{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,11]],"date-time":"2026-09-11T09:07:07Z","timestamp":1789117627733,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788739200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"GRDC","award":["DAN00208"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DAN00208"]}]},{"award":["DAN00208"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DAN00208"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02xwr1996","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Mol. Sci.","IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Yield losses due to water-deficit (WD) conditions, especially during the reproductive stages of plant development, pose a significant threat to global canola (Brassica napus L.) production. Therefore, it is critical to investigate traits contributing to improved productivity under increased WD conditions. Here we present phenotypic, physiological and transcriptomic changes in response to WD across contrasting canola accessions exhibiting variation in drought resistance-related traits. WD significantly reduced shoot biomass, plant height, harvest index, leaf water content, photosynthetic CO2 assimilation rate, intrinsic water-use efficiency and carbon isotope discrimination. WD caused 49 to 100% of the seed yield reduction: the minimum seed yield reduction (49.66%) was observed in a doubled-haploid (DH) line, 06-5101.137, while the maximum yield reduction (94.1 to 100%) occurred in the late-flowering DH lines (06.5101.088 and 06-5101.306). Seed yield showed a positive correlation (r = 0.29 to 0.95) with shoot biomass and harvest index, leaf water content, photosynthetic CO2 assimilation rate, intrinsic water use efficiency and carbon isotope discrimination. However, it showed negative correlations with days to flower, leaf specific weight, root length, root biomass (r = \u22120.04 to \u22120.79) across water treatments. The specific leaf transcriptome analysis of the two parental lines of DH population that exhibit variation for effective water use under well-watered and water-deficient conditions revealed different categories of differentially expressed genes (DEGs): WD-responsive DEGs in BC1329 parental line (1116) and BC9102 (1205) with 754 and 853 DEGs unique to BC1329 and BC9102, respectively, WD-responsive DEGs (906), genotype-dependent DEGs (8465) and genotype \u00d7 treatment interaction DEGs (353). DEG annotations revealed that the WD-treatment-affected genes were involved in stress responses and growth and development. We further located 235 DEGs within the QTL regions underlying agronomic and physiological performance. Our study provides a conceptual framework for the morphological, physiological and molecular determinants involved in water-use efficiency. Seedlings\u2019 traits with high heritability values, such as shoot biomass, leaf weight, leaf water content and \u039413C, serve as proxies for trait-based selection for improved seed yield under both water-limited and non-water-limited conditions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27177967","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T13:53:28Z","timestamp":1788789208000},"page":"7967","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Morphological, Physiological and Transcriptomic Changes in Response to Water Deficit Stress in Brassica napus L."],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9761-1518","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Harsh","family":"Raman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brett","family":"McVittie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6707-4467","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Niharika","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Orange Agricultural Institute, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maheswaran","family":"Rohan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7455-5461","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rosy","family":"Raman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"873","DOI":"10.1038\/s43016-021-00400-y","article-title":"Climate impacts on global agriculture emerge earlier in new generation of climate and crop models","volume":"2","author":"Ruane","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nat. 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