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Sustainable Agriculture: Genetics and Mechanism for Crop Improvement

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 4061

Special Issue Editors

State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, College of Plant Protection, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071000, China
Interests: molecular interaction between wheat and fungal pathogens; emphasis on wheat resistance to fungal diseases; leaf rust; Fusarium crown rot; sharp eyespot; spot blotch/common root rot; virulent effectors from wheat leaf rust
Institute of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Weifang, China
Interests: identification and characterization of disease resistance genes in wheat; mapping, cloning, and functional analysis of R genes; multi-omics approaches to understanding the molecular bases of disease resistance; molecular-marker-assisted breeding for enhancing disease resistance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Adaptation and Improvement, College of Agriculture, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Interests: wheat improvement by mining of favorable genes from wheat relatives; mechanism of homoeologous chromosome paring by manipulating ph gene system; chromosome engineering and multi-omics approaches to enhance abiotic resistance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Crop improvement has been continuously driven by the demand for food security and sustainability. With advances in genomic sequencing, genetic improvements for various crops in yield, quality, and tolerance to stresses have been rapidly developed during the last decade. Meanwhile, the molecular mechanism controlled by key genes in crop improvement has been intensively revealed using novel techniques in molecular biology such as gene editing and protein crystallization. Therefore, relative studies on genetics and mechanism for crop improvement are important for the development of sustainable agriculture.

This Special Issue aims to present an overview of genetics and mechanism for crop improvement. Recent advances in genomics and other high-throughput “omics” techniques associated with this subject may provide fundamental resources for further revealing the genetic bases and molecular mechanism of crop improvement. Identification of novel genetic loci controlling yield, quality, and tolerance to stresses in various crops is critically important for sustainable agriculture. Functional genomics and molecular mechanisms of key components involved in crop improvement are still largely unknown and remain to be explored.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Exploitation of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and epigenomics approaches to the understanding of crop improvement;
  • Exploration of genetic loci controlling yield, quality, and tolerance to stresses in crops;
  • Characterization and molecular mechanism of key genes involved in crop improvement.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Xiaodong Wang
Dr. Shisheng Chen
Prof. Dr. Hao Li
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

Keywords

  • crop improvement
  • genetics
  • mechanism
  • sustainable agriculture

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 3399 KiB  
Article
RNA-Pol II Transcription Elongation Factor FpRtfA Is Required for Virulence and Secondary Metabolism in Fusarium pseudograminearum
by Yuxing Wu, Yajiao Wang, Sen Han, Qiusheng Li and Lingxiao Kong
Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 11401; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411401 - 22 Jul 2023
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Abstract
The soil-borne pathogen Fusarium pseudograminearum is capable of causing a highly destructive crown disease in wheat. The purpose of this study was to characterize the biological functions, such as of virulence and secondary metabolites (SMs), of a putative RNA-Pol II transcription elongation factor, [...] Read more.
The soil-borne pathogen Fusarium pseudograminearum is capable of causing a highly destructive crown disease in wheat. The purpose of this study was to characterize the biological functions, such as of virulence and secondary metabolites (SMs), of a putative RNA-Pol II transcription elongation factor, FpRtfA, in F. pseudograminearum. The current study revealed that the deletion of FpRtfA reduced radial growth compared to wild type in F. pseudograminearum. In addition, FpRtfA was found important to conidiation and response to metal ions and oxidative stress. More importantly, the virulence to the wheat stem base or head was decreased when FpRtfA was deleted. Using genome-wide gene expression profiling, FpRtfA was found to regulate several processes related to the above phenotype, such as the carbohydrate metabolic process, and the response to oxidative stress and oxidoreductase activity, especially for SMs. Further, we proved that FpRtfA exerts its regulatory effect on the virulence of pathogens by modulating the expression of the PKS gene, but not the generation of DON. In conclusion, FpRtfA has important roles in growth, asexual development, and the response to metal ions and oxidative stress. More importantly, FpRtfA is required for SMs and full virulence in F. pseudograminearum. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture: Genetics and Mechanism for Crop Improvement)
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Review

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27 pages, 2456 KiB  
Review
Genetics of Resistance to Leaf Rust in Wheat: An Overview in a Genome-Wide Level
by Xiaopeng Ren, Chuyuan Wang, Zhuang Ren, Jing Wang, Peipei Zhang, Shuqing Zhao, Mengyu Li, Meng Yuan, Xiumei Yu, Zaifeng Li, Shisheng Chen and Xiaodong Wang
Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3247; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043247 - 10 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2826
Abstract
Due to the global warming and dynamic changes in pathogenic virulence, leaf rust caused by Puccinia triticina has greatly expanded its epidermic region and become a severe threat to global wheat production. Genetic bases of wheat resistance to leaf rust mainly rely on [...] Read more.
Due to the global warming and dynamic changes in pathogenic virulence, leaf rust caused by Puccinia triticina has greatly expanded its epidermic region and become a severe threat to global wheat production. Genetic bases of wheat resistance to leaf rust mainly rely on the leaf rust resistance (Lr) gene or quantitative trait locus (QLr). Although these genetic loci have been insensitively studied during the last two decades, an updated overview of Lr/QLr in a genome-wide level is urgently needed. This review summarized recent progresses of genetic studies of wheat resistance to leaf rust. Wheat germplasms with great potentials for genetic improvement in resistance to leaf rust were highlighted. Key information about the genetic loci carrying Lr/QLr was summarized. A genome-wide chromosome distribution map for all of the Lr/QLr was generated based on the released wheat reference genome. In conclusion, this review has provided valuable sources for both wheat breeders and researchers to understand the genetics of resistance to leaf rust in wheat. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture: Genetics and Mechanism for Crop Improvement)
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