This Research Topic is part of the Spotlight on Solanaceae Metabolism: Biotechnological Application series:
Spotlight on Solanaceae Metabolism: Biotechnological ApplicationThe Solanaceae family consists of more than 90 genera and nearly 3,000 species distributed throughout the world with a great diversity ranging from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs and trees. The Solanaceae contains many species with economic importance as food and medicinal plants, spices and ornamentals. Among the most important agricultural crops are potato, tomato, eggplant, peppers, and tobacco, while the most known garden ornamental is petunia. Primary and secondary metabolites are available in commercial products derived from the members of the family. Nevertheless, many species, including deadly nightshade, are toxic.
Tomato, potato, pepper, tobacco, and petunia serve also as model systems for the investigation of fundamental biological and agronomic questions. The recently developed “omics” technologies and their combinations started shedding light on flower, fruit and tuber development as well as on abiotic and biotic stress responses of sensitive and stress-tolerant/resistant varieties and provided molecular markers for breeders. Quality and nutritional value of food and quantity of alkaloids are the main targets of investigation in food and drug production. Therefore, the biosynthetic pathways and their regulation determining these traits are of great scientific and applied interest.
In this Research Topic, we want to provide a platform for articles describing Original Research, Review, Mini Review or Perspective covering any of the “omics” (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, phenomics, taxonomy, etc.) or multi-omics studies related to Solanaceae biotechnological applications. In particular, we welcome submissions on the perturbation of metabolic pathways in different conditions, and their regulation for improved biosynthesis of molecules of interest.
Please note, descriptive collections of transcripts, proteins or metabolites, including comparative datasets as a result of applying different conditions or treatments will not be considered for review.