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Flowers: Molecular and Genetic Regulation of Growth and Development
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Flowers: Molecular and Genetic Regulation of Growth and Development

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: closed (28 February 2026) | Viewed by 1724

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Yaqin Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Plant Development, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
Interests: flower; growth and development; molecular regulation; genetic breeding

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue "Flowers: Molecular and Genetic Regulation of Growth and Development” in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences focuses on exploring the latest advancements in the field of molecular and genetic regulation for growth and development of flowers. This Issue aims to report on the regulation at the molecular level of flower growth and development by both internal and external factors. The purpose is to provide reference and experimental data for the molecular genetic breeding of flowers to support the public’s increasing demand for aesthetic and cultural enrichment.

This Special Issue covers original research articles and systematic reviews exploring evolutionary theories and experimental evidence on the growth and development of various flower types. The Issue seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest methodologies, technologies, and innovations that are driving the field forward, enabling more rapid and precise selection plans. This Special Issue encourages research and exploration of various genera and species of flowers, integrating molecular regulation with genetic breeding to promote the utilization of flower resources and the effectiveness of various improvement programs.

By integrating techniques from molecular biology, biochemistry, and plant physiology, this Special Issue aims to investigate the theoretical foundations of flower growth and development, and, based on these findings, explore the genetic breeding of flowers. It is expected to make significant contributions to the scientific community by achieving an innovative integration of theoretical knowledge and practical application in flower growth and development, ultimately supporting global flower production.

Prof. Dr. Yaqin Wang
Guest Editor

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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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.

Keywords

  • flower
  • growth and development
  • molecular regulation
  • genetic breeding

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 11230 KB  
Article
miR172-Mediated Repression of APETALA2-like Genes Regulates Floral Meristem Activity During Double-Flower Formation in Camellia japonica
by Lusi Huang, Yifan Yu, Yixuan Luo, Yi Feng, Xiaoping Wang and Hengfu Yin
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2026, 27(6), 2769; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27062769 - 18 Mar 2026
Viewed by 352
Abstract
The miRNA172–APETALA2 (AP2) regulatory module is a conserved mechanism governing floral development in plants. Disruption of the miR172 target sites in AP2 genes has been shown to be key to the domestication of double flowers in ornamental species. Camellia japonica [...] Read more.
The miRNA172–APETALA2 (AP2) regulatory module is a conserved mechanism governing floral development in plants. Disruption of the miR172 target sites in AP2 genes has been shown to be key to the domestication of double flowers in ornamental species. Camellia japonica, a woody ornamental plant with diverse floral forms, serves as an important model for studying double-flower formation. In this study, we characterized two AP2-like transcription factors, CjAP2-1 and CjAP2-2, which possess evolutionarily conserved miR172-binding sites and exhibit broad expression across floral tissues. To investigate the role of the miR172–AP2 module in C. japonica, we identified four members of the miR172 family and demonstrated that miR172 is directly involved in the cleavage of CjAP2-1 and CjAP2-2 transcripts. Through bulked amplicon sequencing of cultivars with diverse floral forms, we uncovered natural variations at the miR172-binding sites of CjAP2-1 and CjAP2-2, which can potentially disrupt miR172-mediated mRNA cleavage. We showed that two dinucleotide mutations (CjAP2-1-mut5 and CjAP2-1-mut9) significantly reduced the miR172-mediated repression of CjAP2-1 transcripts. Functional analysis in Arabidopsis revealed that overexpression of the CjAP2-1-mut5 variant caused significant floral abnormalities, including ectopic formation of reproductive organs, loss of floral determinacy, and fusion of floral organs. Further analysis of downstream genes indicated that key regulators of floral homeotic and meristem activity were markedly altered in the transgenic plants. Our findings demonstrate that perturbations in the miR172–AP2 regulatory relationship underlie the formation of double flowers in C. japonica by altering floral meristem determinacy and organ identity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flowers: Molecular and Genetic Regulation of Growth and Development)
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20 pages, 3688 KB  
Article
Benchmarking Feature Selection Methods and Prediction Models for Flowering Time Prediction in Maize
by Yan Du, Nianhua Jia, Yueli Wang, Ronglan Li, Ying Lu, Tobias Würschum, Xintian Zhu and Wenxin Liu
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2026, 27(4), 1635; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27041635 - 7 Feb 2026
Viewed by 484
Abstract
Flowering time is a fundamental trait that determines crop adaptation and yield stability. To accurately predict flowering time and identify key regulatory factors, it is necessary to extract biologically meaningful signals from high-dimensional and multi-omics datasets. Although machine learning has been increasingly applied [...] Read more.
Flowering time is a fundamental trait that determines crop adaptation and yield stability. To accurately predict flowering time and identify key regulatory factors, it is necessary to extract biologically meaningful signals from high-dimensional and multi-omics datasets. Although machine learning has been increasingly applied in plant genomics, there is still limited research on how feature selection (FS) methods and genomic prediction (GP) models affect the prediction of flowering time and gene discovery, particularly regarding the combination of different FS and GP approaches and the interpretability of prediction models. To address this gap, we conducted a large-scale benchmarking study that jointly evaluated seven feature selection methods and six prediction models, resulting in 42 FS–GP combinations. By integrating SNP and transcriptomic data, we assessed predictive performance and further interpreted model outputs using SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) within a random forest (RF) framework to quantify feature contributions. This strategy successfully identified known flowering time regulators in maize, including ZmMADS69 and ZmRap2.7, and revealed additional candidate genes potentially involved in the flowering regulatory network. Overall, this study offers valuable insights into the genetic regulation of flowering time in maize and provides an effective framework for discovering candidate genes from multi-omics data for crop improvement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flowers: Molecular and Genetic Regulation of Growth and Development)
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15 pages, 2259 KB  
Article
GhmiR156-GhSPL2 Module Regulates Anthocyanin Biosynthesis of Ray Florets in Gerbera hybrida
by Mengdi Li, Bingbing Liao, Shuyuan Shi, Qishan Luo, Yanbo Chen, Xiaojing Wang and Yaqin Wang
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2026, 27(1), 318; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27010318 - 27 Dec 2025
Viewed by 568
Abstract
Anthocyanins, biosynthesized through the flavonoid pathway, critically determine floral coloration and ornamental value in plants. While floral development has been extensively studied in Gerbera hybrida, the microRNA-mediated regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis remains unclear. In this study, we identified and characterized the precursor [...] Read more.
Anthocyanins, biosynthesized through the flavonoid pathway, critically determine floral coloration and ornamental value in plants. While floral development has been extensively studied in Gerbera hybrida, the microRNA-mediated regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis remains unclear. In this study, we identified and characterized the precursor of gerbera microRNA156 (GhmiR156), which exhibits a typical stem-loop secondary structure. The mature GhmiR156 sequence shows 93.65% similarity with miR156 from other plants. Through target prediction analysis, we identified five potential target genes of GhmiR156, all encoding SQUAMOSA Promoter-Binding Protein-Like (SPL) transcription factors. Among these, the gene c35442.graph_c0, which shares the highest similarity with AtSPL2 in Arabidopsis, was designated as GhSPL2. Expression analysis revealed an inverse correlation between GhmiR156 and GhSPL2 across different tissues and developmental stages of ray florets. This regulatory relationship was further validated by RLM-5′RACE, which showed that GhmiR156 directly targets and cleaves GhSPL2 mRNA, subsequently supported by dual-luciferase reporter assays and Western blotting analysis. Subcellular localization analysis indicated that GhSPL2 is a nuclear-localized protein, consistent with AtSPL2. Functional analyses revealed that overexpression of GhSPL2 suppressed anthocyanin accumulation by downregulating key biosynthetic genes GhPAL, GhF3H and GhUFGT. Conversely, overexpression of GhmiR156 represses GhSPL2 expression, thereby alleviating its inhibitory effect on anthocyanin accumulation in ray florets, and exhibits an increase in anthocyanin content. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that GhmiR156 fine-tunes the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway through its target gene GhSPL2. This study provides new insights into the complex regulatory network governing anthocyanin biosynthesis in ornamental plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flowers: Molecular and Genetic Regulation of Growth and Development)
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