Molecular Advances in Stress Response, Growth, Development, and Breeding of Horticultural Crops

Dear Colleagues,

Horticultural crops—fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, tea crops, edible fungi, and medicinal plants—are vital to human nutrition, health, and quality of life. Yet their extraordinary taxonomic diversity, complex domestication histories, and frequently limited genetic resources have left many species underexplored at the molecular level. Rapid advances in multi-omics, genome editing, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, and data-driven breeding now offer unprecedented opportunities to decode how horticultural plants sense and respond to stress, control growth and development, and translate this knowledge into improved varieties.

This Special Issue, “Molecular Advances in Stress Response, Growth, Development, and Breeding of Horticultural Crops,” aims to showcase cutting-edge studies that elucidate molecular mechanisms—from genes and regulatory networks to proteins, metabolites, and biomolecular complexes—and bridge discovery and application in yield, resilience, and product quality. We particularly welcome integrative studies that connect laboratory insights with field performance or postharvest traits, as well as contributions that establish resources, methods, and computational frameworks that enable the community to accelerate progress.

We invite original research articles, short communications, reviews, perspectives, and methods that advance molecular understanding and innovation across horticultural species (model and non-model species). Studies leveraging multi-omics integration, robust functional validation, and translational pipelines for breeding and quality improvement will be prioritized.

Prof. Dr. Bo Sun
Prof. Dr. Xin Li
Dr. Jian Lyu
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.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 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.