Solanaceae VII: Biology, Genetics, and Evolution

The Solanaceae family, also referred to as nightshades, encompasses a broad diversity of morphologies and habits. It has a peculiar evolutionary history driven by natural selection resulting in unique adaptations and rewarding biochemical pathways for pollinators. Solanaceae contain 99 genera and about 2700 species, including economically important crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. It also includes several other nutrient-rich minor underutilized crops, such as turkey berry, African nightshades, or scarlet eggplant, which play a key role in the sustainability of local communities both in the New and Old World. Many other solanaceous plants are vital sources of medicinal drugs, folk remedies, and hallucinogens, while wild and cultivated species, such as tobacco, are used as widespread stimulants. Several groups, such as petunia seasides, angel's trumpets, butterfly flowers, and Jerusalem cherry have been grown as ornamentals for centuries due to the aesthetic appeal of their flowers and berries.

The declining resilience of ecosystems experiencing biodiversity loss has increased the urgency of promoting the sustainable conservation and utilization of globally important solanaceous plants. The toolbox available to scientists and breeders is increasingly diversifying to mitigate the emerging challenges imposed by climate change while honoring biodiversity. This diversification could lead to major transformations towards sustainability and how our global society functions and interacts with natural ecosystems. Recent developments in high-throughput sequencing technologies, data science, and internationally open biodiversity data infrastructures are effectively “linking biodiversity with omics sciences” for the better understanding of this important family, as envisioned nearly two decades ago.

The list of Solanaceae with full or publicly available high quality and draft genomes is becoming richer, which allows “sequence space” of most Solanaceae to be explored in order to: enhance access to gene inventory catalogs; broaden our understanding about phylogeny, biogeography and taxonomy; identify beneficial alleles for breeding; unravel the breeding potential of wild germplasm; investigate gene expression mechanisms; explore the chromosome architecture and organization; capture the extent of genomic variation; use sequence-based information to perform large-scale genetic (bio)diversity studies; identify genomic loci underlying key agronomic traits via marker-trait association studies; detect molecular signatures of divergence and selection; disentangle metabolomic pathways; learn about plant-microbe interaction, (a)biotic stress responses, and pathogen and pest defense mechanisms.

In this Research Topic, we would like to consider submission of high-quality Original Research (or Brief Research Report), Reviews (including Systematic or Mini Review), Methods, Perspectives, or Technology and Code articles on topics related to the above-mentioned goals.