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Biology
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Lipid Metabolism in Plant Growth and Development
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Lipid Metabolism in Plant Growth and Development

A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 6208

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiaohong Yu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973-5000, USA
Interests: lipid; plant biochemistry; plant molecular biology; genetics; biotechnology
Dr. Yingqi Cai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA
Interests: lipid; lipid droplet; lipid metabolism; metabolic engineering; plant biochemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lipids, an essential cell components, are involved in nearly every aspect of plant growth and development. Beyond the well-known role of lipids in maintaining the structural integrity and fluidity of membranes, plant lipids serve as the major energy reservoir in seeds and participate in various physiological processes, including signal transduction, stress responses, reproduction, and secondary metabolism, which are crucial for plant growth and development.

This Special Issue will feature original research papers and invited reviews that highlight the most recent discoveries in plant lipid biology and provide insights into how lipids participate in various biological processes of plant life, such as seed germination, photosynthesis, stress responses, and reproduction. Topics of interest include lipid synthesis, transport, degradation, storage, signaling, and engineering. This Special Issue aims to collate the latest discoveries in plant lipid research, providing fundamental knowledge to advance our understanding of the multifaceted impact of lipids on plant growth and development, crop yield, as well as the nutritional and industrial value of economic crops.

Dr. Xiaohong Yu
Dr. Yingqi Cai
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Biology is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

Keywords

  • lipid metabolism
  • lipid engineering
  • plant growth
  • plant development
  • lipid biosynthesis
  • lipid signaling
  • lipid transport
  • membrane structure
  • energy storage
  • plant–microbe interactions
  • stress response
  • nutrition value
  • cellular process

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 12707 KB  
Article
Comparative Genomic Analysis and Functional Identification of CER1 and CER3 Homologs in Rice Wax Synthesis
by Nesma E. E. Youssif, Bowen Yang, Haodong Huang, Mohamed Hamdy Amar, Mohamed Ezzat, Mohammad Belal, Sanaa A. M. Zaghlool, Huayan Zhao, Dong Fu and Shiyou Lü
Biology 2026, 15(2), 166; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology15020166 - 16 Jan 2026
Viewed by 766
Abstract
Alkane is a predominant wax component, whose production requires the aids of CER1 and CER3. In rice, OsCER1 and OsCER3 are present in multiple copies. Until now, the roles of these genes have been studied individually; however, a systematic comparison of their [...] Read more.
Alkane is a predominant wax component, whose production requires the aids of CER1 and CER3. In rice, OsCER1 and OsCER3 are present in multiple copies. Until now, the roles of these genes have been studied individually; however, a systematic comparison of their relative contributions to cuticular wax biosynthesis has not yet been carried out. Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that CER1s and CER3s from different plants are classified into two subgroups. RT-qPCR analysis showed that these genes display distinct expression patterns, revealing their specific roles in wax production. Promoter prediction analysis showed that cis-elements responding to light, phytohormones and stress are enriched in the promoter region of OsCER1s and OsCER3s. These proteins are all localized in the endoplasmic reticulum. Further study showed that OsCER1s and OsCER3s are inclined to form a complex during the wax synthesis. Finally, the wax analysis of single mutants showed that among the examined genes, OsCER3a mutation greatly reduced the total wax amounts to 19.6% of wild-type plant with a decrease in most of wax components, whereas mutation of other genes including OsCER3b, OsCER3c, OsCER1a and OsCER1c slightly or barely affect wax production, suggesting that OsCER3a plays major roles in rice wax production whereas other proteins redundantly participate in the wax synthesis. Additionally, the wax increasing rates of Arabidopsis expressing OSCER1 are lower than those of overexpressing AtCER1. Taken together, our study identified the predominant genes involved in wax production, which will be useful for genetically engineering rice with enhanced stress tolerance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lipid Metabolism in Plant Growth and Development)
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21 pages, 3291 KB  
Article
Genomic Analysis of the Natural Variation of Fatty Acid Composition in Seed Oils of Camelina sativa
by Samuel Decker, Wilson Craine, Timothy Paulitz, Chengci Chen and Chaofu Lu
Biology 2025, 14(9), 1199; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14091199 - 5 Sep 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1028
Abstract
Camelina sativa is an oilseed crop that has shown strong promise as a biofuel feedstock. The profile of fatty acids greatly influences the oil quality; however, genetic mechanisms that determine the natural variation of fatty acid composition in camelina are not fully understood. [...] Read more.
Camelina sativa is an oilseed crop that has shown strong promise as a biofuel feedstock. The profile of fatty acids greatly influences the oil quality; however, genetic mechanisms that determine the natural variation of fatty acid composition in camelina are not fully understood. A genome wide association study (GWAS) was performed to uncover genetic loci that may contribute to the contents of major fatty acids such as oleic and linolenic acids in camelina seed. Two approaches were taken to improve the GWAS efficiency. First, growing a diversity panel of 212 accessions in four locations and two nitrogen fertilization conditions revealed great variation in fatty acid contents in seeds. Second, using an improved reference genome, abundant markers, including 203,320 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 99,067 insertions/deletions (indels), were developed, which refined the population structure of the diversity panel. GWAS resulted in 118 genetic markers across 31 trait/treatment conditions. Closely linked markers were determined based on linkage decay and by comparing secondarily associated markers when highly associated ones were removed. Candidate genes were examined by comparing the pangenomes of 12 high-quality reference genomes. This study provides new resources to understand seed lipid metabolism and improve camelina oils through molecular breeding. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lipid Metabolism in Plant Growth and Development)
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19 pages, 2944 KB  
Article
Dynamic Membrane Lipid Changes in Physcomitrium patens Reveal Developmental and Environmental Adaptations
by Deepshila Gautam, Jyoti R. Behera, Suhas Shinde, Shivakumar D. Pattada, Mary Roth, Libin Yao, Ruth Welti and Aruna Kilaru
Biology 2024, 13(9), 726; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13090726 - 16 Sep 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2943
Abstract
Membrane lipid composition is critical for an organism’s growth, adaptation, and functionality. Mosses, as early non-vascular land colonizers, show significant adaptations and changes, but their dynamic membrane lipid alterations remain unexplored. Here, we investigated the temporal changes in membrane lipid composition of the [...] Read more.
Membrane lipid composition is critical for an organism’s growth, adaptation, and functionality. Mosses, as early non-vascular land colonizers, show significant adaptations and changes, but their dynamic membrane lipid alterations remain unexplored. Here, we investigated the temporal changes in membrane lipid composition of the moss Physcomitrium patens during five developmental stages and analyzed the acyl content and composition of the lipids. We observed a gradual decrease in total lipid content from the filamentous protonema stage to the reproductive sporophytes. Notably, we found significant levels of very long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly arachidonic acid (C20:4), which are not reported in vascular plants and may aid mosses in cold and abiotic stress adaptation. During vegetative stages, we noted high levels of galactolipids, especially monogalactosyldiacylglycerol, associated with chloroplast biogenesis. In contrast, sporophytes displayed reduced galactolipids and elevated phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidic acid, which are linked to membrane integrity and environmental stress protection. Additionally, we observed a gradual decline in the average double bond index across all lipid classes from the protonema stage to the gametophyte stage. Overall, our findings highlight the dynamic nature of membrane lipid composition during moss development, which might contribute to its adaptation to diverse growth conditions, reproductive processes, and environmental challenges. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lipid Metabolism in Plant Growth and Development)
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