The Growth and Development of Vegetable Crops—2nd Edition

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Physiology and Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 1679

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Horticultural Plant Biology and Metabolomics Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Interests: root development; trichomes; stress response; cell division; cell differentiation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Vegetables are economically important as they are becoming increasingly necessary for meeting the diverse dietary needs of a growing population. Vegetables are mostly rich in fibre, minerals, vitamins, and many other nutrients; thus, they play an essential role in human health. Biotechnology is gradually entering the field of vegetable breeding. However, one bottleneck is that we only have limited knowledge about the growth and development of different vegetable plants. In addition, it is far from clear how the developmental regulation of vegetables adapts to varying degrees of stresses that vegetable crops often experience during cultivation. In this Special Issue titled “The Growth and Development of Vegetable Crops”, we welcome research articles and reviews focusing on all aspects of vegetable growth and development. The collective Special Issue will cover a wide range of techniques, including physiology, molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, genomics, and more.

Prof. Dr. Shuang Wu
Prof. Dr. Feng Wang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • growth and development
  • biotic and abiotic stress responses
  • gene function
  • vegetable crops
  • transcription
  • molecular biology
  • genetics

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3184 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Identification, Characterization, and Expression Analysis of Orphan Genes Within Coriander
by Meidi Zhang, Mo Zhu, Hong Lang, Weiming Wang, Xiaonan Li and Mingliang Jiang
Plants 2025, 14(5), 778; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14050778 - 3 Mar 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 674
Abstract
Orphan genes (OGs) are genes that have no significant sequence similarity with known genes from other species or lineages. Identifying and characterizing OGs have become more feasible with the increasing availability of plant transcriptomes and genome sequences. OGs play important roles [...] Read more.
Orphan genes (OGs) are genes that have no significant sequence similarity with known genes from other species or lineages. Identifying and characterizing OGs have become more feasible with the increasing availability of plant transcriptomes and genome sequences. OGs play important roles in response to both biotic and abiotic stresses, contributing to biological functions and lineage-specific traits. This study aimed to identify and characterize OGs in Coriandrum sativum (coriander) using the BLAST method. A total of 941 C. sativum OGs (CsOGs), 1298 Apiaceae-specific genes (ASGs), and 38,508 evolutionarily conserved genes (ECGs) were identified through comparative genomics. Genic feature analyses revealed that CsOGs and ASGs, although part of different gene sets, had shorter gene lengths, a lower proportion of multi-exon genes, and higher GC content than ECGs. OGs were distributed across all 11 chromosomes, with the highest proportion of CsOGs and ASGs found on chromosome A11. RNA-Seq analysis revealed 71 CsOGs uniquely expressed in four different tissues, 61 CsOGs specifically expressed across three growth stages, and five CsOGs with specific expression patterns in different tissues and growth stages. Notably, as determined via qRT-PCR analysis, these five CsOGs presented general or specific expression patterns under normal conditions, but their expression significantly increased after exposure to cold stress, suggesting that they may play a critical role in cold stress response. This study comprehensively identified, characterized, and analyzed the expression of OGs within coriander, which provides a foundation for further research on the functions of coriander OGs in influencing species-specific trait formation and stress response. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Growth and Development of Vegetable Crops—2nd Edition)
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23 pages, 5389 KiB  
Article
Mitigating Response of SlCSE06 Induced by 2-Ethylfuran to Botrytis cinerea Infection
by Huilan Ye, Hongdou Gao, Jinnian Li, Linye Lu, Shilan Zheng, Chengxin Wu, Youliang Jin, Chengjuan Cao, Haisheng Zhu, Shuang Liu and Fenglin Zhong
Plants 2025, 14(4), 575; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14040575 - 13 Feb 2025
Viewed by 732
Abstract
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a major economic vegetable crop globally, yet it is prone to gray mold disease caused by Botrytis cinerea infection during cultivation. Caffeoyl shikimate esterase (CSE) is a crucial component of the lignin biosynthesis pathway, which significantly contributes [...] Read more.
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a major economic vegetable crop globally, yet it is prone to gray mold disease caused by Botrytis cinerea infection during cultivation. Caffeoyl shikimate esterase (CSE) is a crucial component of the lignin biosynthesis pathway, which significantly contributes to plant stress resistance. Therefore, investigating the expression patterns of SlCSE after Botrytis cinerea infection may offer a theoretical foundation for breeding resistant tomato varieties. In this study, 11 SlCSE family members were identified from the tomato genome using bioinformatics analyses. Public transcriptome databases and RT-qPCR experiments were used to analyze gene expression in tomato tissues, responses to Botrytis cinerea infection, and the temporal characteristics of the response to 2-ethylfuran treatment during infection. These experiments resulted in the identification of the key gene SlCSE06. Transgenic tomato lines that overexpressed SlCSE06 were constructed to examine their resistance levels to gray mold disease. Many SlCSE genes were upregulated when tomato fruit were infected with Botrytis cinerea during the ripening stage. Furthermore, 24 h after treatment with 2-ethylfuran, most SlCSE genes exhibited increased expression levels compared with the control group, but they exhibited significantly lower levels at other time points. Thus, 2-ethylfuran treatment may enhance the responsiveness of SlCSEs. Based on this research, SlCSE06 was identified as the key gene involved in the response to Botrytis cinerea infection. The SlCSE06-overexpressing (OE6) tomato plants exhibited a 197.94% increase in expression levels compared to the wild type (WT). Furthermore, the lignin content in OE6 was significantly higher than in WT, suggesting that the overexpression of SlCSE06 enhanced lignin formation in tomato plants. At 5 days post-inoculation with Botrytis cinerea, the lesion diameter in OE6 decreased by 31.88% relative to the WT, whereas the lignin content increased by 370.90%. Furthermore, the expression level of SlCSE06 was significantly upregulated, showing a 17.08-fold increase compared with the WT. These findings suggest that 2-ethylfuran enhances the activation of the critical tomato disease resistance gene SlCSE06 in response to gray mold stress, thereby promoting lignin deposition to mitigate further infection by Botrytis cinerea. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Growth and Development of Vegetable Crops—2nd Edition)
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