Long non-coding RNAs in Brassica crops: molecular hijackers of developmental processes and stress responses with implications for tropical adaptation

The genus Brassica comprises diverse agriculturally important crops and is grown for vegetables, oil crops, forage, and industrial purposes. With the advancement of next-generation sequencing technologies in plants, hundreds of thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified and characterized in Brassica crops. LncRNAs intricately regulate diverse aspects of Brassica crop growth and development, including flowering time, flower fertility, pollen development, and abiotic stress tolerance, and involve unique mechanisms that regulate gene expression, miRNAs, and interaction in controlling hormone pathways. This review aims to present a comprehensive overview of lncRNAs, with a particular focus on their regulatory roles in Brassica crops which are increasingly grown in tropical and subtropical agricultural systems under abiotic stress conditions, such as heat, drought, and salinity.