Molecular Innovations in Oil Crops and Beyond

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 877

Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Interests: seed development; seed metabolism; biotechnology; plant molecular biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Interests: oil crops; seed oil traits; molecular mechanisms; metabolic engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant oils are mainly derived from the seeds or fruits of oil crops, and are most often utilized as vegetable oils, animal feeds, and as raw materials for biofuels and the chemical industry. Increasing yield, quality, disease resistance, and stress tolerance is an important long-term goal of molecular breeding in oilseed crops. However, the genetic and molecular basis of these four important issues in oil plants is still not fully understood. Therefore, revealing the complex molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of these four topics in a multi-omics era, which will contribute to providing powerful biotechnological strategies for enhancing yield, quality, disease resistance, and stress tolerance of oil crops, is of great significance.

This Special Issue aims to gather research articles and reviews on molecular innovations involved in yield, quality, disease resistance, and stress tolerance in oil crops, especially in a coordinated manner. Oil plants include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) staple oil crops, such as soybean (Glycine max), oilseed rape (Brassica napus), oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), peanut (Arachis hypogaea), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), and cottonseed (Gossypium hirsutum); (2) special oil crops, such as olive (Olea europaea), sesame (Sesamum indicum), linseed (Linum usitatissimum), perilla (Perilla frutescens), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), walnut (Juglans regia), tea seed (Camellia oleifera), peony (Paeonia species), and chia (Salvia hispanica); and (3) industrial oil crops, such as camelina (Camelina sativa), crambe (Crambe abyssinica), castor (Ricinus communis), tung (Vernicia fordii), coconut (Cocos nucifera), tigernut (Cyperus esculentus), and lesquerella (Lesquerella fendleri).

All manuscripts that provide significant contributions to the scientific dissection or technological innovation in yield, quality, disease resistance, and stress tolerance of oil crops are welcome for submission to this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Yourong Chai
Dr. Yufei Xue
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • oil crops
  • yield
  • quality
  • disease resistance
  • stress tolerance
  • regulatory mechanism
  • plant molecular biology
  • omics
  • bioinformatics
  • plant biotechnology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 8331 KB  
Article
Genome-Wide Identification and Evolutionary Analysis of Sucrose Synthase (SUS) Gene Family in U’s Triangle Brassica Species
by Li Huang, Jing-Hui Zhao, Ting Xian, He-Yun Ye, Yu-Fei Xue and You-Rong Chai
Plants 2026, 15(8), 1224; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15081224 - 16 Apr 2026
Viewed by 470
Abstract
The sucrose synthase (SUS) gene family plays a pivotal role in plant carbon metabolism, growth, and development. In this study, we identified 65 SUS genes across six Brassica species (B. rapa, B. nigra, B. oleracea, B. juncea [...] Read more.
The sucrose synthase (SUS) gene family plays a pivotal role in plant carbon metabolism, growth, and development. In this study, we identified 65 SUS genes across six Brassica species (B. rapa, B. nigra, B. oleracea, B. juncea, B. napus, and B. carinata), and systematically analyzed their structural characteristics, evolutionary history, and expression profiles. Phylogenetic analysis classified these genes into three subfamilies (SUSI, SUSII, and SUSIII). SUS4 orthologs (from SUSI subfamily) are completely lost in Brassica, and total SUS gene numbers are just 6–7 in Brassica diploid species, though the SUSIII subfamily exhibits significant expansion in Brassica polyploid species. Selection pressure analysis (Ka/Ks) revealed that the Brassica SUS family has primarily undergone purifying selection, although certain members show evidence of adaptive evolution. Comprehensive expression profiling and qRT-PCR validation demonstrated the functional diversification of BnSUS genes in tissue specificity and responses to hormonal and abiotic stimuli. SUSI genes BnSUS1-1/2/3/4 are predominantly expressed in vegetative tissues and flowers; SUSII genes BnSUS2-1/2 and BnSUS3-1/2 are reproductive-organ-specific, while SUSIII genes BnSUS5-1/2 and BnSUS6-1/2/3/4 show young-plant-specific weak expression. BnSUS family genes are generally upregulated by ABA, TZ and GA but downregulated by IAA, ACC, BL and JA. Salt, drought, freezing and cold mainly upregulate the BnSUS family, heat downregulates it, and osmotic stress exerts both effects. Correspondingly, Brassica SUS promoters are enriched with light-responsive (G-box, Box-4), hormone-responsive (ABRE, CGTCA-motif) and anaerobic-induction (ARE) elements. Functional characterization demonstrated that the ABA-responsive gene BnSUS3-2 significantly improved tolerance to osmotic and ionic stresses by promoting root growth in transgenic A. thaliana seedlings. These findings underscore the essential roles of BnSUS genes in maintaining cellular homeostasis and provide a theoretical foundation for the genetic improvement of carbon metabolism and stress resilience in Brassica crops. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Innovations in Oil Crops and Beyond)
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