Molecular Regulatory Networks of Plant Flowering and Reproductive Development
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Molecular Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: flowering time regulation; FT gene function; mediator complex; plant transcriptional regulation; photoperiod and vernalization pathways; crop molecular breeding
Interests: seed developmental biology; seed dormancy; germination; phytohormone; molecular mechanism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Flowering transition and reproductive development are core developmental events that govern plant reproductive fitness, ecological adaptation, and crop yield formation, which are finely modulated by internal genetic regulatory cascades and diverse external environmental signals. Multiple key regulatory factors and transcriptional complexes participate in orchestrating these biological processes, among which the florigen gene FT acts as a core signal integrator, and the Mediator complex functions as an essential transcriptional co-regulator bridging upstream signaling cues and downstream target gene expression.
This Special Issue covers the full spectrum of plant reproductive development and developmental phase transition, focusing on the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying flowering time determination, floral organ development, reproductive organ formation and plant developmental plasticity. It encompasses the whole regulatory cascade ranging from environmental signal sensing and intracellular signal transduction, core flowering signal convergence, to transcriptional, epigenetic and post-transcriptional regulatory networks governing plant growth phase transition and reproductive development.
We warmly welcome original research papers, review articles and short communications that report the latest progress in plant reproductive development and flowering regulation research. Relevant research areas include, but are not limited to, photoperiodic response, vernalization response, phytohormone signaling, abiotic and biotic stress-mediated developmental regulation; molecular function and intercellular trafficking of florigen proteins; epigenetic modification and post-transcriptional regulation involved in developmental transitions; and the structural features, interaction patterns, and functional mechanisms of the Mediator complex and other transcriptional regulatory complexes in controlling plant flowering and reproductive development.
This Special Issue intends to gather state-of-the-art research achievements, systematically enrich the theoretical framework of plant developmental and reproductive regulatory networks, and lay solid theoretical foundations for molecular design breeding, growth period optimization, and high-yield crop improvement.
Prof. Dr. Cheng Qin
Dr. Yifeng Wang
Guest Editors
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. Plants 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.
Keywords
- plant flowering regulation
- developmental transition
- reproductive development
- FT gene
- Mediator complex
- transcriptional regulation
- photoperiod pathway
- vernalization
- plant hormone signaling
- environmental response
- molecular crop breeding
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