Regulatory Network of Crop to Environmental Stress: Genetic and Biochemical Characterization

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 221

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Agriculture & Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310000, China
Interests: crop abiotic stress response; genome-wide association mapping; molecular biology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Abiotic stresses, including heavy metals, salinity, aluminum, drought, waterlogging, and extreme temperature, constitute significant limiting factors for both crop productivity and quality. Enhancing crop tolerance to abiotic stress is of great significance in ensuring global food security. Consequently, strategies are needed for crops to improve their adaption to these environmental pressures. Therefore, this Special Issue entitled “Regulatory Network of Crop to Environmental Stress: Genetic and Biochemical Characterization” aims to highlight a range of reviews, perspectives, and research articles on the following:

  • The elucidation of genetic architecture and the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with abiotic stress tolerance;
  • The exploration of mechanisms through which crops effectively balance resistance, yield, and quality under abiotic stress conditions;
  • The identification of key genes conferring abiotic stress tolerance and the elucidation of their regulatory mechanisms;
  • The identification of critical physiological processes and metabolites essential for enhancing abiotic stress tolerance;
  • The application of big data analytics to gain deeper insights into plant–environment interactions and stress management strategies.

Considering your expertise in the field, we would like to invite you to submit related papers to the above topics. 

Dr. Fangbin Cao
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • crop
  • abiotic stress
  • yield
  • quality
  • key genes
  • molecular methods
  • QTL

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 1600 KB  
Article
Development, Evaluation, and Application of a Molecular Marker System for Wheat Quality Breeding in China
by Peng Jiang, Xiangyun Fan, Lei Wu, Chang Li, Huadun Wang, Yi He, Peng Zhang, Chunhao Dong, Guihong Yin and Xu Zhang
Agronomy 2025, 15(11), 2494; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15112494 - 28 Oct 2025
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Abstract
To address the limitations of traditional wheat quality breeding, this study developed a Wheat Quality Molecular Marker Selection System (QMMS) by integrating key genetic loci controlling core quality traits: grain protein content (GPC), grain hardness (GH), and high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS). The QMMS [...] Read more.
To address the limitations of traditional wheat quality breeding, this study developed a Wheat Quality Molecular Marker Selection System (QMMS) by integrating key genetic loci controlling core quality traits: grain protein content (GPC), grain hardness (GH), and high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS). The QMMS comprises three KASP markers (Kgpc-2B, Kgpc-2D, Kgpc-4A) and two duplex KASP (dKASP) markers (Pin-ab, Glu-AD), enabling cost-effective (≈5 CNY per sample) and high-throughput genotyping. Systematic validation was conducted using four panels of materials: representative varieties, breeding nursery materials, regional trial materials from the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River, and advanced lines from four cooperative institutions. Results showed that (1) the QMMS accurately distinguished quality types of representative varieties: strong-gluten varieties carried five or more strong-gluten–favorable alleles, while weak-gluten varieties harbored five or more weak-gluten favorable alleles; (2) in breeding nursery materials, quality traits increased significantly with the number of aggregated strong-gluten favorable alleles, and 48.15% of strong-gluten candidates met strong- and medium-strong-gluten standards; (3) in regional trial materials, 15.25% (36/236) and 1.69% (4/236) of lines carried ≥5 strong-gluten and weak-gluten favorable alleles, with low utilization of Kgpc-2D and Pina/Pinb favorable alleles (<30%); and (4) the QMMS screened 273 strong-gluten and 27 weak-gluten candidates for cooperative institutions, matching their breeding focuses. In conclusion, the QMMS provides reliable technical support for precise and efficient wheat quality breeding. Full article
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