About this Research Topic

Background

Several contemporary challenges such as soil degradation, changing weather, increasing biotic and abiotic stress conditions, inadequate water supply, loss in biodiversity and continuously increasing population are posed towards the successful crop production today. Wild plant genetic resources including the wild relatives and ancestors of crops, and the species that could interbreed with them are the promising resources that could be utilized to develop cultivars adapted to these challenges. However, these wild species and ancestors are themselves prone to continuously changing environments and are vulnerable to the risk of erosion of crucial genes and genetic pathways. Hence, it is extremely crucial to conserve and employ them to enhance the genetic stability and diversity of modern cultivars to handle the issue of production losses.

To achieve this, wild plant genetic resources should be thoroughly explored and their immense tolerance level towards several biological and physical stresses should be competently harnessed for crop improvement. However, despite their wide availability in gene banks and natural environments, a lack in their complete characterization and evaluation of their heritable traits hinders their efficient utilization.

The aim of this issue is to encourage research efforts on wild plant genetic resources and their successful monitoring and usage for the development of well-adapted modern cultivars with greater genetic variation and stability.

Thus, this research topic “Wild Plant Genetic Resources: A Hope for Tomorrow” welcomes the researchers to present their potential data and subject knowledge on the following topics but not limited to

1. Assessment of genetic variation among the wild plant genetic resources
2. Wild Plant Genetic Resources as a source of biotic stress tolerance
3. Wild Plant Genetic Resources as a source of abiotic stress tolerance
4. Identification, Characterization, and Transmission of Traits from Wild Plant Genetic Resources
5. Evaluation of the role of Wild Plant Genetic Resources in developing tolerance towards combined stress conditions
6. Advanced technologies employed for the utilization of Wild Plant Genetic Resources for quality and nutrient improvement
7. Conservation of Wild Plant Genetic Resources
8. Advancement in the sequencing of Wild Plant Genetic Resources

Please note: Frontiers in Plant Science does not accept solely descriptive studies - studies which report responses to treatments and descriptive reports of ‘Omics studies will not be considered if they do not progress biological understanding of these responses.

Keywords: environmental stresses, crop wild relatives, endangered wild species, nutritional development, molecular strategies, genetic variation, omics approach, food security, marker-assisted selection, wild plant genetic resources, genetic erosion

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.

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