About this Research Topic
Pollination is the process of pollen transfer from the male to the female parts of a flower, which precedes fertilization. Outcrossing species that use animals as vectors of pollen transfer lure pollinators by exhibiting floral chemical signals that stimulate their visual, olfactory, and gustatory apparatus. Chemical flower traits are under genetic control and undergo selective pressure exerted by pollinators according to their specific preferences. However, changes in flower traits also occur in response to other environmental stimuli, which may include plant responses to insect herbivory, pathogens as well as responses to abiotic stresses. Such responses to different stimuli may alter the availability of metabolic precursors by channeling plant metabolism towards defense or reproduction or rendering plants more or less tolerant to abiotic stresses.
This Research Topic aims at covering various aspects of flower metabolism that are of relevance for the plant-interactions with animal pollinators. We particularly encourage the submission of manuscripts with a focus on the following topics:
• Mechanisms of synthesis, accumulation, secretion of floral primary and secondary metabolites and their regulation
• Plant-pollinator interactions mediated by floral chemical compounds
• Environmental and genetic changes in floral chemistry and the consequences for plant-pollinator interactions
• Evolution of floral chemical traits
• New techniques and methods of analysis and annotation of floral metabolites as well as data collection from field experiments
This Research Topic aims at covering various aspects of flower metabolism that are of relevance for the plant-interactions with animal pollinators. We particularly encourage the submission of manuscripts with a focus on the following topics:
• Mechanisms of synthesis, accumulation, secretion of floral primary and secondary metabolites and their regulation
• Plant-pollinator interactions mediated by floral chemical compounds
• Environmental and genetic changes in floral chemistry and the consequences for plant-pollinator interactions
• Evolution of floral chemical traits
• New techniques and methods of analysis and annotation of floral metabolites as well as data collection from field experiments
Keywords: primary metabolites, specialized metabolites, volatile organic compounds, pigments, nectar, pollen, pollinators
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
