Beyond Survival: Engineering Crops for Extreme Climate Adaptation

A Special Issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395) belonging to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 3 November 2026 | Viewed by 1290

Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Biology Bucharest of Romanian Academy, 296 Splaiul Independentei, 060031 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: biodiversity conservation; plant biotechnology; in vitro techniques; threatened plants; medicinal plants species; urban lakes; environment
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Guest Editor
Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 213/d, I-41125 Modena, Italy
Interests: taxonomy; biodiversity; mycology; protistology; microbial eukaryotes; phylogeny; genomics; transcriptomics; gene expression

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, we are witnessing the huge impact of climate change on planet Earth. Most affected is biodiversity, and the trend of species decline to extinction is higher than ever. Following this is agriculture, which highly depends on stable climate conditions. Under extreme climate change effects, such as record-breaking heat waves on land, drenching rains, severe floods, long and severe droughts, extreme wildfires, and the outbreak of pests and diseases, of most importance today seems to be the adaptation to climate change of all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA). Also, adapting agriculture technologies to climate change effects as well as innovations in developing new production systems will be of upmost importance in the coming years in our fight to ensure food security at the global level for all people. It will be also important to develop new strategies for PGRFA conservation, and new incentive measures should also be put in place to ensure their conservation on farms as well as their continuing cultivation, including currently neglected and underutilized species (NUS).

This Special Issue, titled “Beyond Survival: Engineering Crops for Extreme Climate Adaptation”, aims to highlight impactful research on crop adaptation to extreme climate challenges. Topics will encompass genetic adaptations, the enhancement and preservation of genetic diversity, equitable access to these resources through the Multilateral System, climate-smart farming practices, and the vital role of farmers and households in ensuring the long-term use and conservation of PGRFA.

We invite submissions of all types, including original research, opinions, and reviews, to this Special Issue.

Dr. Rodica Catana
Dr. Anush Kosakyan
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • crops
  • modern biotechnology tools
  • heat tolerance
  • drought resistance
  • soil microbes
  • plant breeding
  • abiotic stress
  • sustainable agricultural practices
  • plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
  • neglected and underutilized species

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

25 pages, 1088 KB  
Review
Adaptive Chemistry: Secondary Metabolites as Tools for Engineering Crops Under Extreme Climate Stress
by Rodica D. Catana, Raluca A. Mihai, Ramiro Fernando Vivanco Gonzaga, Ana-Maria Morosanu, Mirela M. Moldoveanu, Anush Kosakyan and Larisa I. Florescu
Agronomy 2026, 16(12), 1196; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16121196 - 18 Jun 2026
Viewed by 609
Abstract
Extreme climatic conditions often intensify abiotic stress factors (such as drought, salinity, heat stress, ultraviolet radiation, and soil degradation), and are increasingly limiting crop productivity and threatening global food security. Secondary metabolites (SMs), traditionally viewed as defense compounds, are now recognized as key [...] Read more.
Extreme climatic conditions often intensify abiotic stress factors (such as drought, salinity, heat stress, ultraviolet radiation, and soil degradation), and are increasingly limiting crop productivity and threatening global food security. Secondary metabolites (SMs), traditionally viewed as defense compounds, are now recognized as key regulators of plant adaptation to environmental stress. This review synthesizes recent advances in understanding the role of SMs as biochemical targets for improving crop resilience to climate extremes. By integrating evidence from multi-omics studies, artificial-intelligence-driven analyses, and functional genomics, we examine how stress-specific metabolic signatures and regulatory networks can be exploited for crop improvement. We further discuss the application of genome editing, synthetic biology, and metabolomics-assisted breeding to modulate the SM pathways to enhance stress tolerance. Selected case studies highlight the contribution of flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids to stress adaptation in major and underutilized crops grown under salinity, drought, and low-temperature conditions. Despite significant progress, challenges remain, including metabolic trade-offs between stress tolerance and yield, regulatory constraints, and public acceptance of genetically engineered crops. By linking molecular mechanisms with applied strategies, this review provides a conceptual framework for leveraging secondary metabolism in climate-resilient agriculture and identifies key gaps to guide future research and innovation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Beyond Survival: Engineering Crops for Extreme Climate Adaptation)
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