Horticultural Crop Improvement: A New Era for Plant Molecular Research: Fourth Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Horticultural plants are intensively cultivated crops with high economic value, such as tree fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, and tea crops. The wide taxonomic distribution and sophisticated domestication history of horticultural crops have led to their highly diverse and complex genomes, which has caused challenges regarding systematic studies of these plants.

Molecular biology reveals the molecular basis of biological processes in cells, and it is essential for understanding the mechanisms of the execution and regulation of biological processes. Molecular biology technologies have been applied to a wide range of living organisms. However, knowledge about horticultural crops is relatively less available compared to that of model plants. Recent advances in molecular biology—represented by revolutionary biotechnologies such as plant genome editing and next-generation sequencing—provide unprecedented opportunities to gain insights into less-well-studied horticultural crops.

For this Special Issue, we welcome the submission of original research articles, reviews, short notes, or opinion articles that highlight horticultural crop improvement applications in molecular biology, such as whole-genome resequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and genome editing. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, studies of regulatory mechanisms of plant growth and development, as well as efforts to improve crop yield, quality, and resistance to biotic/abiotic stresses.

Prof. Dr. Bo Sun
Guest Editor

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