Phytic Acid Pathway and Breeding in Plants

Dear Colleagues,

Phytic acid is the main storage form for phosphate in plant seeds. From a nutritional point of view, it decreases the seed value by chelating important minerals, such as iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium. Therefore, the isolation of low phytic acid (lpa) mutants is considered a highly desirable objective in the genetic improvement of the nutritional quality of grain crops. On the other hand, phytic acid is a very important signaling molecule involved in development and hormonal regulation. lpa mutants often display a general perturbation of the different branches of phytic acid and of other linked compounds and precursor (galactinol, raffinose, stachyose, ascorbic acid, myo-inositol) biosynthetic pathways, suggesting connections with the phosphoinositide signaling pathway. As a consequence, many important agronomic traits in lpa plants are affected.

Indications exist that phytic acid itself and enzymes involved in its biosynthetic pathway (such as MIPS, IPK1, IPK2), may have a nuclear localization and thus may exert roles in the regulation of several nuclear processes (mRNA export from the nucleus, chromatin remodeling, telomere length). Considering the key role phytic acid plays in plant health and human nutrition, a deeper knowledge of phytic acid synthesis and regulation is mandatory in order to be able to tailor productive lpa crops.

This Special Issue aims to provide a unique compendium that highlights new developments in our understanding of how perturbation in phytic acid synthesis and accumulation contributes to plant function, growth, and response to the environment. Contributions to this Special Issue are invited from scientists working at all system levels, including from the molecule, cell, organism and environment/ecological perspectives.

Furthermore contributions from breeders concerning development, studies and utilization of genetically improved materials (lpa) will be welcomed.

Studies addressing any of the above aspects of phytic acid synthesis and accumulation would be appropriate contributions.

Dr. Francesca Sparvoli
Dr. Roberto Pilu
Dr. Eleonora Cominelli
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.