Horticultural Functional Genomics and Breeding

Dear Colleagues,

Horticultural crops, including vegetables, fruits, and ornamentals, play a crucial role in global food security and human nutrition. With the rapid development of genomics, multi-omics integration, and genome editing technologies, functional genomics has become a central driving force in accelerating trait dissection and precision breeding in horticulture.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in gene discovery, regulatory mechanisms, and molecular breeding strategies in horticultural species. Particular attention will be paid to forward and reverse genetics, GWAS- and BSA-based gene mapping, transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, hormone signaling pathways, genome editing technologies, and marker-assisted or genomic selection approaches.

Recent breakthroughs in high-throughput sequencing, phenotyping platforms, and CRISPR-based editing have greatly enhanced our capacity to bridge gene function with agronomic improvement. We welcome original research articles and reviews that integrate functional genomics with breeding applications, especially studies addressing yield, quality traits, stress tolerance, and developmental regulation in horticultural crops.

Dr. Hanqiang Liu
Guest Editor

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