Genetics and Genomics of Crop Breeding and Improvement

Dear Colleagues,

Genetics is the theoretical foundation for plant breeding. The existing genotypic variability of traits and the expansion of their spectrum serve as a practical basis for breeding. Knowledge about the structural organization of genomes became attainable through the development of molecular genetics and genomics, which provided new breeding tools and outlined the prospects for breeding a new generation. With the advent of molecular genetic markers, genotypic variability began to be assessed at the DNA level. Genetic manipulations to improve desired traits in plants were also performed on DNA molecules. The development of molecular genetic markers for the analysis of genetic resources and the emergence of full-scale molecular genetic maps of molecular markers to identify loci-controling key agronomic traits marked the development of marker-assisted selection. Genomic breeding using information about the complete genomes of agricultural plants, reveals the relationship between variants of genomic loci and the degree of manifestation of economically significant traits. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies make a huge array of genetic information available. The analysis of this information, with the help of bioinformatics, makes it possible to detect new genes and regulatory sequences. To date, a huge amount of genomic and transcriptomic data has been accumulated on the structural and functional organization of molecular genetic systems and processes controlling the formation of phenotypic characteristics of agricultural plants. This Special Issue makes it possible to group original research papers and reviews on genetic, molecular genetic, genomic and transcriptomic studies of important agronomic traits of agricultural plants, the search for target genes for improving signs of productivity, adaptability and quality and contributing to the acceleration of the breeding of new varieties that meet the requirements of the day.

Dr. Margarita A. Vishnyakova
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-anonymized 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.