Importance
L. maculans is the most important pathogen of Brassica napus, which is used as a feed source for livestock and for its rapeseed oil. L. maculans destroys around 5–20% of canola yields in France. The disease is very important in England as well. From 2000 to 2002, the disease resulted in approximately ₤56 million worth of damage per season. Rapeseed oil is the preferred European oil source for biofuel due to its high yield. Brassica napus produces more oil per land area than other sources like soybeans. Major losses to oilseed crops have also occurred in Australia. The most recent significant losses were in 2003, to the widely-planted B. napus cultivars containing a resistance gene from B. rapa.
L. maculans metabolizes brassinin, an important phytoalexin produced by Brassica species, into indole-3-carboxaldehyde and indole-3-carboxylic acid. Virulent isolates proceed through the (3-indolylmethyl)dithiocarbamate S-oxide intermediate, while avirulent isolates first convert brassinin to N-acetyl-3-indolylmethylamine and 3-indolylmethylamine. Recent research has shown that Brassinin could be important as a chemo-preventative agent in the treatment of cancer. Control of L. maculans is important in order to preserve the vital Brassinin from digestion.
As a bioengineering innovation, in 2010 it was shown that a light-driven protein from L. maculans could be used to mediate, alongside earlier reagents, multi-color silencing of neurons in the mammalian nervous system.
Read more about this topic: Leptosphaeria Maculans
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