecular markers is Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping. QTL mapping is the use of markers which are known to be closely linked to alleles that have measurable effects on a quantitative trait. Selection in the breeding process is based upon the accumulation of markers linked to the positive effecting alleles and/or the elimination of the markers linked to the negative effecting alleles in the plant's genome.

Molecular markers can also be used during the breeding process for the selection of qualitative traits. For example, markers closely linked to alleles or markers containing sequences within the actual alleles of interest can be used to select plants that contain the alleles of interest during a backcrossing breeding program. The markers can also be used to select for the genome of the recurrent parent and against the markers of the donor parent. Using this procedure can minimize the amount of genome from the donor parent that remains in the selected plants. It can also be used to reduce the number of crosses back to the recurrent parent needed in a backcrossing program. The use of molecular markers in the selection process is often called Genetic Marker Enhanced Selection or Marker Assisted Selection (MAS).

The production of doubled haploids can also be used for the development of inbreds in the breeding program. In Brassica napus, microspore culture technique may be used to produce haploid embryos. The haploid embryos are then regenerated on appropriate media as haploid plantlets, doubling chromosomes of which results in doubled haploid plants. This can be advantageous because the process omits the generations of selfing needed to obtain a homozygous plant from a heterozygous source.

The development of a canola hybrid in a canola plant breeding program involves three steps: (1) the selection of plants from various germplasm pools for initial breeding crosses; (2) the selfing of the selected plants from the breeding crosses for several generations to produce a series of inbred lines, which, although different from each other, breed true and are highly uniform; and (3) crossing the selected inbred lines with different inbred lines to produce the hybrids. During the inbreeding process in canola, the vigor of the lines decreases. Vigor is restored when two different inbred lines are crossed to produce the hybrid. A consequence of the homozygosity and homogeneity of the inbred lines is that the hybrid between a defined pair of inbreds will always be the same. Once the inbreds that give a superior hybrid have been identified, the hybrid seed can be reproduced indefinitely as long as the homogeneity of the inbred parents is maintained.

17GG0168N may also be used to produce a double cross hybrid or a three-way hybrid. A single cross hybrid is produced when two inbred varieties are crossed to produce the F1 progeny. A double cross hybrid is produced from four inbred varieties crossed in pairs (A×B and C×D) and then the two F1 hybrids are crossed again (A×B)×(C×D). A three-way cross hybrid is produced from three inbred varieties where two of the inbred varieties are crossed (A×B) and then the resulting F1 hybrid is crossed with the third inbred variety (A×B)×C. In each case, pericarp tissue from the female parent will be a part of and protect the hybrid seed.

Another form of commercial hybrid production involves the use of a mixture of male sterile hybrid seed and male pollinator seed. When planted, the resulting male sterile hybrid plants are pollinated by the pollinator plants. This method can be used to produce grain with enhanced quality grain traits, such as high oil. One use of this method is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,704,160 and 5,706,603.

Molecular data from 17GG0168N may be used in a plant breeding process. Nucleic acids may be isolated from a seed of 17GG0168N or from a plant, plant part, or cell produced by growing a seed of 17GG0168N or from a seed of 17GG0168N with a locus conversion, or from a plant, plant part, or cell of 17GG0168N with a locus conversion. One or more polymorphisms may be isolated from the nucleic acids. A plant having one or more of the identified polymorphisms may be selected and used in a plant breeding method to produce another plant.

Phenotypic Characteristics of 17GG0168N

Hybrid canola variety 17GG0168N is a single cross canola variety and can be made by crossing inbreds G00012 and G00573MC. Locus conversions of hybrid canola variety 17GG0168N can be made by crossing inbreds G00012 and G00573MC wherein G00012 and/or G00573MC comprise a locus conversion(s).

The canola variety has shown uniformity and stability within the limits of environmental influence for all the traits as described herein (see, e.g. Table 1). The inbred parents of this canola variety have been self-pollinated a sufficient number of generations with careful attention paid to uniformity of plant type to ensure the homozygosity and phenotypic stability necessary for use in commercial hybrid seed production. The variety has been increased both by hand and in isolated fields with continued observation for uniformity. No variant traits have been observed or are expected in 17GG0168N.

Hybrid canola variety 17GG0168N can be reproduced by planting seeds of the inbred parent varieties, growing the resulting canola plants under cross pollinating conditions, and harvesting the resulting seed using techniques familiar to the agricultural arts.

Controlling Self-Pollination

Canola varieties are mainly self-pollinated. A pollination control system and effective transfer of pollen from one parent to the other provides an effective method for producing hybrid canola seed and plants. For example, the ogura cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system, developed via protoplast fusion between radish (Raphanus sativus) and rapeseed (Brassica napus), is one of the most frequently used methods of hybrid production. It provides stable expression of the male sterility trait and an effective nuclear restorer gene. The OGU INRA restorer gene, Rf1 originating from radish has improved versions.

Brassica hybrid varieties can be developed using self-incompatible (SI), cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) or nuclear male sterile (NMS) Brassica plants as the female parent such that only cross pollination will occur between the hybrid parents.

In one instance, production of F₁hybrids includes crossing a CMS Brassica female parent with a pollen-producing male Brassica has a fertility restorer gene (Rf gene). The presence of an Rf gene means that the F₁generation will not be completely or partially sterile, so that either self-pollination or cross pollination may occur. Self-pollination of the F₁generation to produce several subsequent generations verifies that a desired trait is heritable and stable and that a new variety has been isolated.

Other sources and refinements of CMS sterility in canola include the Polima cytoplasmic male sterile plant, as well as those of U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,566, DNA sequence imparting cytoplasmic male sterility, mitochondrial genome, nuclear genome, mitochondria and plant containing said sequence and process for the preparation of hybrids; See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,658,085, 5,973,233 and 6,229,072.

Hybrid Development

As a result of the advances in sterility systems, lines are developed that can be used as an open pollinated variety (i.e., a pureline cultivar) and/or as a sterile inbred (female) used in the production of F₁hybrid seed. In the latter case, favorable combining ability with a restorer (male) would be desirable.

The development of a canola hybrid generally involves three steps: (1) the selection of plants from various germplasm pools for initial breeding crosses; (2) generation of inbred lines, such as by selfing of selected plants from the breeding crosses for several generations to produce a series of different inbred lines, which breed true and are highly uniform; and (3) crossing the selected inbred lines with different inbred lines to produce the hybrids.

Combining ability of a line, as well as the performance of the line per se, is a factor in the selection of improved canola lines that may be used as inbreds. Combining ability refers to a line's contribution as a parent when crossed with other lines to form hybrids. The hybrids formed for the purpose of selecting superior lines are designated test crosses. One way of measuring combining ability is by using breeding values. Breeding values are based on the overall mean of a number of test crosses. This mean is then adjusted to remove environmental effects and it is adjusted for known genetic relationships among the lines.

Brassica napus canola plants, absent the use of sterility systems, are recognized to commonly be self-fertile with approximately 70 to 90 percent of the seed normally forming as the result of self-pollination. The percentage of cross pollination may be further enhanced when populations of recognized insect pollinators at a given growing site are greater. Thus, open pollination is often used in commercial canola production.

Locus Conversions of Canola Variety 17GG0168N

17GG0168N represents a new base genetic line into which a new locus or trait may be introduced. Direct transformation and backcrossing represent two methods that can be used to accomplish such an introgression. The term locus conversion is used to designate the product of such an introgression.

Backcrossing can be used to improve inbred varieties and a hybrid variety which is made using those inbreds. Backcrossing can be used to transfer a specific desirable trait from one variety, the donor parent, to an inbred called the recurrent parent which has overall good agronomic characteristics yet that lacks the desirable trait. This transfer of the desirable trait into an inbred with overall good agronomic characteristics can be accomplished by first crossing a recurrent parent to a donor parent (non-recurrent parent). The progeny of this cross is then mated back to the recurrent parent followed by selection in the resultant progeny for the desired trait to be transferred from the non-recurrent parent.

Traits may be used by those of ordinary skill in the art to characterize progeny. Traits are commonly evaluated at a significance level, such as a 1%, 5% or 10% significance level, when measured in plants grown in the same environmental conditions. For example, a locus conversion of 17GG0168N may be characterized as having essentially the same phenotypic traits as 17GG0168N. The traits used for comparison may be those traits shown in any of the tables herein. Molecular markers can also be used during the breeding process for the selection of qualitative traits. For example, markers can be used to select plants that contain the alleles of interest during a backcrossing breeding program. The markers can also be used to select for the genome of the recurrent parent and against the genome of the donor parent. Using this procedure can minimize the amount of genome from the donor parent that remains in the selected plants.

A locus conversion of 17GG0168N may contain at least 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 locus conversions, and fewer than 15, 10, 9, 8, 7, or 6 locus conversions. A locus conversion of 17GG0168N will otherwise retain the genetic integrity of 17GG0168N. For example, a locus conversion of 17GG0168N can be developed when DNA sequences are introduced through backcrossing, with a parent of 17GG0168N utilized as the recurrent parent. Both naturally occurring and transgenic DNA sequences may be introduced through backcrossing techniques. A backcross conversion may produce a plant with a locus conversion in at least one or more backcrosses, including at least 2 crosses, at least 3 crosses, at least 4 crosses, at least 5 crosses and the like. Molecular marker assisted breeding or selection may be utilized to reduce the number of backcrosses necessary to achieve the backcross conversion. For example, a backcross conversion can be made in as few as two backcrosses.

Disease-Sclerotinia

Sclerotinia infects over 100 species of plants, including Brassica species. Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is responsible for over 99% of Sclerotinia disease, while Sclerotinia minor produces less than 1% of the disease. Sclerotinia produces sclerotia, irregularly shaped, dark overwintering bodies, which can endure in soil for four to five years. The sclerotia can germinate carpogenically or myceliogenically, depending on the environmental conditions and crop canopies. The two types of germination cause two distinct types of diseases. Sclerotia that germinate carpogenically produce apothecia and ascospores that infect above-ground tissues, resulting in stem blight, stalk rot, head rot, pod rot, white mold and blossom blight of plants. Sclerotia that germinate myceliogenically produce mycelia that infect root tissues, causing crown rot, root rot and basal stalk rot.

Sclerotinia causes Sclerotinia stem rot, also known as white mold, in Brassica, including canola. The disease is favored by moist soil conditions (at least 10 days at or near field capacity) and temperatures of 15-25° C., prior to and during canola flowering. The spores cannot infect leaves and stems directly; they must first land on flowers, fallen petals, and pollen on the stems and leaves. The fungal spores use the flower parts as a food source as they germinate and infect the plant.

The severity of Sclerotinia in Brassica is variable and is dependent on the time of infection and climatic conditions, being favored by cool temperatures between 2° and 25° C., prolonged precipitation and relative humidities of greater than 80%. Losses ranging from 5 to 100% have been reported for individual fields. Sclerotinia can cause heavy losses in wet swaths and result in economic losses of millions of dollars.

The symptoms of Sclerotinia infection usually develop several weeks after flowering begins. The infections often develop where the leaf and the stem join. Infected stems appear bleached and tend to shred. Hard black fungal sclerotia develop within the infected stems, branches, or pods. Plants infected at flowering produce little or no seed. Plants with girdled stems wilt and ripen prematurely. Severely infected crops frequently lodge, shatter at swathing, and make swathing more time consuming. Infections can occur in all above-ground plant parts, especially in dense or lodged stands, where plant-to-plant contact facilitates the spread of infection. New sclerotia carry the disease over to the next season.

Conventional methods for control of Sclerotinia diseases include (a) chemical control (fungicides such as benomyl, vinclozolin, iprodione, azoxystrobin, prothioconazole, boscalid), (b) disease resistance (such as partial resistance and breeding for favorable morphologies such as increased standability, reduced petal retention, branching (less compact and/or higher), and early leaf abscission) and (c) cultural control.

Methods for generating Sclerotinia resistant Brassica plants using inbred line 17GG0168N are provided, including crossing with one or more lines containing one or more genes contributing to Sclerotinia resistance and selecting for resistance.

In some embodiments, 17GG0168N can be modified to have resistance to Sclerotinia.

Homogenous and reproducible canola hybrids are useful for the production of a commercial crop on a reliable basis. There are a number of analytical methods available to determine the phenotypic stability of a canola hybrid.

Phenotypic characteristics most often are observed for traits associated with seed yield, seed oil content, seed protein content, fatty acid composition of oil, glucosinolate content of meal, growth habit, lodging resistance, plant height, shatter resistance, etc. A plant's genotype can be used to identify plants of the same variety or a related variety. For example, the genotype can be used to determine the pedigree of a plant. There are many laboratory-based techniques available for the analysis, comparison and characterization of plant genotype; among these are Isozyme Electrophoresis, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs), Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR), DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence Characterized Amplified Regions (SCARs), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs), Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) which are also referred to as Microsatellites, and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs).

Particular markers used for these purposes may include any type of marker and marker profile which provides a means of distinguishing varieties. A genetic marker profile can be used, for example, to identify plants of the same variety or related varieties or to determine or validate a pedigree. In addition to being used for identification of canola variety 17GG0168N and its plant parts, the genetic marker profile is also useful in developing a locus conversion of 17GG0168N.

Methods of isolating nucleic acids from 17GG0168N and methods for performing genetic marker profiles using SNP and SSR polymorphisms are provided. SNPs are genetic markers based on a polymorphism in a single nucleotide. A marker system based on SNPs can be highly informative in linkage analysis relative to other marker systems in that multiple alleles may be present.

A method comprising isolating nucleic acids, such as DNA, from a plant, a plant part, plant cell or a seed of the canola varieties disclosed herein is provided. The method can include mechanical, electrical and/or chemical disruption of the plant, plant part, plant cell or seed, contacting the disrupted plant, plant part, plant cell or seed with a buffer or solvent, to produce a solution or suspension comprising nucleic acids, optionally contacting the nucleic acids with a precipitating agent to precipitate the nucleic acids, optionally extracting the nucleic acids, and optionally separating the nucleic acids such as by centrifugation or by binding to beads or a column, with subsequent elution, or a combination thereof. If DNA is being isolated, an RNase can be included in one or more of the method steps. The nucleic acids isolated can comprise all or substantially all of the genomic DNA sequence, all or substantially all of the chromosomal DNA sequence or all or substantially all of the coding sequences (cDNA) of the plant, plant part, or plant cell from which they were isolated. The nucleic acids isolated can comprise all, substantially all, or essentially all of the genetic complement of the plant. The nucleic acids isolated can comprise a genetic complement of the canola variety. The amount and type of nucleic acids isolated may be sufficient to permit whole genome sequencing of the plant from which they were isolated or chromosomal marker analysis of the plant from which they were isolated.

The methods can be used to produce nucleic acids from the plant, plant part, seed or cell, which nucleic acids can be, for example, analyzed to produce data. The data can be recorded. The nucleic acids from the disrupted cell, the disrupted plant, plant part, plant cell or seed or the nucleic acids following isolation or separation can be contacted with primers and nucleotide bases, and/or a polymerase to facilitate PCR sequencing or marker analysis of the nucleic acids. In some examples, the nucleic acids produced can be sequenced or contacted with markers to produce a genetic profile, a molecular profile, a marker profile, a haplotype, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the genetic profile or nucleotide sequence is recorded on a computer readable medium. In other examples, the methods may further comprise using the nucleic acids produced from plants, plant parts, plant cells or seeds in a plant breeding program, for example in making crosses, selection and/or advancement decisions in a breeding program. Crossing includes any type of plant breeding crossing method, including but not limited to crosses to produce hybrids, outcrossing, selfing, backcrossing, locus conversion, introgression and the like. Favorable genotypes and or marker profiles, optionally associated with a trait of interest, may be identified by one or more methodologies. In some examples one or more markers are used, including but not limited to restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs), sequence characterized regions (SCARs), sequence tag sites (STSs), cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences (CAPS), microsatellites, simple sequence repeats (SSRs), expressed sequence tags (ESTs), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and diversity arrays technology (DArT), sequencing, and the like. In some methods, a target nucleic acid is amplified prior to hybridization with a probe. In other cases, the target nucleic acid is not amplified prior to hybridization, such as methods using molecular inversion probes. In some examples, the genotype related to a specific trait is monitored, while in other examples, a genome-wide evaluation including but not limited to one or more of marker panels, library screens, association studies, microarrays, gene chips, expression studies, or sequencing such as whole-genome resequencing and genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) may be used. In some examples, no target-specific probe is needed, for example by using sequencing technologies, including but not limited to next-generation sequencing methods (see, for example, Metzker (2010) Nat Rev Genet 11:31-46; and, Egan et al. (2012) Am J Bot 99:175-185) such as sequencing by synthesis (e.g., Roche 454 pyrosequencing, Illumina Genome Analyzer, and Ion Torrent PGM or Proton systems), sequencing by ligation (e.g., SOLID from Applied Biosystems, and Polnator system from Azco Biotech), and single molecule sequencing (SMS or third-generation sequencing) which eliminate template amplification (e.g., Helicos system, and PacBio RS system from Pacific BioSciences). Further technologies include optical sequencing systems (e.g., Starlight from Life Technologies), and nanopore sequencing (e.g., GridION from Oxford Nanopore Technologies). Each of these may be coupled with one or more enrichment strategies for organellar or nuclear genomes in order to reduce the complexity of the genome under investigation via PCR, hybridization, restriction enzyme (see, e.g., Elshire et al. (2011) PLOS ONE 6: e19379), and expression methods. In some examples, no reference genome sequence is needed in order to complete the analysis. 17GG0168N and its plant parts can be identified through a molecular marker profile. Such plant parts may be either diploid or haploid. Also encompassed and described are plants and plant parts substantially benefiting from the use of variety 17GG0168N in their development, such as variety 17GG0168N comprising a locus conversion or single locus conversion.

In particular, a process of making seed substantially retaining the molecular marker profile of canola variety 17GG0168N is provided. Obtaining a seed of hybrid canola variety 17GG0168N further comprising a locus conversion, wherein representative seed is produced by crossing a first plant of variety G00012 or a locus conversion thereof with a second plant of variety G00573MC or a locus conversion thereof, and wherein representative seed of said varieties G00012 and G00573MC have been deposited and wherein said canola variety 17GG0168N further comprising a locus conversion has 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% of the same polymorphisms for molecular markers as the plant or plant part of canola variety 17GG0168N. The type of molecular marker used in the molecular profile can be but is not limited to Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, SNPs. A process of making seed retaining essentially the same phenotypic, physiological, morphological or any combination thereof characteristics of canola variety 17GG0168N is also contemplated. Obtaining a seed of hybrid canola variety 17GG0168N further comprising a locus conversion, wherein representative seed is produced by crossing a first plant of variety G00012 or a locus conversion thereof with a second plant of variety G00573MC or a locus conversion thereof, and wherein representative seed of said varieties G00012 and G00573MC have been deposited and wherein said canola variety 17GG0168N further comprising a locus conversion has essentially the same morphological characteristics as canola variety 17GG0168N when grown in the same environmental conditions. The same environmental conditions may be, but is not limited to, a side-by-side comparison. The characteristics can be or include, for example, those listed in Table 1. The comparison can be made using any number of professionally accepted experimental designs and statistical analysis.

Hybrid 17GG0168N can be advantageously used in accordance with the breeding methods described herein and those known in the art to produce hybrids and other progeny plants retaining desired trait combinations of 17GG0168N. Disclosed are methods for producing a canola plant by crossing a first parent canola plant with a second parent canola plant wherein either the first or second parent canola plant is canola variety 17GG0168N. Further, both first and second parent canola plants can come from the canola variety 17GG0168N. Either the first or the second parent plant may be male sterile. Methods for producing subsequent generations of seed from seed of variety 17GG0168N, harvesting the subsequent generation of seed; and planting the subsequent generation of seed are provided.

Still further provided are methods for producing a 17GG0168N-derived canola plant by crossing canola variety 17GG0168N with a second canola plant and growing the progeny seed, and repeating the crossing and growing steps with the canola 17GG0168N-derived plant from at least 1, 2 or 3 times and less than 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 or 2 times. Thus, any such methods using the canola variety 17GG0168N are part of this discovery: open pollination, selfing, backcrosses, hybrid production, crosses to populations, and the like. All plants produced using canola variety 17GG0168N as a parent are within the scope of this discovery, including plants derived from canola variety 17GG0168N. This includes canola lines derived from 17GG0168N which include components for either male sterility or for restoration of fertility. Advantageously, the canola variety is used in crosses with other, different, canola plants to produce first generation (F₁) canola hybrid seeds and plants with superior characteristics.

The discovery also includes a single-gene locus conversion or a single locus conversion of 17GG0168N. A single locus conversion occurs when DNA sequences are introduced or modified through traditional breeding techniques, such as backcrossing or through transformation. DNA sequences, whether naturally occurring, modified as disclosed herein, or transgenes, may be introduced using traditional breeding techniques. Desired traits transferred through this process include, but are not limited to, fertility restoration, fatty acid profile modification, other nutritional enhancements, industrial enhancements, disease resistance, insect resistance, herbicide resistance and yield enhancements. The trait of interest is transferred from the donor parent to the recurrent parent, in this case, the canola plant disclosed herein. Single-gene traits may result from the transfer of either a dominant allele or a recessive allele. Selection of progeny containing the trait of interest is done by direct selection for a trait associated with a dominant allele. Selection of progeny for a trait that is transferred via a recessive allele will require growing and selfing the first backcross to determine which plants carry the recessive alleles. Recessive traits may require additional progeny testing in successive backcross generations to determine the presence of the gene of interest.

It should be understood that the canola varieties disclosed herein, through routine manipulation by cytoplasmic genes, nuclear genes, or other factors, can be produced in a male-sterile or restorer form. Canola variety 17GG0168N can be manipulated to be male sterile by any of a number of methods known in the art, including by the use of mechanical methods, chemical methods, self-incompatibility (SI), cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) (either Ogura or another system), or nuclear male sterility (NMS). The term “manipulated to be male sterile” refers to the use of any available techniques to produce a male sterile version of canola variety 17GG0168N. The male sterility may be either partial or complete male sterility. Also disclosed are seed and plants produced by the use of Canola variety 17GG0168N. Canola variety 17GG0168N can also further comprise a component for fertility restoration of a male sterile plant, such as an Rf restorer gene. In this case, canola variety 17GG0168N could then be used as the male plant in seed production.

Also provided is the use of 17GG0168N in tissue culture. As used herein, the term plant includes plant protoplasts, plant cell tissue cultures from which canola plants can be regenerated, plant calli, plant clumps, and plant cells that are intact in plants or parts of plants, such as embryos, pollen, ovules, seeds, flowers, kernels, ears, cobs, leaves, husks, stalks, roots, root tips, anthers, silk and the like.

The utility of canola variety 17GG0168N also extends to crosses with other species. Commonly, suitable species include those of the family Brassicae.

The advent of new molecular biological techniques has allowed the isolation and characterization of genetic elements with specific functions, such as encoding specific protein products. Any DNA sequences, whether from a different species or from the same species that are inserted into the genome using transformation are referred to herein collectively as “transgenes”. Transformed versions of the claimed canola variety 17GG0168N are provided in which transgenes are inserted, introgressed or achieved through genetic modification of native sequences.

Numerous methods for plant transformation have been developed, including biological and physical plant transformation protocols. In addition, expression vectors and in vitro culture methods for plant cell or tissue transformation and regeneration of plants are available.

In general, methods to transform, modify, edit or alter plant endogenous genomic DNA include altering the plant native DNA sequence or introducing a pre-existing transgenic or other heterologous sequence including regulatory elements, transgene-genomic junction sequences, coding and non-coding sequences. These methods can be used, for example, to target nucleic acids to pre-engineered target recognition sequences in the genome. Such pre-engineered target sequences may be introduced by genome editing or modification. As an example, a genetically modified or genome edited plant variety can be generated using “custom” or engineered endonucleases such as meganucleases produced to modify plant genomes (see e.g., WO/2009/114321; Gao et al. (2010) Plant Journal 1:176-187); zinc finger nucleases (see e.g., Urnov, et al., (2010) Nat Rev Genet. 11 (9): 636-46; Shukla, et al., (2009) Nature 459 (7245): 437-41); a transcription activator-like (TAL) effector-DNA modifying enzyme (TALE or TALEN) (see e.g., US20110145940, Cermak et al., (2011) Nucleic Acids Res. 39 (12) and Boch et al., (2009), Science 326 (5959): 1509-12). Site-specific modification of plant genomes can also be performed using the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas (CRISPR-associated) system. See e.g., Belhaj et al., (2013), Plant Methods 9:39; Cas9/guide RNA-based system that allows targeted cleavage of genomic DNA guided by a customizable small noncoding RNA in plants (see e.g., PCT Publication Number WO/2015/026883A1) and Cas12f1 miniature CRISPR system that is used to introduce site-specific changes in the plant genome (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 10,934,536B2).

Plant transformation methods may involve the construction of an expression vector. Such a vector comprises a DNA sequence that contains a gene under the control of or operatively linked to a regulatory element, for example a promoter. The vector may contain one or more genes and one or more regulatory elements.

One or more traits which may be modified or introduced in the plants and methods disclosed herein include male sterility, herbicide resistance, insect resistance, pest resistance, modified fatty acid metabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism, modified seed yield, modified oil percent, modified protein percent, modified lodging resistance and modified resistance to bacterial disease, fungal disease or viral disease.

A genetic trait which has been engineered or modified into a particular canola plant using transformation techniques could be moved into another line using traditional breeding techniques that are well known in the plant breeding arts or through targeted/directed cleavage of the transgenic loci using molecular trait introgression methods, such as targeted recombination including directed homology dependent recombination (HDR). For example, a backcrossing approach could be used to move a transgene or modified gene from a transformed canola plant to an elite inbred line and the resulting progeny would comprise a transgene or modified gene. Also, if an inbred line was used for the transformation or genetic modification then the transgenic plants could be crossed to a different line in order to produce a transgenic hybrid canola plant. As used herein, “crossing” can refer to a simple X by Y cross, or the process of backcrossing, depending on the context. Various genetic elements can be introduced into the plant genome using transformation or gene editing. These elements include but are not limited to genes; coding sequences; inducible, constitutive, and tissue specific promoters; enhancing sequences; and signal and targeting sequences.

Transgenic and modified plants described herein can produce a foreign or modified protein in commercial quantities. Thus, techniques for the selection and propagation of transformed plants, which are well understood in the art, may yield a plurality of transgenic or modified plants which are harvested in a conventional manner, and a foreign or modified protein then can be extracted from a tissue of interest or from total biomass.

A genetic map can be generated, primarily via conventional Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLP), Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis, Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR), and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), which identifies the approximate chromosomal location of the integrated DNA molecule coding for the foreign protein. Map information concerning chromosomal location is useful for proprietary protection of a subject transgenic plant. If unauthorized propagation is undertaken and crosses made with other germplasm, the map of the integration region can be compared to similar maps for suspect plants, to determine if the latter have a common parentage with the subject plant. Map comparisons would involve hybridizations, RFLP, PCR, SSR, SNP, and sequencing, all of which are conventional techniques.

Likewise, by means of the present discovery, plants can be genetically engineered to express various phenotypes of agronomic interest. Through the transformation or modification of canola the expression of genes can be altered to enhance disease resistance, insect resistance, herbicide tolerance, agronomic traits, grain quality and other traits. Transformation can also be used to insert DNA sequences which control or help control male-sterility. DNA sequences native to canola as well as non-native DNA sequences can be transformed into canola and used to alter levels of native or non-native proteins. Various promoters, targeting sequences, enhancing sequences, and other DNA sequences can be inserted into the canola genome for the purpose of altering the expression of proteins. Reduction of the activity of specific genes (also known as gene silencing, or gene suppression) is desirable for several aspects of genetic engineering in plants.

Many techniques for gene silencing are well known to one of skill in the art, including but not limited to knock-outs such as by insertion of a transposable element such as mu or other genetic elements such as a FRT, Lox or other site specific integration site, antisense technology, RNA interference, virus-induced gene silencing; hairpin structures; oligonucleotide mediated targeted modification (e.g., PCT Publication Numbers WO/2003/076574 and WO/1999/025853); Zn-finger targeted molecules (e.g., PCT Publication Numbers WO/2001/052620; WO/2003/048345; and WO/2000/042219); and other methods or combinations of the above methods known to those of skill in the art.

Exemplary transgenes implicated in this regard include, but are not limited to, those categorized below.

1. Genes that confer resistance to pests or disease and that encode:

(A) Plant disease resistance genes. Plant defenses are often activated by specific interaction between the product of a disease resistance gene (R) in the plant and the product of a corresponding avirulence (Avr) gene in the pathogen. A plant variety can be transformed or modified to express a resistance gene to engineer plants that are resistant to specific pathogen strains. These include fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases. A plant resistant to a disease is one that is more resistant to a pathogen as compared to the wild type plant.

(B) A pesticidal toxin or insecticidal protein that has toxic activity against one or more pests, including, but not limited to, members of the Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera orders or the Nematoda phylum or a protein that has homology to such a protein. Pesticidal proteins have been isolated from organisms including, for example, Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp., Photorhabdus spp., Xenorhabdus spp., Clostridium bifermentans, Paenibacillus popilliae, Selaginella kraussiana. Pteris spp., Polypodium spp., Nephrolepis spp., Colysis spp., Tectaria spp., Davallia spp., Polystichum spp., Adiantum spp., Asplenium spp., Blechnum spp., Lygodium spp., Ophioglossum spp., Pyrrosia spp., Doryopteris spp., Dryopteris spp., Pellaea spp., Gymnocarpium spp., Cheilanthes spp., Pteridium spp., Christella spp., Lastreopsis spp., Campyloneurum spp., Hemionitis spp., Selliguea spp. and Arachniodes spp. Pesticidal proteins include but are not limited to: insecticidal proteins from Pseudomonas sp. such as PSEEN3174 (Monalysin; (2011) PLOS Pathogens 7:1-13); from Pseudomonas protegens strain CHAO and Pf-5 (previously fluorescens) (Pechy-Tarr, (2008) Environmental Microbiology 10:2368-2386; GenBank Accession No. EU400157); from Pseudomonas taiwanensis (Liu, et al., (2010) J. Agric. Food Chem., 58:12343-12349) and from Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes (Zhang, et al., (2009) Annals of Microbiology 59:45-50 and Li, et al., (2007) Plant Cell Tiss. Organ Cult. 89:159-168); insecticidal proteins from Photorhabdus sp. and Xenorhabdus sp. (Hinchliffe, et al., (2010) The Open Toxicology Journal, 3:101-118 and Morgan, et al., (2001) Applied and Envir. Micro. 67:2062-2069); U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,048,838, and 6,379,946; a PIP-1 polypeptide of U.S. Pat. No. 9,688,730; an AfIP-1A and/or AfIP-1B polypeptide of U.S. Pat. No. 9,475,847; a PIP-47 polypeptide of US Patent Application Publication Number US20160186204; an IPD045 polypeptide, an IPD064 polypeptide, an IPD074 polypeptide, an IPD075 polypeptide, and an IPD077 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2016/114973; an IPD080 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2018/075350; an IPD078 polypeptide, an IPD084 polypeptide, an IPD085 polypeptide, an IPD086 polypeptide, an IPD087 polypeptide, an IPD088 polypeptide, and an IPD089 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2018/084936; PIP-72 polypeptide of US Patent Application Publication Number US20160366891; a PtIP-50 polypeptide and a PtIP-65 polypeptide of US Patent Application Publication Number US20170166921; an IPD098 polypeptide, an IPD059 polypeptide, an IPD108 polypeptide, an IPD109 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2018/232072; a PtIP-83 polypeptide of US Patent Application Publication Number US20160347799; a PtIP-96 polypeptide of US Patent Application Publication Number US20170233440; an IPD079 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2017/23486; an IPD082 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2017/105987; an IPD090 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2017/192560; an IPD093 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2018/111551; an IPD103 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2018/005411; an IPD101 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2018/118811; an IPD121 polypeptide of PCT Publication Number WO/2018/208882; and δ-endotoxins including but not limited to a Cry1, Cry2, Cry3, Cry4, Cry5, Cry6, Cry7, Cry8, Cry9, Cry10, Cry11, Cry12, Cry13, Cry14, Cry15, Cry16, Cry17, Cry18, Cry19, Cry20, Cry21, Cry22, Cry23, Cry24, Cry25, Cry26, Cry27, Cry28, Cry29, Cry30, Cry31, Cry32, Cry33, Cry34, Cry35, Cry36, Cry37, Cry38, Cry39, Cry40, Cry41, Cry42, Cry43, Cry44, Cry45, Cry46, Cry47, Cry49, Cry50, Cry51, Cry52, Cry53, Cry54, Cry55, Cry56, Cry57, Cry58, Cry59, Cry60, Cry61, Cry62, Cry63, Cry64, Cry65, Cry66, Cry67, Cry68, Cry69, Cry70, Cry71, and Cry 72 classes of 0-endotoxin polypeptides and the B. thuringiensis cytolytic cyt1 and cyt2 genes. Members of these classes of B. thuringiensis insecticidal proteins are well known to one skilled in the art (see, Crickmore, et al., “Bacillus thuringiensis toxin nomenclature” (2011), at lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/Neil_Crickmore/Bt/which can be accessed on the world-wide web using the “www” prefix).

Examples of δ-endotoxins also include but are not limited to Cry1A proteins of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,880,275, 7,858,849, and 8,878,007; a Cry1Ac mutant of U.S. Pat. No. 9,512,187; a DIG-3 or DIG-11 toxin (N-terminal deletion of α-helix 1 and/or α-helix 2 variants of cry proteins such as Cry1A, Cry3A) of U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,304,604, 8,304,605 and 8,476,226; Cry1B of US Patent Application Publication Number US20060112447, US Patent Application Publication Number US20160194364, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,404,121 and 8,772,577; Cry1B variants of PCT Publication Numbers WO/2016/61197 and WO/2017/180715; Cry1C of U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,874; Cry1D protein of US20170233759; a Cry1E protein of PCT Publication Number WO/2018/075197; a Cry1F protein of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,188,960 and 6,218,188; Cry1A/F chimeras of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,070,982; 6,962,705 and 6,713,063; a Cry1l protein of PCT Publication number WO/2017/0233759; a Cry1J variant of US Publication US20170240603; a Cry2 protein such as Cry2Ab protein of U.S. Pat. No. 7,064,249 and Cry2A. 127 protein of U.S. Pat. No. 7,208,474; a Cry3A protein including but not limited to an engineered hybrid insecticidal protein (eHIP) created by fusing unique combinations of variable regions and conserved blocks of at least two different Cry proteins (US Patent Application Publication Number 2010/0017914); a Cry4 protein; a Cry5 protein; a Cry6 protein; Cry8 proteins of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,329,736, 7,449,552, 7,803,943, 7,476,781, 7,105,332, 7,339,092, 7,378,499, 7,462,760, and 9,593,345; a Cry9 protein such as such as members of the Cry9A, Cry9B, Cry9C, Cry9D, Cry9E and Cry9F families including the Cry9 protein of U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,000,261 and 8,802,933, and PCT Publication Number WO/2017/132188; a Cry15 protein of Naimov, et al., (2008) Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 74:7145-7151; a Cry14 protein of US Patent Number U.S. Pat. No. 8,933,299; a Cry22, a Cry34Ab1 protein of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,127,180, 6,624,145 and 6,340,593; a truncated Cry34 protein of US Patent Number U.S. Pat. No. 8,816,157; a CryET33 and cryET34 protein of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,248,535, 6,326,351, 6,399,330, 6,949,626, 7,385,107 and 7,504,229; a CryET33 and CryET34 homologs of US Patent Publication Number 2006/0191034, 2012/0278954, and PCT Publication Number WO/2012/139004; a Cry35Ab1 protein of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,083,499, 6,548,291 and 6,340,593; a Cry46 protein of U.S. Pat. No. 9,403,881, a Cry 51 protein, a Cry binary toxin; a TIC901 or related toxin; TIC807 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2008/0295207; TIC853 of US Patent U.S. Pat. No. 8,513,493; ET29, ET37, TIC809, TIC810, TIC812, TIC127, TIC128 of PCT Publication Number WO/2006/033867; engineered Hemipteran toxic proteins of US Patent Application Publication Number US20160150795; AXMI-027, AXMI-036, and AXMI-038 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,236,757; AXMI-031, AXMI-039, AXMI-040, AXMI-049 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,923,602; AXMI-018, AXMI-020 and AXMI-021 of PCT Publication Number WO/2006/083891; AXMI-010 of PCT Publication Number WO/2005/038032; AXMI-003 of PCT Publication Number WO/2005/021585; AXMI-008 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2004/0250311; AXMI-006 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2004/0216186; AXMI-007 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2004/0210965; AXMI-009 of US Patent Application Number 2004/0210964; AXMI-014 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2004/0197917; AXMI-004 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2004/0197916; AXMI-028 and AXMI-029 of WO 2006/119457; AXMI-007, AXMI-008, AXMI-0080rf2, AXMI-009, AXMI-014 and AXMI-004 of WO 2004/074462; AXMI-150 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,084,416; AXMI-205 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2011/0023184; AXMI-011, AXMI-012, AXMI-013, AXMI-015, AXMI-019, AXMI-044, AXMI-037, AXMI-043, AXMI-033, AXMI-034, AXMI-022, AXMI-023, AXMI-041, AXMI-063 and AXMI-064 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2011/0263488; AXMI046, AXMI048, AXMI050, AXMI051, AXMI052, AXMI053, AXMI054, AXMI055, AXMI056, AXMI057, AXMI058, AXMI059, AXMI060, AXMI061, AXMI067, AXMI069, AXMI071, AXMI072, AXMI073, AXMI074, AXMI075, AXMI087, AXMI088, AXMI093, AXMI070, AXMI080, AXMI081, AXMI082, AXMI091, AXMI092, AXMI096, AXMI097, AXMI098, AXMI099, AXMI100, AXMI101, AXMI102, AXMI103, AXMI104, AXMI107, AXMI108, AXMI109, AXMI110, AXMI111, AXMI112, AXMI114, AXMI116, AXMI117, AXMI118, AXMI119, AXMI120, AXMI121, AXMI122, AXMI123, AXMI124, AXMI125, AXMI126, AXMI127, AXMI129, AXMI151, AXMI161, AXMI164, AXMI183, AXMI132, AXMI137, AXMI138 of U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,461,421 and 8,461,422; AXMI-R1 and related proteins of US Patent Application Publication Number 2010/0197592; AXMI221Z, AXMI222z, AXMI223z, AXMI224z and AXMI225z of PCT Publication Number WO/2011/103248; AXMI218, AXMI219, AXMI220, AXMI226, AXMI227, AXMI228, AXMI229, AXMI230 and AXMI231 of PCT Publication Number WO/2011/103247; AXMI-115, AXMI-113, AXMI-005, AXMI-163 and AXMI-184 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,334,431; AXMI-001, AXMI-002, AXMI-030, AXMI-035 and AXMI-045 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2010/0298211; AXMI-066 and AXMI-076 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2009/0144852; AXMI128, AXMI130, AXMI131, AXMI133, AXMI140, AXMI141, AXMI142, AXMI143, AXMI144, AXMI146, AXMI148, AXMI149, AXMI152, AXMI153, AXMI154, AXMI155, AXMI156, AXMI157, AXMI158, AXMI162, AXMI165, AXMI166, AXMI167, AXMI168, AXMI169, AXMI170, AXMI171, AXMI172, AXMI173, AXMI174, AXMI175, AXMI176, AXMI177, AXMI178, AXMI179, AXMI180, AXMI181, AXMI182, AXMI185, AXMI186, AXMI187, AXMI188, AXMI189 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,318,900; AXMI079, AXMI080, AXMI081, AXMI082, AXMI091, AXMI092, AXMI096, AXMI097, AXMI098, AXMI099, AXMI100, AXMI101, AXMI102, AXMI103, AXMI104, AXMI107, AXMI108, AXMI109, AXMI110, dsAXMI111, AXMI112, AXMI114, AXMI116, AXMI117, AXMI118, AXMI119, AXMI120, AXMI121, AXMI122, AXMI123, AXMI124, AXMI1257, AXMI1268, AXMI127, AXMI129, AXMI164, AXMI151, AXMI161, AXMI183, AXMI132, AXMI138, AXMI137 of US Patent U.S. Pat. No. 8,461,421; AXMI192 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,461,415; AXMI281 of US Patent Application Publication Number 20160177332; AXMI422 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,252,872; cry proteins such as Cry1A and Cry3A having modified proteolytic sites of U.S. Pat. No. 8,319,019; a Cry1Ac, Cry2Aa and Cry1Ca toxin protein from Bacillus thuringiensis strain VBTS 2528 of US Patent Application Publication Number 2011/0064710. The Cry proteins MP032, MP049, MP051, MP066, MP068, MP070, MP091S, MP109S, MP114, MP121, MP134S, MP183S, MP185S, MP186S, MP195S, MP197S, MP208S, MP209S, MP212S, MP214S, MP217S, MP222S, MP234S, MP235S, MP237S, MP242S, MP243, MP248, MP249S, MP251M, MP252S, MP253, MP259S, MP287S, MP288S, MP295S, MP296S, MP297S, MP300S, MP304S, MP306S, MP310S, MP312S, MP314S, MP319S, MP325S, MP326S, MP327S, MP328S, MP334S, MP337S, MP342S, MP349S, MP356S, MP359S, MP360S, MP437S, MP451S, MP452S, MP466S, MP468S, MP476S, MP482S, MP522S, MP529S, MP548S, MP552S, MP562S, MP564S, MP566S, MP567S, MP569S, MP573S, MP574S, MP575S, MP581S, MP590, MP594S, MP596S, MP597, MP599S, MP600S, MP601S, MP602S, MP604S, MP626S, MP629S, MP630S, MP631S, MP632S, MP633S, MP634S, MP635S, MP639S, MP640S, MP644S, MP649S, MP651S, MP652S, MP653S, MP661S, MP666S, MP672S, MP696S, MP704S, MP724S, MP729S, MP739S, MP755S, MP773S, MP799S, MP800S, MP801S, MP802S, MP803S, MP805S, MP809S, MP815S, MP828S, MP831S, MP844S, MP852, MP865S, MP879S, MP887S, MP891S, MP896S, MP898S, MP935S, MP968, MP989, MP993, MP997, MP1049, MP1066, MP1067, MP1080, MP1081, MP1200, MP1206, MP1233, and MP1311 of U.S. Ser. No. 62/607,372. The insecticidal activity of Cry proteins is well known to one skilled in the art (for review, see, van Frannkenhuyzen, (2009) J. Invert. Path. 101:1-16). The use of Cry proteins as transgenic plant traits is well known to one skilled in the art and Cry-transgenic plants including but not limited to plants expressing Cry1Ac, Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab, Cry1Ab, Cry1A.105, Cry1F, Cry1Fa2, Cry1F+Cry1Ac, Cry2Ab, Cry3A, mCry3A, Cry3Bb1, Cry34Ab1, Cry35Ab1, Vip3A, mCry3A, Cry9c and CBI-Bt have received regulatory approval (see, Sanahuja, (2011) Plant Biotech Journal 9:283-300 and the CERA. (2010) GM Crop Database Center for Environmental Risk Assessment (CERA), ILSI Research Foundation, Washington D.C. at cera-gmc.org/index.php?action=gm_crop_database which can be accessed on the world-wide web using the “www” prefix). More than one pesticidal proteins well known to one skilled in the art can also be expressed in plants such as Vip3Ab & Cry1Fa (US2012/0317682); Cry1BE & Cry1F (US2012/0311746); Cry1CA & Cry1AB (US2012/0311745); Cry1F & CryCa (US2012/0317681); Cry1DA & Cry1BE (US2012/0331590); Cry1DA & Cry1Fa (US2012/0331589); Cry1AB & Cry1BE (US2012/0324606); Cry1Fa & Cry2Aa and Cry1l & Cry1E (US2012/0324605); Cry34Ab/35Ab & Cry6Aa (US20130167269); Cry34Ab/VCry35Ab & Cry3Aa (US20130167268); Cry1Da & Cry1Ca (U.S. Pat. No. 9,796,982); Cry3Aa & Cry6Aa (U.S. Pat. No. 9,798,963); and Cry3A & Cry1Ab or Vip3Aa (U.S. Pat. No. 9,045,766). Pesticidal proteins also include insecticidal lipases including lipid acyl hydrolases of U.S. Pat. No. 7,491,869, and cholesterol oxidases such as from Streptomyces (Purcell et al. (1993) Biochem Biophys Res Commun 15:1406-1413). Pesticidal proteins also include VIP (vegetative insecticidal proteins) toxins of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,877,012, 6,107,279 6,137,033, 7,244,820, 7,615,686, and 8,237,020 and the like. Other VIP proteins are well known to one skilled in the art (see, lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/Neil_Crickmore/Bt/vip.html which can be accessed on the world-wide web using the “www” prefix). Pesticidal proteins also include Cyt proteins including Cyt1A variants of PCT Publication Number WO/2017/199078; Pesticidal proteins also include toxin complex (TC) proteins, obtainable from organisms such as Xenorhabdus, Photorhabdus and Paenibacillus (see, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,491,698 and 8,084,418). Some TC proteins have “stand alone” insecticidal activity and other TC proteins enhance the activity of the stand-alone toxins produced by the same given organism. The toxicity of a “stand-alone” TC protein (from Photorhabdus, Xenorhabdus or Paenibacillus, for example) can be enhanced by one or more TC protein “potentiators” derived from a source organism of a different genus. There are three main types of TC proteins. As referred to herein, Class A proteins (“Protein A”) are stand-alone toxins. Class B proteins (“Protein B”) and Class C proteins (“Protein C”) enhance the toxicity of Class A proteins. Examples of Class A proteins are TcbA, TcdA, XptA1 and XptA2. Examples of Class B proteins are TcaC, TcdB, XptB1Xb and XptC1Wi. Examples of Class C proteins are TccC, XptC1Xb and XptB1Wi. Pesticidal proteins also include spider, snake and scorpion venom proteins. Examples of spider venom peptides include but not limited to lycotoxin-1 peptides and mutants thereof (U.S. Pat. No. 8,334,366). Also included are insect-specific antibodies or an immunotoxin derived therefrom. An antibody targeted to a critical metabolic function in the insect gut would inactivate an affected enzyme, killing the insect.

(C) An enzyme responsible for a hyperaccumulation of a monterpene, a sesquiterpene, a steroid, hydroxamic acid, a phenylpropanoid derivative or another non-protein molecule with insecticidal activity.

(D) A molecule that stimulates signal transduction. For example, nucleotide sequences encoding calmodulin.

(E) A hydrophobic moment peptide. See, PCT Publication Number WO1995/016776 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,580,852 852 disclosing peptide derivatives of Tachyplesin which inhibit fungal plant pathogens and PCT publication Number WO/1995/018855 and 5,607,914 teaching synthetic antimicrobial peptides that confer disease resistance.

(F) A membrane permease, a channel former or a channel blocker, such as, for example, a cecropin-beta lytic peptide analog to render resistance to Pseudomonas solanacearum.

(G) A viral-invasive protein or a complex toxin derived therefrom. For example, the accumulation of viral coat proteins in transformed plant cells imparts resistance to viral infection and/or disease development effected by the virus from which the coat protein gene is derived, as well as by related viruses. Coat protein-mediated resistance has been conferred upon transformed plants against alfalfa mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, tobacco streak virus, potato virus X, potato virus Y, tobacco etch virus, tobacco rattle virus and tobacco mosaic virus.

(H) A virus-specific antibody. For example, transgenic plants expressing recombinant antibody genes can be protected from virus attack.

(I) A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a pathogen or a parasite; for example, an endopolygalacturonase-inhibiting protein which inhibits fungal endo alpha-1,4-D-polygalacturonases which would otherwise facilitate fungal colonization and plant nutrient release by solubilizing plant cell wall galacturonase.

(J) A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a plant. For example, a ribosome-inactivating gene to increase resistance to fungal disease.

(K) Genes involved in the Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) Response and/or the pathogenesis related genes.

(L) Antifungal genes, such as, for example, genes that confer resistance to Colletotrichum and the Rcg locus that may be utilized as a single locus conversion. See, e.g., US Patent Publication No. US20090035765 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,891,085, 7,306,946, and 8,084,671.

(M) Detoxification genes, such as for fumonisin, beauvericin, moniliformin and zearalenone and their structurally related derivatives. For example, see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,931.

(N) Cystatin and cysteine proteinase inhibitors. E.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,205,453.

(O) Defensin genes. See PCT Publication Number WO/2003/000863 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,911,577; 6,855,865; 6,777,592 and 7,238,781.

2. Genes that confer resistance to an herbicide, for example:

(A) An herbicide that inhibits the growing point or meristem, such as an imidazalinone or a sulfonylurea. Exemplary genes in this category code for mutant ALS and AHAS enzyme. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,605,011; 5,013,659; 5,141,870; 5,767,361; 5,731,180; 5,304,732; 4,761,373; 5,331,107; 5,928,937; 5,378,824; US Patent Publication No. 20070214515 and PCT Publication Number WO/1996/033270.

(B) Glyphosate (resistance imparted by mutant 5-enolpyruvl-3-phosphikimate synthase (EPSP) and aroA genes, respectively) and other phosphono compounds such as glufosinate (phosphinothricin acetyl transferase, PAT) and Streptomyces hygroscopicus phosphinothricin-acetyl transferase, bar, genes), and pyridinoxy or phenoxy propionic acids and cycloshexones (ACCase inhibitor-encoding genes). See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,835, which discloses the nucleotide sequence of a form of EPSP which can confer glyphosate resistance. See also, U.S. Pat. No. 7,405,074, and related applications, which disclose compositions and means for providing glyphosate resistance. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,627,061 and 6,825,400 also describe genes encoding EPSPS enzymes. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,566,587; 6,338,961; 6,248,876; 6,040,497; 5,804,425; 5,633,435; 5,145,783; 4,971,908; 5,312,910; 5,188,642; 4,940,835; 5,866,775; 6,225,114; 6,130,366; 5,310,667; 4,535,060; 4,769,061; 5,633,448; 5,510,471; Re. 36,449; RE 37,287 E; and 5,491,288; and European publications EP1173580; EP1173581 and EP1173582 and PCT Publication Number WO/2001/66704.

Glyphosate tolerance is also imparted to plants that express a gene that encodes a glyphosate oxido-reductase enzyme as described more fully in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,776,760 and 5,463,175. In addition, glyphosate tolerance can be imparted to plants by the over expression of genes encoding glyphosate N-acetyltransferase. See, for example, US Patent Application Publications 2004/0082770; 2005/0246798; and US2008/0234130. A DNA molecule encoding a mutant aroA gene can be obtained under ATCC Accession No. 39256, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,061. European Patent Application No. 0 333 033, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,374 disclose nucleotide sequences of glutamine synthetase genes which confer resistance to herbicides such as L-phosphinothricin. The nucleotide sequence of a phosphinothricin-acetyl-transferase gene is provided in European Application No. 0 242 246. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,969,213; 5,489,520; 5,550,318; 5,874,265; 5,919,675; 5,561,236; 5,648,477; 5,646,024; 6,177,616 and 5,879,903. Exemplary of genes conferring resistance to phenoxy propionic acids and cycloshexones, such as sethoxydim and haloxyfop, are the Acc1-S1, Acc1-S2 and Acc1-S3 genes. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,188,642; 5,352,605; 5,530,196; 5,633,435; 5,717,084; 5,728,925; 5,804,425 and Canadian Patent No. 1,313,830.

(C) An herbicide that inhibits photosynthesis, such as a triazine (psbA and gs+ genes) and a benzonitrile (nitrilase gene). Nucleotide sequences for nitrilase genes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,648, and DNA molecules containing these genes are available under ATCC Accession Nos. 53435, 67441 and 67442.

(D) Acetohydroxy acid synthase, which has been found to make plants that express this enzyme resistant to multiple types of herbicides, has been introduced into a variety of plants. Other genes that confer tolerance to herbicides include: a gene encoding a chimeric protein of rat cytochrome P4507A1 and yeast NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase, genes for glutathione reductase and superoxide dismutase, and genes for various phosphotransferases.

(E) Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) is necessary for the production of chlorophyll, which is necessary for all plant survival. The protox enzyme serves as the target for a variety of herbicidal compounds. These herbicides also inhibit growth of all the different species of plants present, causing their total destruction. The development of plants containing altered protox activity which are resistant to these herbicides are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,288,306; 6,282,837; and 5,767,373; and PCT Publication Number WO/2001/012825.

(F) Dicamba (3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid) is an organochloride derivative of benzoic acid which functions by increasing plant growth rate such that the plant dies.

(G) A phenoxy herbicide or herbicide that mimics endogenous plant hormones, such as indoleacetic acid (IAA), auxin, gibberellin, cytokinin, abscisic acid and ethylene. Examples of phenoxy herbicides include (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy) acetic acid (MCPA), 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), 4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy) butyric acid (2,4-DB) and 4-(4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy) butyric acid (MCPB). ACCase inhibitors such as aryloxphenoxypropionates act by inhibiting acetyl-CoA carboxylase, and include, for example, aryloxyalkanoate herbicide tolerance, through the herbicide tolerance genes such as aryloxyalkanoate dioxygenase (aad-1) and aryloxyalkanoate dioxygenase-12 (AAD-12). See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 10,947,555.

3. Transgenes that confer or contribute to an altered grain characteristic, such as:

(A) Altered fatty acids, for example, by

(1) Down-regulation of stearoyl-ACP desaturase to increase stearic acid content of the plant. See, PCT Publication Number WO/1999/064579,

(2) Elevating oleic acid via FAD-2 gene modification and/or decreasing linolenic acid via FAD-3 gene modification, See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,063,947; 6,323,392; 6,372,965, PCT Publication Number WO/1993/011245 and US Patent Application Publication 2020/0399648,

(3) Altering conjugated linolenic or linoleic acid content, such as in PCT Publication Number WO/2001/012800,

(4) Altering LEC1, AGP, Dek1, Superal1, mi1ps, various Ipa genes such as Ipa1, Ipa3, hpt or hggt. For example, see PCT Publication Numbers WO/2002/42424, WO/1998/22604, WO/2003/011015, WO/2002/057439, WO/2003/011015, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,423,886, 6,197,561, 6,825,397, and US Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003/0079247, 2003/0204870.

(B) Altered phosphorus content, for example, by the

(1) Introduction of a phytase-encoding gene to enhance breakdown of phytate, adding more free phosphate to the transformed plant, such as for example, using an Aspergillus niger phytase gene.

(2) Modulating a gene that reduces phytate content.

(C) Altered carbohydrates effected, for example, by altering a gene for an enzyme that affects the branching pattern of starch, a gene altering thioredoxin such as NTR and/or TRX. (See, U.S. Pat. No. 6,531,648) and/or a gamma zein knock out or mutant such as cs27 or TUSC27 or en27 (See U.S. Pat. No. 6,858,778 and US2005/0160488, US2005/0204418). Exemplary genes include those encoding fructosyltransferase, levansucrase, alpha-amylase, invertase, branching enzyme II, UDP-D-xylose 4-epimerase, Fragile 1 and 2, Ref1, HCHL (4-hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA hydratase/lyase), C4H (cinnamate 4-hydroxylase), AGP (ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase) (See U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,529). The fatty acid modification genes may also be used to affect starch content and/or composition through the interrelationship of the starch and oil pathways.

(D) Altered antioxidant content or composition, such as alteration of tocopherol, tocotrienols or homogentisate geranyl geranyl transferase (hggt). For example, see, U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,683, US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0034886 and PCT Publication Numbers WO/2000/068393 and WO/2003/082899.

(E) Altered essential seed amino acids. For example, see, U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,600 (method of increasing accumulation of essential amino acids in seeds), U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,913 (binary methods of increasing accumulation of essential amino acids in seeds), U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,389 (high lysine), PCT Publication Numbers WO/1999/040209 (alteration of amino acid compositions in seeds), WO/1999/029882 (methods for altering amino acid content of proteins), WO/1998/020133 (proteins with enhanced levels of essential amino acids), U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,850,016 (alteration of amino acid compositions in seeds), 5,885,802 (high methionine), 5,885,801 (high threonine), 6,664,445 (plant amino acid biosynthetic enzymes), 6,459,019 (increased lysine and threonine), 6,441,274 (plant tryptophan synthase beta subunit), 6,346,403 (methionine metabolic enzymes), 5,939,599 (high sulfur), 5,912,414 (increased methionine), PCT Publication Numbers WO/1998/056935 (plant amino acid biosynthetic enzymes), WO/1998/045458 (engineered seed protein having higher percentage of essential amino acids), WO98/42831 (increased lysine), U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,436 (increasing sulfur amino acid content), U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,223 (synthetic storage proteins with defined structure containing programmable levels of essential amino acids for improvement of the nutritional value of plants), PCT Publication Numbers WO/1996/001905 (increased threonine), WO95/15392 (increased lysine), US Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0163838, US Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0150014, US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0068767, U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,498, PCT Publication Numbers WO/2001/079516, and WO/2000/009706 (Ces A: cellulose synthase), U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,638 (hemicellulose), U.S. Pat. No. 6,399,859 and US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0025203 (UDPGdH), U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,638 (RGP).

4. Genes that control pollination, hybrid seed production, or male-sterility:

There are several methods of conferring genetic male sterility available, such as multiple mutant genes at separate locations within the genome that confer male sterility, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,654,465 and 4,727,219 and chromosomal translocations, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,861,709 and 3,710,511. U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,068 describes a system of nuclear male sterility which includes replacing the native promoter of an essential male fertility gene with an inducible promoter to create a male sterile plant that can have fertility restored by inducing or turning “on”, the promoter such that the male fertility gene is transcribed.

(A) Introduction of a deacetylase gene under the control of a tapetum-specific promoter and with the application of the chemical N—Ac—PPT (PCT Publication Number WO/2001/029237).

(B) Introduction of various stamen-specific promoters (PCT Publication Numbers WO/1992/013956, WO/1992/013957).

(C) Introduction of the barnase and the barstar gene (Paul et al. Plant Mol. Biol. 19:611-622, 1992).

For additional examples of nuclear male and female sterility systems and genes, see also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,859,341; 6,297,426; 5,478,369; 5,824,524; 5,850,014 and 6,265,640.

Also see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,041 (relating to a method for the preparation of a seed of a plant comprising crossing a male sterile plant and a second plant which is male fertile), U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,859 (molecular methods of hybrid seed production) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,523 (use of male tissue-preferred regulatory region in mediating fertility).

5. Genes that create a site for site specific DNA integration.

This includes the introduction of FRT sites that may be used in the FLP/FRT system and/or Lox sites that may be used in the Cre/Loxp system. Other systems that may be used include the Gin recombinase of phage Mu, the Pin recombinase of E. coli, and the R/RS system of the pSR1 plasmid.

6. Genes that affect abiotic stress resistance (including but not limited to flowering, ear and seed development, enhancement of nitrogen utilization efficiency, altered nitrogen responsiveness, drought resistance or tolerance, cold resistance or tolerance, and salt resistance or tolerance) and increased yield under stress.

For example, altering water use efficiency through alteration of malate. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,892,009, 5,965,705, 5,929,305, 5,891,859, 6,417,428, 6,664,446, 6,706,866, 6,717,034, 6,801,104; and PCT Publication Numbers WO/2000/060089; WO/2001/026459; WO/2001/035725; WO/2001/034726; WO/2001/035727; WO/2001/036444; WO/2001/036597; WO/2001/036598; WO/2002/015675; WO/2002/017430; WO/2002/077185; WO/2003/013227; WO/2002/079403; WO/2003/013228; WO/2003/014327; WO/2004/031349; WO/2004/076638; WO/1998/09521; and WO/1999/038977 describing genes, including CBF genes and transcription factors effective in mitigating the negative effects of freezing, high salinity, and drought on plants can be used. Altering abscisic acid in plants may result in increased yield and/or increased tolerance to abiotic stress. Modifying cytokinin expression may result in plants with increased drought tolerance, and/or increased yield. See PCT Publication Numbers WO/2000/006341, WO/2004/090143, WO0202776, WO2003052063, WO/2001/064898 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,084,153, 6,177,275 and 6,107,547. Enhancement of nitrogen utilization and altered nitrogen responsiveness can be carried out. Ethylene alteration, plant transcription factors or transcriptional regulators of abiotic stress may be used. Other genes and transcription factors that affect plant growth and agronomic traits such as yield, flowering, plant growth and/or plant structure, can be introduced or introgressed into plants, see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,573,430 (TFL), U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,663 (FT), PCT Publication Numbers WO1996/014414 (CON), WO1996/038560, WO2001/021822 (VRN1), WO/2000/044918 (VRN2), WO/1999/049064 (GI), WO2000/046358 (FRI), WO/1997/029123, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,794,560, 6,307,126 (GAI), PCT Publication Numbers WO/1999/09174 (D8 and Rht), WO/2004/076638 and WO/2004/031349 (transcription factors).

Seed Cleaning and Conditioning

Disclosed are methods for producing cleaned canola seed by cleaning seed of variety 17GG0168N. “Cleaning a seed” or “seed cleaning” refers to the removal of foreign material from the surface of the seed. Foreign material to be removed from the surface of the seed includes but is not limited to fungi, bacteria, insect material, including insect eggs, larvae, and parts thereof, and any other pests that exist on the surface of the seed. The terms “cleaning a seed” or “seed cleaning” also refer to the removal of any debris or low quality, infested, or infected seeds and seeds of different species that are foreign to the sample. Conditioning the seed is understood in the art to include controlling the temperature and rate of dry down of the seed, such as by adding or removing moisture from the seed and storing seed in a controlled temperature environment.

Seed Treatment

“Treating a seed” or “applying a treatment to a seed” refers to the application of a composition to a seed as a coating or powder. The composition may be applied to the seed in a seed treatment at any time from harvesting of the seed to sowing of the seed. Methods for producing a treated seed include the step of applying a composition to the seed or seed surface. The composition may be applied using methods including but not limited to mixing in a container, mechanical application, tumbling, spraying, misting, and immersion. Thus, the composition may be applied as a slurry, a mist, or a soak. The composition to be used as a seed treatment can include one or more of a chemical or biological herbicides, herbicide or other safeners, insecticides, fungicides, germination inhibitors and enhancers, nutrients, plant growth regulators and activators, bactericides, nematicides, avicides and/or molluscicides. These compounds are typically formulated together with further carriers, surfactants or application-promoting adjuvants customarily employed in the art of formulation. The coatings may be applied by impregnating propagation material with a liquid formulation or by coating with a combined wet or dry formulation.

Some seed treatments that may be used on crop seed include, but are not limited to, one or more of abscisic acid, acibenzolar-S-methyl, avermectin, amitrol, azaconazole, azospirillum, azadirachtin, azoxystrobin, Bacillus spp. (including one or more of cereus, firmus, megaterium, pumilis, sphaericus, subtilis and/or thuringiensis), Bradyrhizobium spp. (including one or more of betae, canariense, elkanii, iriomotense, japonicum, liaonigense, pachyrhizi and/or yuanmingense), captan, carboxin, chitosan, clothianidin, copper, cyazypyr, difenoconazole, etidiazole, fipronil, fludioxonil, fluoxastrobin, fluquinconazole, flurazole, fluxofenim, harpin protein, imazalil, imidacloprid, ipconazole, isoflavenoids, lipo-chitooligosaccharide, mancozeb, manganese, maneb, mefenoxam, metalaxyl, metconazole, myclobutanil, PCNB (EPA registration number 00293500419, containing quintozen and terrazole), penflufen, penicillium, penthiopyrad, permethrine, picoxystrobin, prothioconazole, pyraclostrobin, rynaxypyr, S-metolachlor, saponin, sedaxane, TCMTB (2-(thiocyanomethylthio) benzothiazole), tebuconazole, thiabendazole, thiamethoxam, thiocarb, thiram, tolclofos-methyl, triadimenol, trichoderma, trifloxystrobin, triticonazole and/or zinc.