Ethylene Signalling and Biosynthesis: Impacts on Plant Adaptation and Productivity

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2026 | Viewed by 614

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Agriculture, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China
Interests: breeding of new maize varieties; cloning and functional studies of maize disease resistance-related genes
State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Interests: systematic biology techniques such as proteomics and transcriptomics combined with physiology and genetics to study the physiological and molecular mechanisms of plant response to nutrient deficiency, and to explore the mechanism and application of plants; plant response to abiotic stress
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Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to submit your latest research to this Special Issue of Plants. The deadline for manuscript submissions is 15 October 2025.

Ethylene, a gaseous phytohormone, plays important roles in plant growth and developmental processes, including cell division and expansion, tissue differentiation, seed germination, fruit ripening, and root hair formation, as well as in response to various biotic and abiotic stresses, including pathogen infection, salinity, drought, cold, and heat. The ethylene signal transduction and biosynthesis pathway and the crosstalk between ethylene and other plant hormones have been extensively investigated and found to regulate plant growth and development and plant adaption to various stresses, including abiotic and biotic stresses. Unraveling ethylene signaling and biosynthesis is a major challenge in plant science. It is crucial to improve plant adaptation and productivity, thereby contributing to sustainable agriculture and food security.

This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of ethylene signaling and biosynthesis and the crosstalk between ethylene and other plant hormones involved in plant adaptation and productivity.We invite the submission of original research papers and reviews. We look forward to your contributions to this exciting field of research.

Dr. Liangyu Jiang
Dr. Ping Lan
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • ethylene signaling
  • ethylene biosynthesis
  • plant hormone
  • abiotic stress
  • biotic stress
  • plant adaption
  • plant productivity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 9271 KB  
Article
A WRKY Transcription Factor, ZmWRKY82, Conferred Enhanced Drought Stress Tolerance in Maize
by Zhiqiang Wu, Meiyi Liu, Xiangyu Xing, Hanqiao Wang, Dan Li, Xu Fei, Dayong Yang, Peiru Zeng, Wei Yang, Jiabin Ci, Xuejiao Ren, Heng Pan, Liangyu Jiang and Zhenyuan Zang
Plants 2025, 14(19), 2943; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14192943 - 23 Sep 2025
Viewed by 413
Abstract
Members of the WRKY transcription factors (TFs) family play crucial roles in biotic and abiotic stress responses in plants, but their roles in response to drought stress in maize (Zea mays L.) have not been fully elucidated. Maize ZmWRKY82, a group [...] Read more.
Members of the WRKY transcription factors (TFs) family play crucial roles in biotic and abiotic stress responses in plants, but their roles in response to drought stress in maize (Zea mays L.) have not been fully elucidated. Maize ZmWRKY82, a group IIc WRKY gene, was isolated from maize using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Using the UniProt online database, we found that ZmWRKY82 encodes a 222-amino protein with conserved WRKYGKK and C-X4-C-X23-H-X1-H motifs. ZmWRKY82 is strongly induced by polyethylene glycol (PEG), abscisic acid (ABA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA), and ethephon (ETH) treatments. The ZmWRKY82 protein was located in the cell nucleus. ZmWRKY82 had transcriptional activation capability and was able to bind to the W-box element. ZmWRKY82-overexpressing Arabidopsis and maize exhibited stronger drought resilience, which was associated with enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity and altered transcription level of drought-related genes. These findings suggest that ZmWRKY82 plays a central role in conferring drought tolerance in maize and may contribute to crop improvement and sustainable agricultural practices. Full article
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