The Role of Melatonin in Plants: 3rd Edition
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: 20 February 2026 | Viewed by 1009
Special Issue Editor
Interests: melatonin role in plants; abiotic environmental stresses; plant physiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue is the third volume of “The Role of Melatonin in Plants”. Since its discovery in 1958, for a long time, melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) functioned in the scientific consciousness (about 40 years) as only an animal hormone. In autotrophic microorganisms, melatonin was first described in 1991, and in 1995, it was detected in higher plants. Since then, this indoleamine has been investigated in numerous plant species and varieties in vivo, as well as in their organs, tissues, and cells cultivated in vitro. For 30 years, phytomelatonin has drawn great attention from plant physiologists for its wide distribution and multiple roles in various plant species. It is known that melatonin is an important modulator of plant development—it influences seed germination, the formation of roots and their architectures, seasonal and circadian rhythms, flowering time and fruit ripening, and leaf functioning (photosynthesis) and senescence. As amphiphilic, universal, very effective direct, and indirect antioxidants, melatonin affects the plant-cell redox status, and in this way, it interferes with a network of different signaling pathways. Moreover, melatonin is involved in plant immunity and increases plant tolerance to various abiotic stresses. Melatonin biosynthesis depends on environmental conditions and naturally increases under stress, so the application of exogenous melatonin as a plant biostimulant may be a good strategy for the improvement of yields in the face of climate change.
This Special Issue will focus on expanding knowledge related to the synthesis, distribution, and metabolism of plant melatonin (phytomelatonin), its multiple complex functions in plants and mechanisms of plant metabolism regulation, and the exogenous melatonin application methods for improving the development of crop plants, especially under different stress conditions.
Prof. Dr. Małgorzata M. Posmyk
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- melatonin
- phytomelatonin
- plants
- seed germination
- seasonal and circadian rhythms
- flowering
- fruit ripening
- plant immunity
- abiotic stresses
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