Bean Breeding

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 1010

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Crop Science Department, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Hacquetova ulica 17, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: molecular biology of plants; population genetics; MAS and genomic selection; NGS-based applications, phenomics, plant breeding
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
VRDS Bacău—Vegetable Research and Development Station, Calea Bârladului, 220, 600388 Bacău, Romania
Interests: grain legumes conservation; organic farming; sustainable agriculture; crop improvement; population genetics; phenomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Plants journal’s Special Issue, titled “Bean Breeding”, within the Research on Plant Genomics and Breeding section highlights the integration of advanced genetic, genomic, and biotechnological tools to accelerate bean crop improvement. It presents recent breakthroughs in understanding the molecular basis of key agronomic traits such as yield, stress tolerance, and disease resistance. This Speical Issue emphasizes the use of high-throughput sequencing and advanced phenomics tools to develop superior bean cultivars.

A notable focus is on enhancing the nutritional quality of beans—an essential food crop rich in protein, iron, zinc, and amino acids with a decreased content of antinutritive compounds. Through functional genomics and metabolomics, researchers are identifying genes that influence nutrient content, aiming to combat malnutrition and improve dietary health.

This Special Issue also underscores the importance of key breeding parameters in sustainable agriculture, showcasing how improved bean varieties can adapt to climate stress while maintaining high nutritional and agronomic value. It highlights the synergy between traditional breeding knowledge and modern genomic data to build resilient, high-performing cultivars.

By combining fundamental research with applied breeding strategies, this Special Issue bridges the gap between laboratory discoveries and field-level applications, contributing to global goals in food security, health, and environmental sustainability.

Dr. Barbara Pipan
Dr. Creola Brezeanu
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

  • crop improvement
  • marker-assisted and genomic selection
  • key breeding parameters
  • nutritional enhancement
  • NGS-based applications
  • functional genomics
  • sustainable agriculture

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 1803 KB  
Article
Fine Mapping of the Co-12 Anthracnose Resistance Gene in the Andean Common Bean Cultivar in Brazil
by Jaqueline Bezerra da Silva, Maria Celeste Gonçalves-Vidigal, Pedro Soares Vidigal Filho, Giselly Figueiredo Lacanallo, Mariana Vaz Bisneta, Giseli Valentini and Larissa Fernanda Sega Xavier
Plants 2026, 15(6), 931; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15060931 - 18 Mar 2026
Abstract
The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivar Jalo Vermelho carries the Co-12 gene, which confers resistance to both Andean and Mesoamerican races of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum. Despite its importance for breeding programs, the genomic location and candidate genes underlying this resistance remain [...] Read more.
The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivar Jalo Vermelho carries the Co-12 gene, which confers resistance to both Andean and Mesoamerican races of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum. Despite its importance for breeding programs, the genomic location and candidate genes underlying this resistance remain poorly defined. The Co-12 locus was fine-mapped using a biparental population derived from the cross Jalo Vermelho × Crioulo 159. A total of 172 F2 plants were used to generate 172 F2:3 families, which were phenotyped after inoculation with race 1545 of C. lindemuthianum. Segregation analysis confirmed a 1:2:1 Mendelian ratio, consistent with a single dominant resistance gene. Genotyping of resistant and susceptible plants using the BARBean6K_3 Illumina BeadChip (5398 SNP markers) mapped Co-12 to chromosome Pv04, between 1695 bp (ss715649768) and 9,651,954 bp (ss715646644). Subsequent fine mapping with simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers delimited the locus to a 41 kb genomic interval flanked by BARCPVSSR04557 and BARCPVSSR04570. Within this region, three candidate genes were identified, including one encoding a gamma-glutamyl-GABA enzyme and two encoding lipid transfer proteins (LTP2). Lipid transfer proteins are widely recognized components of plant defense; however, their association with anthracnose resistance in the common bean has not been previously reported. The identification of LTP2 genes within the Co-12 interval suggests a previously unrecognized resistance mechanism and expands the current understanding of host defense pathways in Phaseolus vulgaris. The markers identified here provide valuable tools for marker-assisted selection and will facilitate efficient introgression of Co-12 into common bean cultivars. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bean Breeding)
Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 5437 KB  
Article
Genome-Wide Analysis of Cellulose Synthase Superfamily and Roles of GmCESA1 in Regulating Drought Tolerance and Growth of Soybean
by Chunhua Wu, Jie Chen, Jiazhou He, Xiujie Zhang, Shanhui Zheng, Yongpeng Pan, Ting Jin and Yan Li
Plants 2026, 15(1), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15010034 - 22 Dec 2025
Viewed by 668
Abstract
The cellulose synthase (CS) superfamily, comprising the cellulose synthase (CESA) and cellulose synthase-like (CSL) families, plays crucial roles in plant response to abiotic stresses, growth and development. However, there are few reports on the biological functions of CSs in soybean. In this study, [...] Read more.
The cellulose synthase (CS) superfamily, comprising the cellulose synthase (CESA) and cellulose synthase-like (CSL) families, plays crucial roles in plant response to abiotic stresses, growth and development. However, there are few reports on the biological functions of CSs in soybean. In this study, 80 soybean CS members were identified and classified into seven subfamilies. Collinearity analyses revealed that the segmental duplication is likely the primary driver for the expansion of CS superfamily in soybean. The abundant stress-responsive and growth-related cis-acting elements in the promoter regions of soybean CS genes suggest their potential functions. Notably, GmCESA1 exhibited significantly higher expression levels in drought-tolerant soybean under drought stress. Soybean plants with lower GmCESA1 expression via virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS-GmCESA1) were less drought-tolerant than the control plants (VIGS-EV), showing reduced relative water content and dry weight than VIGS-EV under drought stress. Furthermore, VIGS-GmCESA1 soybean plants displayed reduced plant height under both well-watered and drought-stressed conditions. Our findings highlight that GmCESA1 has pleiotropic functions in regulating both drought tolerance and growth in soybean, contributing to our knowledge on CS and providing a valuable gene to breed drought-tolerant soybean in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bean Breeding)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop