New Polyploids of Crop Plants—Application in Breeding, Phenotypic and Genetic Evaluation

Dear Colleagues,

The phenomenon of polyploidization is of great importance in plant evolution. The multiplication of the genome number—most often the duplication of the whole genome in the process of mitotic or meiotic polyploidization—not only causes the duplication of copies of the same genes, but also induces changes in their activity and function. The comparative analysis of genomes with the use of molecular biology tools makes it possible to understand the mechanism of genetic changes occurring in the polyploidization process via the alteration of DNA structure and methylation pattern. Such changes result in modification of the cytological, biochemical, physiological, and developmental features of plants. Both allopolyploidy and autopolyploidy considerably change plant phenotype and genotype. The most commonly met characteristic associated with polyploidy is the enlargement of organs (the so-called gigas effect). Ploidy level significantly influences resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, as well as secondary metabolite production. The mechanisms of changes occurring in neopolyploids are not fully understood. In order to explain these processes, it is necessary to jointly use various modern methods in the field of phenotype evaluation, cytology, cytometry, and molecular biology. In addition, mitotic polyploidization is used to overcome interspecific and intergeneric hybrid sterility. This Special Issue will focus on recent advances in polyploid breeding. Research articles, review articles, as well as short communications are invited. Studies which deal with enhanced resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses or increased secondary metabolite contents and other improved functional characteristics referring to synthetic polyploids are welcome.

Dr. Małgorzata Podwyszyńska
Dr. Anna Trojak-Goluch
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 semimonthly 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.