Genetic Diversity of Disease Resistance in Crops

Dear Colleagues,

A major objective of plant genetic improvement is to obtain genotypes resistant against one or more pathogens, both present or emerging. Accordingly, breeders have traditionally exploited resistance sources, taken from existing resistant varieties or from wild crop relatives. Over time, however, such resistance is typically overcome by the evolved pathogen population. Pyramiding several resistance genes into a single genotype can lead to more durable disease resistance. Knowledge of plant genetic diversity is essential for its utilization, together with the knowledge of pathogens population diversity. The advancement of genetic and genomic investigation tools has greatly accelerated, on one hand, the ability to exploit plant genetic resources in search of new sources of resistance, and, on the other hand, the efficiency in monitoring the pathogen populations and their evolution.

This Special Issue has two main pillars:

1) Evaluation, characterization, and exploitation of genetic diversity for resistance to pathogens in crop and wild relative collections

2) Evaluation and characterization of plant-pathogen populations diversity and evolution

Dr. Caterina Morcia
Dr. Valentina Manstretta
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. Agronomy 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.