Functional Genomics of Cucurbit Species

Dear Colleagues,

The Cucurbitaceae family contains highly nutritious and morphologically diverse crops such as watermelon, melons, cucumber, squashes, pumpkins, and gourds, which are used for fruits, seeds, medicinal, and ornamental purposes.  Recent years have seen dramatic advances in the development and application of genomic tools for cucurbit species, including genome assemblies and annotations; the construction of pan-genomes; the development of high-throughput genotyping tools such as SNP, tilling, and mutant platforms; the genomic analyses of germplasm collections; the identification of SNPs and structural variants; the use of bioinformatic tools such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genomic prediction; fine genetic mapping, and molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS); and the development of new transformation and gene editing methods. These tools provide us with the opportunity to determine the genetics behind important production, quality, and developmental traits; facilitate more efficient plant breeding; explore fundamental biological questions; and functionally validate candidate genes. This Special Issue seeks to highlight the progress being made in cucurbit genomics. We invite the submission of original research and review articles dealing with any aspect of the development and/or application of functional genomic tools for cucurbit species.

Prof. Dr. Rebecca Grumet
Prof. Dr. Feishi Luan
Guest Editors

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