Dear Colleagues,

Plants are leading chemists that collectively synthesize a vast number of low molecular weight complex compounds called “phytochemicals” or “phytonutrients” which are the valuable source of bioactive compounds that have numerous health benefits and pharmaceutical and industrial uses. Moreover, they have been shown to possess diverse biological activities, for instance, antiviral, antiproliferative, antioxidant, larvicidal, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiparasitic, analgesic, antifungal, hepatoprotective, immunomodulatory as well as central nervous system depressant. Phytochemicals are classified into two separate classes; primary metabolites that are involved directly in growth and basic cell metabolism, and specialized (i.e., secondary) metabolites considered as end products of primary metabolism that are involved in metabolic activities, defense against herbivores, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, plant virus infections and response to environmental stresses. Crop plants are a rich source of bioactive phytochemicals such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, vitamins, carotenoids, essential amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, phytosterols, glycosides, functional lipids, folates, isothiocyanates, and anthocyanins. In addition, several crop plants have been recognized as promising biomass for bioeconomy development, with a number of advantages over conventional crops. Over the past decades, the use of phytochemicals derived from crop plants have positive beneficial effects on human health that play an important role in the prevention of many chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and obesity. However, these bioactive phytochemicals are biosynthesized and accumulated in plants at a very low level in tissue-specific, organ-specific, and developmentally specific ways, involving highly complex and sophisticated biosynthetic pathways, such that the amounts of the desired phytochemical are very low. Moreover, a significant number of phytochemicals have been identified from the crop plants but, the biological functions of many phytochemicals still remain unknown, and the suggested functions lack underlying molecular mechanisms. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of bioactive molecules is needed to provide new insight into the functional as well as the evolutionary diversity of phytochemicals that might be valuable to improve crop performance.

This Special Issue aims to bring together a set of cutting-edge research articles that shows some of the most significant advances in discoveries of phytochemicals from crop plants. We invite front-line scientists to contribute original research papers, letters, reviews, and short communications related to biochemistry, metabolic engineering, gene editing, crop production, analytical methods, defense responses, as well as metabolic pathways for the biosynthesis of phytochemicals in crop plants.  

Dr. Rajesh Chandra Misra
Guest Editor

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. Crops is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1000 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.

• phytochemicals
• crop protection
• agriculture
• plant specialized metabolites
• plant stress
• gene editing
• natural products
• plant metabolic engineering