Yield-Component Traits, Flower and Fruit Development, and Metabolites of Woody Oil Tree

About this Research Topic

Background

Growing populations and rising living standards have increased global demand for healthy edible oil, and global consumption of vegetable oils has been estimated to double by 2030. However, the vegetable oil produced by a few oil-bearing crops is currently insufficient to feed the world's 8 billion people due to limited agricultural lands. The solution to this problem is to grow woody oil trees in marginal areas, such as desert soils, sandy lands, saline-alkaline lands, impoverished soils, and mine rehabilitation lands. Woody oil trees are widely planted on a large scale throughout the world because they not only produce high-quality edible oils, used as raw materials for cooking, health products, and pharmaceuticals, but also contribute greatly to ecological construction, carbon neutrality, and global sustainability. Methods for capturing natural genetic variation, functional characterization of genes, and manipulation of endogenous or transferred genes have been widely used for crop genetic improvement. Genomic data from several woody oil trees were released, and a series of key genes, transcription factors, non-coding RNAs, and proteins regulating important traits were identified. Compared to traditional crops, efforts to improve the yield, quality, and resistance of woody oil trees have been lagging behind due to the lack of understanding of the molecular mechanisms of flower and fruit development and yield-component traits.

The development of woody oil trees faces two "stuck neck" problems: low yield and poor quality, mainly because the mechanisms of molecular regulation on yield formation and metabolite synthesis are unclear. Therefore, it is urgent to study in depth the mechanisms of floral and fruit development, yield-component traits, and metabolite formation, including the identification of key environmental factors affecting these traits to promote genetic improvement and cultivation of woody oil trees.

In this Research Topic, we welcome all types of articles published by Frontiers in Plant Science that decipher the mechanisms of formation of yield component traits and metabolites, and flower and fruit development of woody oil trees. Topics of interest include:
• Phenomics to uncover yield-component traits and other important economic characteristics of woody oil trees
• Hormones and physiological mechanism of yield component traits and flower and fruit development of woody oil trees
• Multi-omics to identify key genes, transcription factors, non-coding RNAs, metabolites, and proteins conferring flower and fruit development, yield component trait formation, and metabolites, particularly in functional validation of key genetic and/or metabolic pathways
• Development of efficient tissue culture, genetic transformation, and gene editing systems for woody oil trees
• The use of modern analytical technology for the screening and identification of special bioactive compounds and their content in woody oil trees

Keywords: woody oil tree, yield, yield-component traits, flower development, fruit development, metabolites, phenomics, multi-omics, molecular mechanisms

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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