Advances in Buckwheat Research

Buckwheat belongs to Fagopyrum genus and is a promising functional food source containing various phenolic compounds, such as rutin, quercetin, and C-glycosylflavones (orientin, isoorientin vitexin), which have a positive therapeutic or dietary effect for promoting human health. To date, 22 buckwheat species have been identified. Most of them are wild buckwheat species and the two most widely cultivated species are F. esculentum (common buckwheat) and F. tataricum (Tartary buckwheat). Common buckwheat is more distributed than Tartary buckwheat and its range extends from temperate Europe to Japan through the Indo-Myanmar region. In addition, F. tataricum is an excellent natural source of phenolic compounds and compared to F. esculentum, and it has a better nutritional value and antioxidant activities. It has been reported that F. tataricum contains many more flavonoid compounds than F. esculentum.

F. esculentum and F. tataricum are different in their flower formation. F. esculentum is an obligate cross-pollinating, heterostylous species, while F. tataricum is a self-pollinating, homostylous species. The heterostylous self-incompatibility in F. esculentum is associated with distinct variations in floral features such as style length, stamen length, pollen size, and intramorph incompatibility and is considered one of the causes of grain harvest instability and makes breeding the culture quite difficult. These flowers are called Pin and Thrum types. In contrast to F. esculentum, F. tataricum is a homostylous species whose flowers have anthers and stigmas of the same height.

This article collection aims to bring forward the recent development in buckwheat research, to address gaps in areas of plant physiology, genetics, development, and germplasm in the Fagopyrum genus. This information would bring a better understanding of the physiology of buckwheat, thereby leading to the sustainable production of this functional food source. We welcome submissions on the following research theme (but not limited to):

• Advances in breeding and germplasm and genetic diversity
• New findings in biotic and abiotic stress response
• Recent understanding in secondary metabolites biosynthesis
• Somatic embryogenesis and somaclonal variation
• Various epigenetic, and genetic aspects of cell development, and other related topics are welcome

Please note, that descriptive studies that report responses of growth, yield, or quality to agronomical treatments will not be considered if they do not progress physiological understanding of these responses. Studies defining gene families or descriptive collection of transcripts, proteins, or metabolites, will also not be considered for review unless they are expanded and provide mechanistic and/or physiological insights into the biological system or process being studied.

*Dr. Alexander Betekhtin is leading the Buckwheat Research in Plant Cytogenetic and Molecular Biology at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. More information on their work can be found here: https://buckwheatresearch.us.edu.pl