Special issue on plant metabolism and synthetic biology

For millennia, plant specialised metabolites have been a major source of food, raw materials and medicines. Emerging synthetic biology strategies have provided new approaches to producing high-value plant metabolites. To enable their heterologous production, the corresponding biosynthetic pathway needs to be explained, key regulators need to be identified, new tools and chassis need to be developed, and the biological roles of target compounds need to be investigated. This special issue will feature original research and review papers covering the state-of-the-art technology, challenges and recent advancements in plant synthetic biology targeting plant metabolites.

Topics covered:

These will include, but not be limited to:

• Biosynthesis genes involved in specialised plant metabolism
• Regulatory genes governing specialised plant metabolism
• Enzymology of plant metabolism
• Plant metabolic engineering targeting important traits
• Microbial synthesis of valuable plant natural products
• Synthesis of valuable natural product in plant chassis
• Tools and technologies in plant synthetic biology

Important deadlines:

• Submission deadline (for full papers): 30 June 2022
• Publication date: upon acceptance

Submission instructions:

Please read the Guide for Authors before submitting. All articles should be submitted online; please select the special issue “Plant metabolism and synthetic biology”.

Manuscripts will be reviewed and published on a first-come, first-served basis. Once all accepted manuscripts are published, they will be gathered together in this special issue.

Guest editors:

• Prof. Zhihua Liao, School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, China. Email: zhliao@swu.edu.cn
• Prof. Zhihua Zhou, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. Email: zhouzhihua@cemps.ac.cn
• Prof. Yanran Li, University of California, Riverside, USA. Email: yanranl@ucr.edu
• Prof. Yang Zhang, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, China. Email: yang.zhang@scu.edu.cn