Advances in Crop Molecular Breeding and Genetics—2nd Edition

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 1074

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, China
Interests: rice; synthetic apomixis; haploid breeding; QTL; genome editing
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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou 311400, China
Interests: rice (Oryza sativa L.); quantitative trait locus; seed development; grain weight
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
Interests: molecular physiology of crops; abiotic stress; crop molecular genetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to the booming population, deteriorating environments, and degrading farmland, it is estimated that crop yields must double by 2050 to ensure food security worldwide. To achieve this goal, crop breeders must take full advantage of modern molecular biology technologies to accelerate breeding and genetic improvement. Over recent decades, the tremendous efforts focused on plant genomics and genetics have greatly accelerated the process of crop breeding. However, crop yields have stabilized in recent years. Therefore, it is imperative to improve the understanding of the molecular basis underlying crop yield, grain quality, nutrient utilization, and stress adaptions to produce higher crop yields. This Special Issue of Agronomy will focus on the latest fundamental discoveries in the field of crop genetics in regulating important plant development processes or agronomic traits, germplasm resources with elite traits, and adaptive practices to climate change for high crop yield, as well as the potential utilization of biotechnologies in crop genetics improvement. This Special Issue welcomes all original research papers and reviews; we believe your contributions will significantly influence future crop breeding.

Dr. Zhiyong Li
Dr. Chaolei Liu
Prof. Dr. Jiezheng Ying
Prof. Dr. Dawei Xue
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • molecular genetics and breeding
  • gene cloning and function
  • genetic diversity
  • agricultural genomics
  • crop adaptability
  • crop improvement
  • genetic engineering
  • germplasm resources

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 1178 KiB  
Article
Molecular Characterization of an EMS-Induced Ab-γg-Rich Saponin Mutant in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
by Junbeom Park, Haereon Son, Hyun Jo, Chigen Tsukamoto, Jinwon Lee, Jeong-Dong Lee, Hak Soo Seo and Jong Tae Song
Agronomy 2025, 15(3), 648; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15030648 - 5 Mar 2025
Viewed by 868
Abstract
Soybean is particularly known for accumulating saponins in its seeds. This study aimed to identify a causal gene to control an increase in Ab-γg saponin in PE1607 from an EMS-treated population of the soybean cultivar Pungsannamul. Segregation analysis in F2 seeds verified [...] Read more.
Soybean is particularly known for accumulating saponins in its seeds. This study aimed to identify a causal gene to control an increase in Ab-γg saponin in PE1607 from an EMS-treated population of the soybean cultivar Pungsannamul. Segregation analysis in F2 seeds verified that a single recessive allele controlled the increased Ab-γg saponin in PE1607. Bulk segregant analysis and mutant individuals identified the candidate region, containing the previously reported Sg-3 (Glyma.10G104700) gene, encoding a glucosyltransferase responsible for conjugating glucose as the third sugar at the C-3 position of the aglycone. NGS identified SNPs in the upstream of the Sg-3 gene, designated as the sg-3b allele. Expression analysis revealed that PE1607 exhibited a threefold decrease in Sg-3 expression in the hypocotyls compared to the Pungsannamul. Moreover, Sg-3 expressions significantly differed between the hypocotyls and cotyledons in developing seeds, with relatively low expression observed in the cotyledons. The results conclude that sg-3b allele may contribute to the reduced Sg-3 expression, resulting in an increase in Ab-γg saponin in PE1607. In addition, in the cotyledons, DDMP-βg and DDMP-βa saponins are present, containing rhamnose instead of glucose as the third sugar at the C-3 position of aglycone. This suggests that Sg-3, known as glucosyltransferase, does not significantly contribute to saponin biosynthesis in cotyledons. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Crop Molecular Breeding and Genetics—2nd Edition)
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