Advances in plant molecular biology: towards new challenges

Abstract

Plant molecular biology has evolved with substantial progress in recent years, in order to decipher the molecular principles that underlie plant biology. Regulation of multiple pathways and regulatory targets for plant development, as well as adaptation to different stresses, have been elucidated during the last years, enlightening the knowledge we have about how plants cope with different environmental stimuli and how symbiosis with other organisms is used as a sustainable source of biostimulants in agriculture. The accumulated knowledge of plant molecular biology has also been enhanced due to the improvement of molecular techniques and the biotechnology of plants for gene editing. These advances have been included in this Special Issue due to the increased interest of the plant scientific community in facing significant challenges in the 21st century, in particular the need to increase global food supply under the increasing threats from climate change.