Breeding Neglected and Underutilized Crops for Climate Resilience

Neglected and underutilised crops (NUCs) — including minor cereals, legumes, and traditional vegetables — carry a largely uncharacterized reservoir of genetic diversity for traits such as drought tolerance, heat resistance, and resistance to pests and pathogens. Unlike major staple crops, the genomes, gene networks, and epigenetic regulatory mechanisms of these crops remain poorly resolved, limiting our understanding of their adaptation and our ability to exploit their resilience in crop improvement programs.

This Research Topic focuses on the genetic and epigenetic basis of climate resilience in neglected and underutilised crops, covering gene and allele discovery, genome and chromosome organisation, and the regulatory mechanisms underlying adaptive stress responses. The goal is to consolidate current knowledge of the molecular and cytogenetic architecture behind resilience traits in these species, and to integrate this knowledge with the characterisation and utilisation of genetic resources, conventional and pre-breeding approaches, and modern breeding strategies that support their conservation, genetic improvement, and sustainable utilisation.

To gather further insights in this area, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Characterization and utilization of genetic resources, including germplasm collections, landraces, crop wild relatives of neglected and underutilized crops
• Conventional breeding, pre-breeding, and innovative breeding strategies for developing climate-resilient neglected and underutilized crops
• Gene and QTL discovery, molecular genetics, and functional genomics of abiotic/biotic stress responses
• Epigenetic regulation (DNA methylation, histone modifications, and small RNAs) underlying adaptation to abiotic and biotic stresses
• Genome and chromosome structure, organization, evolution, and comparative genomics in neglected and underutilized crop species
• Genetic diversity, population genomics, and evolutionary dynamics supporting climate-resilient crop improvement
• Phenotyping, high-throughput phenotyping, and the integration of multi-omics approaches for climate-resilience research
• Marker-assisted selection, genomic selection, genome editing, and other advanced breeding technologies for crop improvement
• Studies demonstrating successful breeding programs and the development of climate-resilient cultivars of neglected and underutilized crops

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: neglected and underutilized crops, climate resilience, genetic diversity, epigenetic regulation, chromosome organization, abiotic stress tolerance, biotic stress resistance, germplasm conservation, functional genomics, marker-assisted breeding

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.