Crop Abiotic Stress: Advances in Germplasm/Gene Discovery and Utilization

After nearly a century of intensive investigation, collection, evaluation, cataloging, and warehousing, about 7.4 million copies of germplasm resources are now housed in 1,750 germplasm banks around the world. These abundant resources have fueled significant advances in crop improvement while also posing challenges to how these resources can be effectively utilized. Global scientists have undertaken long-term thinking and exploration to improve the management and utilization efficiency of these resources by establishing core germplasm. This approach has played a positive role in promoting our comprehension and integration of genetic diversity in major crops.

However, global climate fluctuations bring a range of abiotic stresses that interfere with plant growth and development, leading to crop yield losses. As such, there is a pressing need for a deeper understanding of the diverse mechanisms by which plants can protect themselves against abiotic stressors. The current exploitation of crop germplasm resources is far from meeting the needs of the rapid development of modern crop seed industry, which is one of the bottlenecks that restrict crop breeding and production. It is mainly manifested in the lack of depth and breadth of resource identification, resulting in the shortage of high-quality germplasm resources and the low genetic diversity of existing germplasm resources. The combination of germplasm identification and mechanism exploration in crop response to abiotic stresses will provide a powerful foundation that can lead to the discovery of excellent germplasm materials and, ultimately the breeding of breakthrough crop cultivars.

This Research Topic aims to advance the discovery and utilization of germplasms and genes for the management of crop abiotic stress. We welcome all article types accepted in the Functional and Applied Plant Genomics section, with suggested topics including:

• Abiotic stress tolerant germplasm screen and analysis of molecular and metabolomic mechanisms.
• Analysis of the genetic basis of abiotic stress resistance in crops using QTL mapping, genome-wide association analysis, etc.
• Exploration of abiotic stress-tolerant mechanisms through the study of using abiotic stress tolerant- or sensitive- germplasm materials.
• Comparative transcriptomic and/or metabolomic studies related to abiotic stress tolerance in crops.
• Identification of molecular markers and their application in marker-assisted breeding to improve crop abiotic stress resistance.

Through these contributions, we hope to deepen our understanding of abiotic stress in crops and further promote the utilization of germplasm and gene resources to support sustainable and efficient agriculture.

Keywords: abiotic stress, crop, germplasm, molecular mechanism

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.