Reproductive Growth in Perennial Fruit Trees: Importance and Impact of Climate Change

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics, Genomics, Breeding, and Biotechnology (G2B2)".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2025 | Viewed by 428

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: pear; floral bud differentiation; dormancy; fruit quality; anthocyanin; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Horticultural Science & Technology, Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology, Qinhuangdao 066000, China
Interests: peach; self-incompatibility; cold tolerance; genetic resources; breeding

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Reproductive growth refers to the process by which plants produce offspring, encompassing a series of stages including floral transition, flowering, fertilization, fruit development, and seed formation. This process is critical for the development of reproductive organs in fruit trees.

Recent global climate change has led to abnormal weather patterns, such as higher summer temperatures and milder winters, which significantly affect the reproductive growth processes of deciduous fruit trees. These changes can have a direct impact on both the yield and quality of fruit tree products. Therefore, understanding the theories behind and regulatory mechanisms of reproductive growth in deciduous fruit trees is essential for addressing climate change and ensuring the sustainable development of the fruit tree industry.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions from researchers working in the field of reproductive growth in perennial fruit trees. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Phase transition;
  • Yearly floral bud differentiation;
  • Dormancy;
  • Flowering and pollination;
  • Self-incompatibility;
  • Fruit development;
  • Fruit quality formation.

We welcome research findings, reviews, and discussions that provide new insights into these topics, with the aim of contributing to the sustainable management and productivity of fruit tree systems in the face of ongoing climate challenges.

Dr. Songling Bai
Prof. Dr. Junkai Wu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • reproductive growth
  • deciduous fruit trees
  • global climate change
  • fruit yield
  • fruit quality
  • dormancy
  • pollination

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 4312 KB  
Article
Transcriptome Analysis Reveals That PpSLFL3 Is Associated with Cross-Incompatibility in the Peach Landrace ‘Liuyefeitao’
by Haijing Wang, Chunsheng Liu, Yating Liu, Yudie Zhang, Meilan Wu, Haiping Li, Man Zhang, Kun Xiao, Kai Su, Chenguang Zhang, Gang Li, Xiaoying Li, Libin Zhang and Junkai Wu
Horticulturae 2025, 11(8), 969; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11080969 - 16 Aug 2025
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Abstract
The peach landrace ‘Liuyefeitao’ exhibits the unique reproductive trait of self-compatibility combined with cross-incompatibility, contrasting with typical Prunus species in this way. In preliminary studies involving controlled pollination assays, we showed complete pollen tube arrest in cross-pollinated styles, whereas self-pollination enabled full tube [...] Read more.
The peach landrace ‘Liuyefeitao’ exhibits the unique reproductive trait of self-compatibility combined with cross-incompatibility, contrasting with typical Prunus species in this way. In preliminary studies involving controlled pollination assays, we showed complete pollen tube arrest in cross-pollinated styles, whereas self-pollination enabled full tube elongation. S-genotyping identified a homozygous S2S2 genotype with intact S2-RNase but a truncated PpSFB2 due to a frameshift mutation. Transcriptome profiling of the styles revealed 7937 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between self- and cross-pollination treatments, with significant enrichment in plant MAPK signaling, plant–pathogen interactions, and plant hormone signaling transduction pathways (|Fold Change| ≥ 2, FDR < 0.01). Notably, PpSLFL3 (a pollen F-box gene) showed down-regulation in cross-pollinated styles, as validated by means of qRT-PCR. Protein interaction assays revealed direct binding between PpSLFL3 and S2-RNase via Y2H and BiFC analysis, suggesting its role in mediating SCF complex-dependent degradation. We propose that insufficient PpSLFL3 expression during cross-pollination disrupts SCF ubiquitin ligase complex-mediated degradation of non-self S2-RNase, leading to the toxic degradation of RNA in pollen tubes by S2-RNase. This mechanism is mechanistically similar to unilateral reproductive barriers in Solanaceae but represents a novel regulatory module in Rosaceae. Our findings provide critical insights into the evolution of cross-incompatibility systems and molecular breeding strategies for Prunus species. Full article
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