Dear Colleagues,

Plants have evolved complex metabolic systems that produce 10⁵–10⁶ functionally and structurally diverse metabolites. These molecules not only play important roles in plant growth and development but also enable plants to survive and thrive amid various environmental or ecological challenges. Moreover, the diversity of plant metabolites provides an exceptional source to meet the unmet demand for chemical novelty and innovation in the pharmaceutical, agriculture, food, and other industries.

In past decades, the rapid development of technologies has significantly advanced our understanding of plant metabolism. Understanding how and why plants have evolved this astounding metabolic diversity requires comprehensive research on their biosynthesis, spatial and temporal regulation, cell/tissue specific distribution, transport, and interaction with other organisms. The multi-omics era has brought an unprecedented opportunity to decipher the evolutionary mechanisms underlying plant chemical diversity at intra- and interspecies levels. Advances in fundamental knowledge will in turn promote the broader application of plant metabolites via metabolic engineering or synthetic biology.

In this Special Issue, we welcome original research, method, or review papers that cover but are not limited to the following topics:

- Analysis and bioactivity of plant metabolites;

- Isolation and identification of natural compounds;

- Multi-omics studies for discovery and characterization of biosynthetic pathways;

- Novel mechanisms in regulation of plant metabolic pathways;

- Mechanisms of differential distribution and transport of metabolites across different cell/tissue types.

- Metabolites involved in interactions between plants and other organisms;

- Evolutionary mechanisms underpinning metabolic diversity in plants;

- Novel synthetic biology approaches for production of naturally occurring plant metabolites or synthetic derivatives of these metabolites.

Dr. Zhenhua Liu
Dr. Qian Shen
Guest Editors

Dr. Jie Li
Dr. Yaomin Cai
Dr. Guy Polturak
Guest Editor Assistants

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). 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.

• natural products
• specialized metabolites
• regulatory mechanism
• biosynthetic pathway
• metabolic diversity
• plant interactions
• multi-omics
• evolution of metabolism