Genetics and Genomics of Phytoplankton

Dear Colleagues

Phytoplankton in marine and freshwater systems around the world play a pivotal role as primary producers in aquatic food webs, in the cycling of nutrients and carbon, and in oxygen production. However, some can also form harmful algal blooms which cause large economic losses, management issues, and serious health effects. Although their ecological importance is largely recognized, much is unknown in terms of the genomic basis of their biology and evolution. One reason is that phytoplankton are extremely diverse, and include members from all the major eukaryotic groups as well as cyanobacteria. With the new sequencing and gene editing methods, it is now possible to address many evolutionary and ecological questions in these non-model organisms.

We are calling for articles for a Special Issue on “Genetics and Genomics of Phytoplankton”, including both eukaryotic and cyanobacterial phytoplankton. We invite both articles looking towards the future (i.e., original articles including short communications), as well as those presenting the state-of-the-art in the form of review papers. We encourage topics focusing on evolutionary genetics and genomics as well as population genetics and genomics, including novel methods papers to address these topics from genome or transcriptome perspectives.

We will accept manuscripts starting February 1st 2019 until the deadline 30 September 2019. Manuscripts will be processed continuously during this period following standard journal procedures. For questions regarding potential paper suitability, please contact the Guest Editors.

Prof. Dr. Karin Rengefors
Dr. Gwenael Piganeau
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. Genes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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.