Plant Stress Responses and Their Gene Regulatory Networks
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2026 | Viewed by 340
Editors
Interests: abiotic stress; plant biology; boron toxicity; wild wheat; stress tolerance; combined stress; genetic variation; genes; transcriptome analysis; wheat genetic resources
Interests: abiotic stress; wheat; drought; salinity; plant biotechnology; stress tolerance; genes; combined stress; transcriptional factors; molecular biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
A number of global challenges such as climate change and increasing food demand emphasize the need for understanding plant responses to environmental stress and adaptation mechanisms. Plants depend on dynamic regulatory systems to deal with different biotic and abiotic stress exposures. Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) integrating the signals through interconnected layers of transcription factors, cis-regulatory elements, epigenetic modifications, non-coding RNAs, and signaling pathways fundamentally govern the adaptive responses in plants by coordinating their physiological and transcriptional responses. Thus, this Special Issue entitled “Plant Stress Responses and Their Gene Regulatory Networks”, aims to compile the latest breakthroughs connecting gene discovery to trait improvement by exploring how plant functional genomics is continuously revolutionizing our understanding in this direction.
It will cover the following broad spectrum of topics, but not limited to:
- Utilization of high-throughput functional genomics for dissecting plant stress responses and improving yield stability;
- Integration of multi-omics approaches to elucidate gene regulatory networks at transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and epigenetic levels;
- Identification and functional characterization of key regulatory genes;
- Advances in gene editing technologies, including CRISPR-based systems, for developing tolerance to different stresses;
- Optimization of plant transformation systems across diverse crop species;
- Computational modeling, machine learning, and network inference approaches for GRN reconstruction;
- Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics for cell-type-specific resolution of stress responses;
- Studies on transcription factors, microRNAs, transposable elements, and chromatin dynamics.
The Special Issue also aims to explore the complexity of plant responses to combined stresses and the evolutionary and comparative perspective of GRNs. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between molecular biologists, geneticists, computational scientists, and plant breeders, this Special Issue aims to bridge the gap between fundamental research and practical applications. It welcomes a wide range of article types.
Dr. Anamika Pandey
Dr. Mohd. Kamran Khan
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- plant stress responses
- gene regulatory networks (GRNs)
- functional genomics
- multi-omics integration
- transcriptional regulation
- epigenetic regulation
- CRISPR/cas gene editing
- abiotic and biotic stress tolerance
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