Dear Colleagues,

Plant molecular farming is a rapidly evolving branch of plant biotechnology that explores the use of plants, algae, and photosynthetic microbes engineered to produce bioactive metabolites, recombinant pharmaceuticals, and industrial proteins in large quantities. Molecular farming involves the manipulation of cellular metabolism to optimize the production of commercially valuable biologicals (small molecules, proteins, enzymes, and complexes) with therapeutic potential in humans. Among the key targets are human proteins (including antibodies) because the use of such materials isolated from natural sources risks contamination with disease agents (e.g., viruses, mycoplasms, and prions) that are absent from plants. Plant molecular farming also permits a more cost-effective and readily adaptable strategy for biological production, particularly in a low-resource setting.

In this Special Issue, we aim to highlight current approaches, next-generation technologies, and the integration of advanced chemical engineering and materials science to improve the production and delivery of enhanced products. While innovative and focused reviews are welcome, we are mainly seeking primary research articles, systems-to-products reports that analyze and direct the field, and reports on novel technologies or applications.

Prof. Dr. Michael Timko
Dr. Hongbo Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• bioactive metabolites
• biotechnology
• genetic engineering
• plant-based platforms
• recombinant pharmaceuticals