As the second largest vegetable group, cucurbits are important economic crops and enjoy great popularity worldwide. After a complex domestication history, there are now a wide variety of cucurbit vegetables, including watermelon, melon, pumpkin, cucumber, bitter melon, gourd, and many other species. Cucurbitaceae plants possess rich genetic resources and morphological trait variation, which facilitates the further exploitation of cucurbit agronomic traits and enriches the diversity of germplasm resources. Moreover, grafting, sex determination, fruit fast expansion and ripening are also the unique biological features of cucurbit crops that deserve in-depth research.
In recent years, climate change has exacerbated a series of environmental stresses, such as extreme temperatures, drought, salinity, pests and diseases, which would greatly affect global crop production. Increasing attention has been placed on diverse germplasm resources to explore potential varieties with favorable agronomic traits for cucurbit breeding. Technological advances have enabled a comprehensive knowledge of the physiological and biochemical processes, molecular regulation, and genetic information at the multi-omics level for Cucurbitaceae.
This Research Topic aims to collect the latest findings to describe the complex molecular mechanisms controlling the growth, development, and stress tolerance in Cucurbitaceae plants from a systematic biology perspective. We particularly encourage studies applying genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, phenomics, and other multi-omics methods to promote the selection and molecular breeding of cucurbit varieties.
We welcome submissions of original research articles, methods, reviews and mini-reviews, and other article types, covering the following subthemes in Cucurbitaceae research but not limited to:
• High-quality assembly of Cucurbitaceae genomes.
• Genetic mapping of genes and loci underlying important agronomic traits.
• Multi-omics analysis of key genes affecting stress response and regulation in cucurbits.
• Phylogenomic study to understand the domestication of Cucurbitaceae plants, particularly the evolution of fruit quality traits.
• Elucidating the grafting biology at the multi-omics level.
• Bioinformatics tool or database for cucurbit genomics or molecular breeding.
As the second largest vegetable group, cucurbits are important economic crops and enjoy great popularity worldwide. After a complex domestication history, there are now a wide variety of cucurbit vegetables, including watermelon, melon, pumpkin, cucumber, bitter melon, gourd, and many other species. Cucurbitaceae plants possess rich genetic resources and morphological trait variation, which facilitates the further exploitation of cucurbit agronomic traits and enriches the diversity of germplasm resources. Moreover, grafting, sex determination, fruit fast expansion and ripening are also the unique biological features of cucurbit crops that deserve in-depth research.
In recent years, climate change has exacerbated a series of environmental stresses, such as extreme temperatures, drought, salinity, pests and diseases, which would greatly affect global crop production. Increasing attention has been placed on diverse germplasm resources to explore potential varieties with favorable agronomic traits for cucurbit breeding. Technological advances have enabled a comprehensive knowledge of the physiological and biochemical processes, molecular regulation, and genetic information at the multi-omics level for Cucurbitaceae.
This Research Topic aims to collect the latest findings to describe the complex molecular mechanisms controlling the growth, development, and stress tolerance in Cucurbitaceae plants from a systematic biology perspective. We particularly encourage studies applying genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, phenomics, and other multi-omics methods to promote the selection and molecular breeding of cucurbit varieties.
We welcome submissions of original research articles, methods, reviews and mini-reviews, and other article types, covering the following subthemes in Cucurbitaceae research but not limited to:
• High-quality assembly of Cucurbitaceae genomes.
• Genetic mapping of genes and loci underlying important agronomic traits.
• Multi-omics analysis of key genes affecting stress response and regulation in cucurbits.
• Phylogenomic study to understand the domestication of Cucurbitaceae plants, particularly the evolution of fruit quality traits.
• Elucidating the grafting biology at the multi-omics level.
• Bioinformatics tool or database for cucurbit genomics or molecular breeding.
