Genomic Studies of Plant Responses to Environmental Stress

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of rapid climate change and increasing pressure on global crop security, deciphering how plants sense, respond, and ultimately adapt to environmental stress at the genomic level has become one of the most urgent questions in plant biology. Recent breakthroughs in long-read sequencing, single-cell sequencing, and high-resolution phenotyping now allow us to move beyond single-gene analyses toward a systems-level understanding of stress-adaptive networks. This Special Issue, “Genomic Studies of Plant Responses to Environmental Stress,” invites contributions that exploit these technologies to reveal the genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic mechanisms underlying plant resilience to environmental stresses, such as drought, heat, cold, salinity, heavy metal toxicity, nutrient deficiency, and flooding.

We invite original research articles, comprehensive reviews, methods papers, and short communications that illuminate, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) that link genotype to high-throughput phenotyping data for accelerated breeding of stress-resilient crops.  
• Integrative multi-omics (genome–epigenome–transcriptome–metabolome) dissection of drought, heat, cold, salinity, heavy metal toxicity, nutrient deficiency, and flooding responses, with emphasis on dynamic regulatory networks and hub genes.  
• Single-cell and spatial genomics mapping cell-type-specific stress signaling and developmental plasticity in roots, leaves, and reproductive organs.  
• Epigenomic memory of stress: DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin accessibility, and non-coding RNA dynamics that prime plants for recurring or combined stresses.  
• CRISPR/Cas9-enabled functional validation of candidate genes and cis-regulatory elements emerging from genomic surveys.  

Manuscripts that bridge genomic discoveries with real-world stress scenarios in the field are especially encouraged. All submissions will undergo rigorous peer review to ensure methodological innovation and biological relevance.

We hope that this issue will collectively advance our understanding of plant stress genomics and provide molecular blueprints for climate-smart agriculture, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Dr. Hui Liu
Dr. Wenjing Meng
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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