Dear Colleagues,

Plants are sessile organisms, meaning that they must constantly adapt to a wide range of constraints, both biotic and abiotic, in order to survive, develop, and reproduce in their environment. Current topical stresses such as increasing temperatures, drought, salinity, high light, flood, fires and smoke exposure along with pest and pathogen attacks, occurring as isolated or combined events, trigger exquisitely tuned response mechanisms in plants.

Since plants make up more than 80% of the biomass on earth, understanding these mechanisms at the molecular level is essential for our long-term sustainable future. This applies at the macroscale in terms of rainforests as systems, at the microscale terms of tiny plants growing as part of mixed communities at aquatic–terrestrial boundaries, and everywhere in between.

Plants have evolved into an extremely rich kingdom, with species demonstrating a large diversity of reproductive modes. Understanding the major evolutionary transitions between flowering systems is today a central problem in evolutionary biology, which requires the integration of phylogenetics, ecology and population genetics.

Model species such as Arabidopsis, rice and tobacco provide invaluable resources to plant scientists and this vast knowledge can be largely transferred onto crop species of medicinal, ecological and agricultural value.

Crops are domesticated plants that constitute a major part of primary agricultural products and are turned into nutraceuticals, human food, animal feed, biofuels, fiber and building materials. Crops therefore drive the survival, productivity, growth and development of the world’s food, health and economic systems. Extensive research has so far focused on improving the genetics and physiology of crop growth and yield, in addition to providing insights into seed biology.

The biological and economical importance of seeds and grains cannot be understated. They contain high levels of protein, starch and oil reserves that not only support seedling establishment but also feed the world. Upholding the production of viable, vigorous, and nutritious seeds under changing climatic conditions is essential to modern agriculture.

This Special Issue is dedicated to Dr. Dominique Job for his pioneering work on these research topics and his dedication to ensuring that emerging biologists were well versed in the art and intricacies of plant proteomics. He was a CNRS Research Director, consulting Professor at AgroParisTech, a Member of the French Academy of Agriculture, as well as an editor for several high-impact-factor journals. We invite contributions from researchers who have either personally known Dr. Dominique Job or been inspired by his ground-breaking scientific discoveries, thereby continuing his immense legacy.

Dr. Delphine Vincent
Dr. Mélisande Blein-Nicolas
Prof. Dr. Loïc Rajjou
Prof. Dr. Paul A. Haynes
Dr. Ludovit Skultety
Dr. Ewa M. Kalemba
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• model and non-model plant species
• crops
• forestry
• horticulture
• ecology
• flowering
• floral induction
• biennial bearing
• fruit load
• seed physiology
• seed metabolism
• seed germination
• seed vigor
• seed viability
• seed longevity
• desiccation tolerance
• dormancy
• post-genomics and omics
• transcriptomics
• proteomics
• secretomics
• systems biology
• biotic stress
• plant-microbe interactions (bacteria, fungi, viruses)
• abiotic stress
• oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species (ROS)
• sulfur metabolism (biotin, Cys, Met, S-AdoMet, protein biotinylation)
• drought tolerance
• post-translational modifications (PTMs)
• protein turnover
• big data
• data integration
• data mining

Title: To be determined
Author: Castillejo
Highlights:

Title: To be determined
Authors: Christine H Foyer
Affiliation: School of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK
Abstract: To be determined

Title: Integrated proteomics and metabolomics analysis of safflower seed development
Authors: Delphine E Vincent
Affiliation: Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, 5 Ring Road, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia
Abstract: To be determined

Title: To be determined
Authors: Elodie Marchadier
Affiliation: Maître de conférence, Université Paris-Saclay
Abstract: To be determined

Title: To be determined
Authors: Salvador González-Gordo, Christine H. Foyer, José M. Palma, Francisco J. Corpas
Affiliation: CSIC - Estación Experimental del Zaidín (EEZ)This link is disabled., Granada, Spain
Abstract: To be determined

Title: To be determined
Authors: Andrej Frolov
Affiliation: Leibniz Institut fur Pflanzenbiochemie, Halle, Germany
Abstract: To be determined

Title: To be determined
Authors: Tamburino R, Docimo T, Sannino L, Gualtieri L., Valletta A, Ruocco M, Scotti N
Affiliation: CNR-IBBR (Tamburino R, Docimo T, Sannino L and Scotti N); CNR-IPSP (Gualtieri L and Ruocco M), University of Rome “Sapienza” (Valletta A)
Abstract: To be determined

Title: Proteogenomic characterization of Pseudomonas veronii SM-20 growing on phenanthrene as only carbon and energy source
Authors: Sofía Guadalupe Zavala-Meneses; Andrea Firrincieli; Petra Chalova; Petr Pajer; Alice Checcucci; Ludovit Skultety; Martina Cappelletti
Affiliation: Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Microbiology
Abstract: In this work, we extensively investigated the biodegradation capabilities, and stress response of the newly isolated strain Pseudomonas veronii SM-20 for its potential use in bioremediation of sites contaminated with polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Phenotype Microarray technology initially demonstrated the strain's ability to utilize various carbon sources and resist certain stressors. The genomic analysis identified numerous genes involved in aromatic hydrocarbon metabolism. Our phenanthrene (PHE) biodegradation assay indicated that P. veronii strain SM-20 could degrade around 25% of PHE (initial concentration of 600µg/mL) as sole carbon source in 30 days, utilizing it for growth. Subsequent GC-MS and proteomic analyses revealed PHE metabolic intermediates and differentially expressed proteins post-PHE exposure. PHE degradation involved its oxidation to an unstable arene oxide and 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, followed by ring-cleavage to produce 2,2'-diphenic acid. This acid is further funneled into the phthalate pathway for complete mineralization. Proteomic data emphasized the strain's aromatic metabolism, surface adaptations, and defense mechanisms against oxidative stress. Conclusively, our findings shed light on the promising attributes of P. veronii SM-20 in PAH bioremediation, offering invaluable insights for harnessing P. veronii species in environmental restoration of PAH-impacted sites.