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Plants
Special Issues
Genetic and Metabolic Insights into Crop Improvement
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Genetic and Metabolic Insights into Crop Improvement

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2026) | Viewed by 1335

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zhizhai Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Interests: QTL/ gene discovery and functional study
Dr. Qianling Xiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Interests: sorghum; grain development; quality formation; mechanism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global changes in the environments, economic developments, and consumer concepts have driven the breeding and improvement of crops, i.e., grain crops, cash crops, feed and cover-crops, medicinal crops, towards more faster, more efficient, and more precise directions. Crop improvement integrates industry demands for yield, quality, and resistance at the genetic level, as well as demands for the biosynthesis and metabolism of endogenous substances at the physiological level. Here, we organize a special issue to summarize the Genetic and Metabolic Insights into Crop Improvement. We warmly welcome colleagues around the world to share the latest progresses in crop improvement from the perspectives of genetics and metabolism, and to work together to promote the prosperity of crop improvement to meet diverse needs in the new era. This Special Issue will cover a wide variety of areas, aiming to contribute to the overall knowledge of genetic and metabolic insights into improvements among crops of different species.

Dr. Zhizhai Liu
Dr. Qianling Xiao
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

  • genetic improvement
  • metabolite/metabolomics
  • functional dissection
  • biosynthesis/accumulation
  • molecular design breeding
  • yield/quality
  • resistance/tolerance

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6552 KB  
Article
Transcriptional Regulation of Starch Biosynthesis in Sorghum Grain by a MIKC-Type MADS-Box Transcription Factor: An In Vitro Analysis
by Junkai Zhang, Zheyu Yan, Anqi Sun, Xiangling Gong, Hanmin Ma, Mingxi Huang, Yuxing Lin, Zhizhai Liu, Lanjie Zheng and Qianlin Xiao
Plants 2026, 15(7), 1011; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15071011 - 26 Mar 2026
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Abstract
The MADS-box transcription factor (TF) family constitutes a critical class of transcriptional regulators in plants, playing pivotal roles in diverse developmental processes. MIKC-type proteins represent Type II MADS-box TFs that widely function in regulating floral organ development and reproductive growth in plants. In [...] Read more.
The MADS-box transcription factor (TF) family constitutes a critical class of transcriptional regulators in plants, playing pivotal roles in diverse developmental processes. MIKC-type proteins represent Type II MADS-box TFs that widely function in regulating floral organ development and reproductive growth in plants. In this study, a total of 38 MIKC-type MADS TFs were identified from the sorghum genome, distributed across nine chromosomes. Based on sequence alignments and phylogenetic analysis, these 38 SbMIKC genes (SbMIKCs) were further classified into 10 distinct subfamilies. The expression profiling of these SbMIKCs across multiple tissues revealed five major patterns, among which SbMIKC17 exhibited relatively abundant transcript levels during grain development in sorghum. Further assays confirmed that the protein encoded by SbMIKC17 localizes to the nucleus without self-transactivation activity in yeast. Integrated results from DNA affinity purification sequencing (DAP-seq), dual-luciferase assays, and yeast one-hybrid experiments demonstrate that SbMIKC17 binds to the promoter of SbAGPS1 and activates its activity, as well as enhance the promoter activities of SbBt1, SbGBSSI, SbSSIIa, and SbISA1 simultaneously. Collectively, these findings suggest that the MIKC-type MADS member of SbMIKC17 serves as a potential transcriptional regulator in starch biosynthesis in sorghum. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic and Metabolic Insights into Crop Improvement)
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22 pages, 13137 KB  
Article
Effects of High Temperature and Nitrogen Fertilizer on the Carbon and Nitrogen Metabolism Characteristics of Rice Varieties with Differing Taste Stability
by Ke Ma, Yuanyuan Zhou, Yao Ma, Zexin Qi and Heping Xu
Plants 2026, 15(7), 1006; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15071006 - 25 Mar 2026
Viewed by 449
Abstract
Temperature and nitrogen fertilizer are key environmental factors that significantly affect rice growth and grain quality. There remains a lack of systematic research on the effects of temperature and nitrogen fertilizer on carbon–nitrogen metabolism during grain-filling, and consequently on the taste quality of [...] Read more.
Temperature and nitrogen fertilizer are key environmental factors that significantly affect rice growth and grain quality. There remains a lack of systematic research on the effects of temperature and nitrogen fertilizer on carbon–nitrogen metabolism during grain-filling, and consequently on the taste quality of rice varieties with different taste characteristics. To bridge this gap, pot experiments were conducted under different temperature and nitrogen fertilizer conditions to investigate the changes in carbon and nitrogen metabolism and the quality of different high-quality and stable-taste rice varieties during the grain filling stage. Our research results indicate that high-temperature conditions inhibit both carbon and nitrogen metabolism; however, the variations differ among rice varieties with differing taste stability. Under both normal and high nitrogen levels, compared to Akita Komachi (AK), a variety with poor taste stability, Jikedao 606 (J 606), a variety with strong taste stability, maintained a certain photosynthetic capacity under high-temperature conditions, with smaller decreases in net photosynthetic rate and soil–plant analysis development values, declining by 4.30–5.59% and 4.30–5.59% respectively. The decline in the activities of nitrate reductase, glutamine synthetase, and glutamate synthase in nitrogen metabolism was relatively small; in comparison, the decrease in the activities of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, granule-bound starch synthase, starch branching enzyme, and starch debranching enzyme in carbon metabolism was comparatively minor. The content of amylose and amylopectin in the grains was maintained, improving the milled rice rate and head rice rate, thereby ensuring strong stability of excellent sensory quality. Under both high-temperature and high-nitrogen conditions, the yields of the two rice varieties were maintained. In summary, variations exist in carbon and nitrogen metabolism among different rice varieties with stable excellent taste under varying temperature and nitrogen fertilizer conditions. These metabolic differences affect starch synthesis in the endosperm, ultimately influencing the stability of rice sensory quality. This study provides a theoretical basis for nitrogen fertilizer application under high-temperature conditions and the cultivation of rice varieties with excellent taste stability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic and Metabolic Insights into Crop Improvement)
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