Traits and Candidate Genes for the Application of New Genomic Techniques to Fruit Crops in the Era of Climate Change

Dear Colleagues,

The vulnerability of long-lifespan perennial fruit crops to the changing environmental conditions estimated for the next few decades urges the scientific community to find possible solutions. In a climatic context characterized by warmer temperatures, reduced water availability, and increasing atmospheric CO₂, improving plant resilience to exacerbated abiotic stresses is vital to protect fruit quality and yield. In addition, due to climate change, new pathogens can emerge and spread, resulting in new biotic threats. It is, therefore, equally important to increase our knowledge of plant defense mechanisms and implement infectious disease management through biotechnological approaches.

New genomic techniques such as genome editing and cisgenesis can be advantageous for the genetic improvement of fruit crops. Firstly, such technologies can introduce targeted modifications in the plant genome by modifying a single or a few specific genes and leaving the plant genomic background unaltered. Secondly, the time required for obtaining plants with the desired features is much shorter than for classical breeding. Another aspect to consider is that for most of the legislations worldwide, gene-edited products which do not contain exogenous DNA are exempted from GMO regulation, thus enabling easy procedures for them to be placed on the market.

However, while technologies for targeted modification are being optimized at an impressive pace, the limiting factor is knowledge of the molecular mechanisms controlling or influencing significant traits. In this Special Issue, studies shedding light on the genetic basis of important traits contributing to counteracting biotic and abiotic stresses in fruit crops are welcome. Functional genomic studies may benefit from the wealth of genomic and transcriptomic data that are publicly available. Moreover, advances in bioinformatics have boosted our capability to identify genetic variants and visualize the co-expression of gene modules to select candidate genes within complex gene families. Finally, of particular interest for this Special Issue are those works that aim at demonstrating the role of gene/s through the application of new genomic techniques.

Dr. Lorenza Dalla Costa
Guest Editor

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• fruit crops
• genetic improvement
• traits
• abiotic stress
• biotic stress
• gene editing
• cisgenesis
• bioinformatic tools
• genetic variants
• functional genomics