Recent Advances in Plant Genomics and Genetics

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics and Genomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2025) | Viewed by 1497

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou 311400, China
Interests: biotic and abiotic tolerance; salinity stress; drought; agricultural pollution; plant genomics and genetics; genome editing; CRISPR/Cas9; molecular breeding
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, China
Interests: plant stress tolerance; rice genetics and breeding; biotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, China National Center for Rice Improvement, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, China
Interests: genetic improvement of rice quality; developmental biology of rice
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The study of plant genomics and genetics in the 21st century is, and will continue to be, vastly different from that in the 20th century. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms have allowed the assembly and annotation of hundreds of plant genomes, while long-read sequencing has made many of these assemblies nearly complete. Apart from sequencing technology, recent advancements in statistical and computational approaches also contributed significantly in shaping plant genetics and the genomics field. Numerous genomics tools like genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), genomic selection (GS), genome-wide association studies (GWAS), Mut-map, and QTL-seq are being widely used in plant science research. Also, diverse omics technologies such as transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and ionomics, have developed rapidly, providing powerful tools for the comprehensive study of plant biology. Genetic engineering and genome editing are becoming the most popular advances in plant science. CRISPR/Cas9 was widely used for efficient multi-site genome editing in various species for target traits modification.

In this Special Issue, we focus on recent advances in plant genetic and breeding. We invite researchers to contribute their original research papers and reviews on the following themes. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Identification of functional genes/QTL in plants
  • Plant biological stduy
  • Novel genome editing methods and tools
  • Genetic breeding or improvement for major crops
  • Genomic breeding tools
  • CRISPR Cas technology and their applications in crop improvement

Dr. Tianxiao Chen
Dr. Baohua Feng
Dr. Long Chen
Dr. Xiangjin Wei
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • high-throughput genotyping
  • plant genetics
  • plant genomics
  • genetic markers
  • genetic improvements
  • genome editong
  • CRISPR/Cas9
  • genomic selection

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 2813 KB  
Article
Exploring Different Roles of StWRKY4 and StWRKY56 in Transgenic Potato Against Salt Stress
by Nadia Gul, Sofia Baig, Xiaoliang Shan, Irum Shahzadi, Maria Siddique, Hongwei Zhao, Raza Ahmad, Jamshaid Hussain, Samina Khalid and Ayesha Baig
Life 2025, 15(9), 1389; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15091389 - 1 Sep 2025
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Abstract
WRKY transcription factors play an important role in transcriptional reprogramming associated with plant abiotic stress responses. In this study, the role of Solanum tuberosum (S. tuberosum; St) WRKY transcription factors StWRKY4 and StWRKY56 were explored in response to salt stress [...] Read more.
WRKY transcription factors play an important role in transcriptional reprogramming associated with plant abiotic stress responses. In this study, the role of Solanum tuberosum (S. tuberosum; St) WRKY transcription factors StWRKY4 and StWRKY56 were explored in response to salt stress by generating transgenic potato lines using RNAi. The results showed that the total chlorophyll content in transgenic StWRKY4 was 6.1 mg/g at 200 mM after 35 days; however, in StWRKY56, an elevated 12.6 mg/g total chlorophyll was observed which indicated different operating mechanisms of these StWRKY transcription factors under salt stress. Proline content increased to 1.0 mg/g in StWRKY4 while it decreased to 0.54 mg/g in StWRKY56 as compared to their respective control plants after 35 days at 200 mM of salt stress. For Na+/K+ ratios, StWRKY4 and StWRKY56 showed 32.3 and 5.5 values, respectively, in silenced plants under similar conditions. This shows contrasting trends in StWRKY4 and StWRKY56 for Na+/K+. However, the expression analyses of StSOS1s were found to be upregulated, whereas for StNHX3s these were found to be downregulated in StWRKY4 and StWRKY56 under salt stress. Thus, this study, for the first time, demonstrated the different but critical roles of StWRKY4 and StWRKY56 for fine-regulating salt stress tolerance in complex signaling network of potato plant. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Plant Genomics and Genetics)
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