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Grasses are diverse, spanning native prairies to high-yielding grain cropping systems. They are valued for their beauty and useful for soil stabilization, pollution mitigation, biofuel production, nutritional value, and forage quality; grasses encompass the most important grain crops in the world. There are thousands of distinct grass species and many have promiscuous hybridization patterns, blurring species boundaries. Resources for advancing the science and knowledgebase of individual grass species or their unique characteristics varies, often proportional to their perceived value to society. For many grasses, limited genetic information hinders research progress. Presented in this research topic is a brief snapshot of creative efforts to apply modern genomics research methodologies to the study of several minor grass species.

biomass yield --- Genotypic diversity --- grasses --- Stress Tolerance --- RNA-Seq --- Proteomics --- Genomics --- differential gene expression

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The life of proteins starts and ends as amino acids. In addition to the primary function as protein building blocks, amino acids serve multiple other purposes to make a plant's life worth living. This is true especially for the amino acids of the glutamate family, namely glutamate (Glu), glutamine (Gln), proline (Pro) and arginine (Arg), as well as the product of Glu decarboxylation, ?-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Synthesis, accumulation, interconversion and degradation of these five compounds contribute in many ways to the regulation of plant development and to responses to environmental challenges. Glu and Gln hold key positions as entry points and master regulators of nitrogen metabolism in plants, and have a pivotal role in the regulatory interplay between carbon and nitrogen metabolism. Pro and GABA are among the best-studied compatible osmolytes that accumulate in response to water deficit, yet the full range of protective functions is still to be revealed. Arg, with its exceptionally high nitrogen-to-carbon ratio, has long been recognized as a major storage form of organic nitrogen. Most of the enzymes involved in metabolism of the amino acids of the glutamate family in plants have been identified or can be predicted according to similarity with animal or microbial homologues. However, for some of these enzymes the detailed biochemical properties still remain to be determined in order to understand activities in vivo. Additionally, uncertainties regarding the subcellular localization of proteins and especially the lack of knowledge about intracellular transport proteins leave significant gaps in our understanding of the metabolic network connecting Glu, Gln, Pro, GABA and Arg. While anabolic reactions are distributed between the cytosol and chloroplasts, catabolism of the amino acids of the glutamate family takes place in mitochondria and has been implicated in fueling energy-demanding physiological processes such as root elongation, recovery from stress, bolting and pollen tube elongation. Exceeding the metabolic functions, the amino acids of the glutamate family were recently identified as important signaling molecules in plants. Extracellular Glu, GABA and a range of other metabolites trigger responses in plant cells that resemble the actions of Glu and GABA as neurotransmitters in animals. Plant homologues of the Glu-gated ion channels from mammals and protein kinase signaling cascades have been implicated in these responses. Pollen tube growth and guidance depend on GABA signaling and the root architecture is specifically regulated by Glu. GABA and Pro signaling or metabolism were shown to contribute to the orchestration of defense and programmed cell death in response to pathogen attacks. Pro signaling was additionally proposed to regulate developmental processes and especially sexual reproduction. Arg is tightly linked to nitric oxide (NO) production and signaling in plants, although Arg-dependent NO-synthases could still not be identified. Potentially Arg-derived polyamines constitute the missing link between Arg and NO signaling in response to stress. Taken together, the amino acids of the glutamate family emerge as important signaling molecules that orchestrate plant growth and development by integrating the metabolic status of the plant with environmental signals, especially in stressful conditions. This research topic collects contributions from different facets of glutamate family amino acid signaling or metabolism to bring together, and integrate in a comprehensive view the latest advances in our understanding of the multiple functions of Glu-derived amino acids in plants.

amino acid transport --- Arginine --- biochemical pathways --- Enzyme properties --- GABA --- glutamine synthetase --- metabolite signaling --- Proline --- Regulation of development --- Stress tolerance mechanisms

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The development of new plant varieties is a long and tedious process involving the generation of large seedling populations for the selection of the best individuals. While the ability of breeders to generate large populations is almost unlimited, the selection of these seedlings is the main factor limiting the generation of new cultivars. Molecular studies for the development of marker-assisted selection (MAS) strategies are particularly useful when the evaluation of the character is expensive, time-consuming, or with long juvenile periods. The papers published in the Special Issue “Plant Genetics and Molecular Breeding” report highly novel results and testable new models for the integrative analysis of genetic (phenotyping and transmission of agronomic characters), physiology (flowering, ripening, organ development), genomic (DNA regions responsible for the different agronomic characters), transcriptomic (gene expression analysis of the characters), proteomic (proteins and enzymes involved in the expression of the characters), metabolomic (secondary metabolites), and epigenetic (DNA methylation and histone modifications) approaches for the development of new MAS strategies. These molecular approaches together with an increasingly accurate phenotyping will facilitate the breeding of new climate-resilient varieties resistant to abiotic and biotic stress, with suitable productivity and quality, to extend the adaptation and viability of the current varieties.

sugarcane --- cry2A gene --- particle bombardment --- stem borer --- resistance --- NPK fertilizers --- agronomic traits --- molecular markers --- quantitative trait loci --- common wild rice --- Promoter --- Green tissue-specific expression --- light-induced --- transgenic chrysanthemum --- WRKY transcription factor --- salt stress --- gene expression --- DgWRKY2 --- Cucumis sativus L. --- RNA-Seq --- DEGs --- sucrose --- ABA --- drought stress --- Aechmea fasciata --- squamosa promoter binding protein-like --- flowering time --- plant architecture --- bromeliad --- Oryza sativa --- endosperm development --- rice quality --- WB1 --- the modified MutMap method --- abiotic stress --- Cicer arietinum --- candidate genes --- genetics --- heat-stress --- molecular breeding --- metallothionein --- Brassica --- Brassica napus --- As3+ stress --- broccoli --- cytoplasmic male sterile --- bud abortion --- gene expression --- transcriptome --- RNA-Seq --- sesame --- genome-wide association study --- yield --- QTL --- candidate gene --- cabbage --- yellow-green-leaf mutant --- recombination-suppressed region --- bulk segregant RNA-seq --- differentially expressed genes --- marker–trait association --- haplotype block --- genes --- root traits --- D-genome --- genotyping-by-sequencing --- single nucleotide polymorphism --- durum wheat --- bread wheat --- complex traits --- Brassica oleracea --- Ogura-CMS --- iTRAQ --- transcriptome --- pollen development --- rice --- OsCDPK1 --- seed development, starch biosynthesis --- endosperm appearance --- Chimonanthus praecox --- nectary --- floral scent --- gene expression --- Prunus --- flowering --- bisulfite sequencing --- genomics --- epigenetics --- breeding --- AP2/ERF genes --- Bryum argenteum --- transcriptome --- gene expression --- stress tolerance --- SmJMT --- transgenic --- Salvia miltiorrhiza --- overexpression --- transcriptome --- phenolic acids --- Idesia polycarpa var --- glycine --- FAD2 --- linoleic acid --- oleic acid --- anther wall --- tapetum --- pollen accumulation --- OsGPAT3 --- rice --- cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) --- phytohormones --- differentially expressed genes --- pollen development --- Brassica napus --- Rosa rugosa --- RrGT2 gene --- Clone --- VIGS --- Overexpression --- Tobacco --- Flower color --- Anthocyanin --- sugarcane --- WRKY --- subcellular localization --- gene expression pattern --- protein-protein interaction --- transient overexpression --- soybean --- branching --- genome-wide association study (GWAS) --- near-isogenic line (NIL) --- BRANCHED1 (BRC1) --- TCP transcription factor --- Zea mays L. --- MADS transcription factor --- ZmES22 --- starch --- flowering time --- gene-by-gene interaction --- Hd1 --- Ghd7 --- rice --- yield trait --- Oryza sativa L. --- leaf shape --- yield trait --- molecular breeding --- hybrid rice --- nutrient use efficiency --- quantitative trait loci (QTLs), molecular markers --- agronomic efficiency --- partial factor productivity --- P. suffruticosa --- R2R3-MYB --- overexpression --- anthocyanin --- transcriptional regulation --- ethylene-responsive factor --- Actinidia deliciosa --- AdRAP2.3 --- gene expression --- waterlogging stress --- regulation --- Chrysanthemum morifolium --- WUS --- CYC2 --- gynomonoecy --- reproductive organ --- flower symmetry --- Hs1pro-1 --- cZR3 --- gene pyramiding --- Heterodera schachtii --- resistance --- tomato --- Elongated Internode (EI) --- QTL --- GA2ox7 --- n/a