Physiological and Molecular Responses in Enhancing the Quality of Non-Timber Forest Tree Species
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Molecular Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 34
Special Issue Editors
Interests: non-timber forest; quality enhancement; leaf; multi-omics; function validation
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Non-timber forests, representing critical resources that integrate ecological benefits with economic value, play a pivotal role in ensuring food and oil security, promoting rural revitalization, and achieving carbon neutrality goals. The quality of their products (e.g., fruits, seeds, oils, resins, medicinal materials) directly determines the potential for industrial development and market competitiveness. However, the formation of quality traits in economic forests is a complex quantitative process, co-regulated by genetic background, environmental factors, and cultivation practices. A deep understanding of the underlying physiological–biochemical processes and molecular regulatory networks is the theoretical foundation for precise quality improvement.
This Special Issue aims to compile the latest research advances and cutting-edge reviews in the field, focusing on, although not exclusively, the following topics:
- Physiological mechanisms: The contribution of physiological processes such as nutrient uptake and allocation, photosynthetic carbon metabolism, and water transport and use efficiency to quality formation; the physiological basis of the impact of abiotic stresses (e.g., drought, salinity, extreme temperatures) on quality.
- Molecular regulatory networks: Cloning and functional characterization of key genes related to quality (regulating the synthesis and accumulation of oils, proteins, carbohydrates, secondary metabolites); application of multi-omics approaches (e.g., transcriptomics, metabolomics) in quality research.
- Signal transduction and regulation: The crosstalk and integration mechanisms of hormonal signals (e.g., abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, brassinosteroids) and environmental signals in quality formation.
- Epigenetics and breeding applications: Regulation of quality traits by epigenetic modifications (e.g., DNA methylation); potential and challenges of modern biotechnologies like marker-assisted selection and gene editing in quality breeding of economic forests.
The findings will help elucidate the genetic essence of quality traits in non-timber forests, providing new strategies, genes, and theoretical support for breeding new varieties with high yield, superior quality, and high stress resistance, collectively promoting the sustainable development of the global non-timber forest industry.
Dr. Jing Guo
Dr. Wanwen Yu
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- non-timber forest products
- quality formation
- physiological regulation
- molecular mechanisms
- abiotic stress
- secondary metabolism
- multi-omics analysis
- molecular breeding
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