Molecular Genetics of Forest Trees and Applications in Breeding, Conservation and Management of Genetic Resources

Dear Colleagues,

Molecular genetics is a key scientific area providing tools and applications to study the vast genetic diversity of forest tree species and their complex life histories; dissect complex traits; apply marker-based breeding strategies aiming towards tailored selection of parents and acceleration of breeding cycles; characterize forest genetic resources, in situ conservation networks, and ex situ collections; identify genetic lineages, endangered populations, and untapped genetic resources; and study the genetics/genomics of adaptation to changing environments to mitigate the climate change effects. Cutting-edge results on the above topics are urgently needed given the overarching threat of climate change and the need to better understand the extent of genetic variation and the spatial distribution of unique genes or gene families for specific adaptations that could guide us toward better characterization, conservation, and management of forest genetic resources, while results on the genomic prediction of breeding values, and the extension at the genome-wide scale, may contribute to high accuracy in genetic prediction and reduction in breeding cycle duration in breeding programs.

This Special Issue aims to publish cutting-edge results from across the globe on the above topics and synthesize the recent knowledge obtained from applying molecular genetics on tree breeding, conservation, and management of forest genetic resources in the face of climate change.

Prof. Dr. Evi Alizoti
Guest Editor

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. Forests 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.