Forest Tree Genetics and Breeding in Response to Different Threats: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics and Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 1695

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Interests: trees breeding; genetic engineering; abiotic stress; biotic stress; resistant mechanism
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Guest Editor
College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Northeast Agriculture University, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: genetic engineering; molecular mechanism; genetic regulation network
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Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Harbin University of Commerce, No.138 Tongdajie Street, Harbin 150028, China
Interests: trees cell engineering; genetic transformation; stress-resistant
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Guest Editor
College of Agriculture, Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University, Jilin 132101, China
Interests: abiotic stress; genetic regulation network; phosphorus
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Various threats, such as drought, low temperature, heat, heavy metals, salt damage, and pests and diseases, are important factors restricting the growth of forest trees. Trees have long growth cycles, and their resilience mechanisms are extremely complex; therefore, improving the resistance of trees to stress has always been a difficult problem for breeders. However, people can modify the resistance traits of trees at the genetic level by using genetic engineering technology. This has given rise to a new era in the in-depth development of tree breeding by molecular design. Finding key regulatory genes of tree resistance to effectively improve the stress traits of trees would directly contribute to genetic improvement for stronger stress resistance and ultimately benefit tree breeding.

This Special Issue of Forests guides the genetic breeding of forest trees in response to different environmental stresses and explores the fields of the genetic and molecular mechanisms of the stress resistance traits of trees, seeking new breeding strategies that can improve trees’ resistance to environmental stress. Submissions of articles involving multiple aspects of tree breeding/modification in response to different stresses/threats are welcome.

Dr. Jingli Yang
Dr. Haizhen Zhang
Dr. Shicheng Zhao
Dr. Hanzeng Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • trees
  • genetics and breeding
  • heat stress
  • cold stress
  • salt stress
  • metal stress
  • abiotic and biotic stresses
  • environmental adaptation
  • gene regulation
  • genetic engineering

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3978 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Identification of the SRS Gene Family in Poplar and Expression Analysis Under Drought Stress and Salt Stress
by Zhihui Yin, Haixia Li, Jing Li, Chengbo Guo, Zhenghua Li, Haifeng Zhang, Hongmei Wang, Tuya Siqin, Peilin Sun, Yanmin Wang and Hui Bai
Forests 2025, 16(2), 302; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16020302 - 9 Feb 2025
Viewed by 723
Abstract
The Short Internodes-Related Sequence (SRS) family is a class of transcription factors unique to plants that are essential for controlling their growth, development, and stress responses. Nevertheless, information regarding the characterization and biological function of poplar SRS family members remains limited. In this [...] Read more.
The Short Internodes-Related Sequence (SRS) family is a class of transcription factors unique to plants that are essential for controlling their growth, development, and stress responses. Nevertheless, information regarding the characterization and biological function of poplar SRS family members remains limited. In this study, we identified 10 members of the SRS gene family in the genome of Populus tremula using bioinformatics, distributed on seven chromosomes and named PtSRS01-PtSRS10 based on their locations. Our phylogenetic analysis results indicated that PtSRS genes can be categorized into five subfamilies and that members of each subfamily have similar gene structures and motifs. Collinearity analysis indicated that the expansion of the PtSRS gene family is caused by segmental duplication and is influenced by purifying selection during its evolutionary process. Cis-acting element analysis revealed that PtSRS was enriched in cis-acting elements related to growth and development, light response, hormone induction, and stress response. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that drought and salt (NaCl) treatments affected the expression of several PtSRS genes, with PtSRS04 and PtSRS05 being the two genes with the most significant expression levels, with PtSRS04 showing a 700-fold increase in relative gene expression level after 8 d of drought stress and the PtSRS05 gene showing a 38-fold increase in gene expression level at 48 h of NaCl stress, suggesting that they could be crucial in salt and drought stress. The results presented herein provide a theoretical basis for subsequent in-depth studies on the involvement of poplar SRS gene family members in drought and salt stress resistance. Full article
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21 pages, 10101 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Identification of CBL Gene Family and RNA-Seq Analysis Under Alkaline Stress in Poplar
by Hanzeng Wang, Juan Wu, Zhixin Ju, Jingli Yang and Xue Leng
Forests 2025, 16(2), 200; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16020200 - 22 Jan 2025
Viewed by 691
Abstract
Calcium ions (Ca2+) play a crucial role as a key messenger in various adaptive and developmental processes. In plants, the calcineurin B-like protein (CBL) family is a unique calcium sensor, which plays a key role in regulating plant growth and development [...] Read more.
Calcium ions (Ca2+) play a crucial role as a key messenger in various adaptive and developmental processes. In plants, the calcineurin B-like protein (CBL) family is a unique calcium sensor, which plays a key role in regulating plant growth and development as well as responding to external environmental stimuli throughout the Ca2+ signaling pathway. However, the CBL gene family in poplar has not been systematically described. In this study, thirteen CBL genes were identified from the Populus trichocarpa genome using bioinformatics methods. Multiple sequence alignment showed that all PtrCBLs contained four conserved EF-hand domains. Promoter cis-acting elements revealed that PtrCBL promoters contained at least one abiotic-related or hormone response element. A protein–protein interaction network revealed that PtrCBLs interacted with various CIPK proteins to participate in growth and development or respond to environmental stimuli in poplar. Transcriptome data demonstrated that numerous PsnCBLs were involved in the response to alkaline stress in Populus simonii × Populus nigra. RT-qPCR and RNA-seq analyses implied that PsnCBLs exhibited complex expression patterns in poplar under alkaline stress at different time points. These results provide comprehensive information for future research on the CBL gene function and lay a research foundation for studying alkaline stress in poplar. Full article
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