Metabolomic Data Analysis in Plant Lipid Metabolism and Lipid Synthesis

Dear Colleagues,

Growing populations and elevated living standards have increased global demands for healthy plant lipids. The global consumption of vegetable oils worldwide from 1995 to 2021 increased from 72 to 209.14 million metric tons, and the demand for plant-based oils has been estimated to become twice as high by 2030. New innovative and sustainable methods for the improvement of plant lipid yield and quality must be developed. Metabolomics, based on the analytical platforms of GC/LC-MS, NMR, etc., is rapidly becoming an important tool in identifying key metabolites in plant lipid biosynthesis pathways and in decoding the function of genes, especially its combination with transcriptome, genomics, and other modern analytical technologies will improve our understanding of plant lipid biosynthesis and accumulation, and also provide the potential for selecting and breeding superior cultivars with high-oil yield and quality with special metabolites. However, the key metabolite is still unknown for lipid biosynthesis in many oil crops, especially the key metabolic pathway for specific metabolites is not still clear.

In this Special Issue, we ask for contributions to identify key metabolites in plant lipid metabolisms by targeted and untargeted metabolic methods and their combination with other omics. We would like to emphasize the plant lipid biosynthesis and formation and accumulation of special fatty acid components. The identification of metabolites and their key metabolic pathway will be helpful for improving plant lipid biosynthesis. New key metabolic pathways of important bioactive components screened in plant lipids will be significant for the improvement of lipid quality for human health. We are convinced that the quantitative approaches in metabolite analysis could highlight the transport of metabolites between cells and break through the bottlenecks of improvement of special metabolites in plant lipids. New metabolic engineering methods for understanding and/or improving plant lipid metabolism and synthesis are also encouraged. New key genes, transcription factors, and ncRNAs, which regulate metabolite biosynthesis in plant lipids, will be also included in the scope of this Special Issue.

Dr. Chengjiang Ruan
Dr. Jian Ding
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. Metabolites 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 2700 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.

• plant lipid
• metabolomics
• metabolic engineering
• metabolic flux analysis
• transcriptional regulation
• metabolome Genome-Wide Association Study