PLANT PHENOTYPE IS THE CUMULATIVE OUTPUT OF COMBINED GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS OPERATING TO INFLUENCE PLANT GROWTH AND DEFENSE PATHWAYS DURING DEVELOPMENT. TO APPROACH COMPLEX TRAITS SUCH AS YIELD OR CROP RESILIENCE THROUGH A SINGULARLY GENETIC ROUTE CAN BE INSUFFICIENT FOR REALIZING TRUE POTENTIAL GAINS IN CROP PRODUCTIVITY. EPIGENETICS REFERS TO THE HERITABLE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL SIGNALS ON CHROMATIN BEHAVIOR IN THE PLANT, REFLECTING NOT SO MUCH THE COMBINATION OF PLANT GENES PRESENT BUT HOW THOSE GENES ARE EXPRESSED. OUR PROPOSED RESEARCH COMBINESEXPERTISE IN CROP EPIGENETIC REPROGRAMMING, RNA BIOLOGY, AND CANOLA FIELD CROP EVALUATION TO TEST AND IMPLEMENT A NOVEL COMMERCIAL APPROACH TO CANOLA PRODUCTION. THE PRIMARY GOALS ARE 1) TO INTEGRATE A NOVEL CANOLA EPIGENETIC BREEDING STRATEGY WITH MEANINGFUL, MULTI-SITE FIELD EVALUATION, 2) TO TEST POTENTIAL GENETIC IMPROVEMENTS TO THE SYSTEM, AND 3) TO INCORPORATE A NEW AND UNCONVENTIONAL DNA METHYLATION PLATFORM FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF MOLECULAR MARKERS PREDICTIVE OF FIELD PERFORMANCE. THE PROJECT FOCUSES ON TWO CANOLA GENOTYPES INITIALLY, WITH EMPHASIS ON MEASUREMENT OF EPIGENETIC EFFECTS, AND INCORPORATES A GENOME-WIDE DNA METHYLATION ANALYSIS PLATFORM THAT IS HIGHLY SENSITIVE. THE TECHNOLOGIES PROPOSED ARE POTENTIALLY TRANSFORMATIVE, SUPPORTED BY UNUSUALLY ROBUST PRELIMINARY DEMONSTRATION OF FEASIBILITY, AND DESIGNED FOR PRACTICAL COMMERCIAL ADOPTION .