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Special Issue "Recent Advancements and Current Challenges in Crop Improvement: A Physiological and Molecular Persepective"

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: 25 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Prabhakaran Soundararajan
E-Mail
Guest Editor
Genomics Division, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Rural Development Administration, Jeollabuk-do, Korea
Interests: Next generation sequencing, Genomics; Proteomics; Evolutionary developmental genetics; Plant molecular interaction
Prof. Dr. Byoung Jeong
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Horticulture, Division of Applied Life Sciences (BK21+), Graduate School, Gyeongsang National University (GNU), Jinju-52828, Korea
Interests: floriculture; hydroponics; medicinal plants; plant factory; plant tissue culture; protected horticulture; silicon in horticulture; use of plants for the removal of particulate matters in the air; light manipulation to control flowering and photomorphogenesis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Current challenges on plant adaptability towards world population, global climate changes, reduced agricultural land, yield loss, abiotic stresses such as salt, drought, and temperature, and biotic stresses such as insects and pests can be solved only by deeper understanding on plant molecular mechanisms. Molecular biology-based approaches widen the perceptions of complex plant biochemical and metabolic pathway. Forward and reverse genetics are inevitable to determine the role of genes to the phenotype in crop improvement. Advancements in high-throughput sequencing offer a comprehensive knowledge on evolution, polyploidization, and domestication of plants. Gene targeting, transduction, and RNA interference followed by CRISPR-Cas9 are the modern cutting-edge techniques which can greatly assist the enhancement of crop yield and quality. Furthermore, in plant biology the big data sets produced by computational techniques are very much helpful in population studies for traits development. Taken together, the present special issue would like to provide a platform for the inter-disciplinary physiological and molecular studies aimed for the enhancement of growth and development of crop improvement.

The purpose of this special issue is collecting the high-quality papers deals with solution to overcome current challenges in crop improvement using recent molecular advancements. Topics of this special issue cover wide-aspects in plant science research but not limited to the following: Plant physiology and development, cell Signaling, epigenetics, omics-based strategies, stress tolerance etc.

Dr. Prabhakaran Soundararajan
Prof. Dr. Byoung Jeong
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 papers will be 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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • Plant physiology
  • Molecular biology
  • Plant cell signaling
  • Bioinformatics
  • Genomics
  • Proteomics
  • Polyploidy
  • Evolution
  • Stress response

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
External dsRNA Downregulates Anthocyanin Biosynthesis-Related Genes and Affects Anthocyanin Accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(13), 6749; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22136749 - 23 Jun 2021
Viewed by 593
Abstract
Exogenous application of double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) and small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to plant surfaces has emerged as a promising method for regulation of essential genes in plant pathogens and for plant disease protection. Yet, regulation of plant endogenous genes via external RNA treatments has [...] Read more.
Exogenous application of double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) and small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to plant surfaces has emerged as a promising method for regulation of essential genes in plant pathogens and for plant disease protection. Yet, regulation of plant endogenous genes via external RNA treatments has not been sufficiently investigated. In this study, we targeted the genes of chalcone synthase (CHS), the key enzyme in the flavonoid/anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway, and two transcriptional factors, MYBL2 and ANAC032, negatively regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. Direct foliar application of AtCHS-specific dsRNAs and siRNAs resulted in an efficient downregulation of the AtCHS gene and suppressed anthocyanin accumulation in A. thaliana under anthocyanin biosynthesis-modulating conditions. Targeting the AtMYBL2 and AtANAC032 genes by foliar dsRNA treatments markedly reduced their mRNA levels and led to a pronounced upregulation of the AtCHS gene. The content of anthocyanins was increased after treatment with AtMYBL2-dsRNA. Laser scanning microscopy showed a passage of Cy3-labeled AtCHS-dsRNA into the A. thaliana leaf vessels, leaf parenchyma cells, and stomata, indicating the dsRNA uptake and spreading into leaf tissues and plant individual cells. Together, these data show that exogenous dsRNAs were capable of downregulating Arabidopsis genes and induced relevant biochemical changes, which may have applications in plant biotechnology and gene functional studies. Full article
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