Sugarcane Challenges: From Germplasm to Biotechnology

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Horticultural and Floricultural Crops".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2024 | Viewed by 1470

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Genética, Evolução, Microbiologia e Imunologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-970, SP, Brazil
Interests: sugarcane biotechnology; plant biotechnology; plant stress responses; development; synthetic biology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is a growing demand to increase productivity and engage more sustainable pratices in agriculture. Climate change poses an urgent need for plant scientists to deliver new solutions at a faster pace. Sugarcane, a crop with a pivotal role in providing food and energy, poses several challenges for breeders due to its polyploid nature. Similarly, biotechnology applications for sugarcane improvement are a must. This Special Issue aims to gather original research that will offer new insights from breeding strategies to new genes and biotechnological approaches that can lead to improved sugarcane cultivars.

The topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Application of artificial intelligence in sugarcane improvement;
  • Challenges for biofuels production;
  • New breeding methods and gene pyramiding;
  • Gene discovery for biotic and abiotic stress;
  • Gene editing tools and biotechnology;
  • Genome-wide association studies and molecular markers;
  • Improving resource use efficiency;
  • Innovative strategies for sustainable sugarcane production;
  • Morpho-Physio- Biochemical characters for abiotic stress tolerance traits;
  • Strategies in developing climate smart sugarcane;
  • Use of wild genetic resources for sugarcane improvement;
  • Application of molecular cytogenetics to traits introgression;
  • Sugarcane pests and their management;
  • Role and application of Omic tools for crop improvement;
  • Biotic and abiotic stress management in sugarcane through nanotechnological approaches.

Prof. Dr. Marcelo Menossi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • plant breeding
  • pre-breeding
  • molecular markers
  • bioethanol
  • biotechnology
  • climate smart sugarcane
  • gene editing
  • disease and pest management
  • genomics
  • omics
  • sustainable sugarcane production
  • marker-assisted selection
  • biotic and abiotic stress management
  • artificial intelligence
  • nanotechnology
  • utilization of wild genetic resources

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 2320 KiB  
Article
The Sugarcane ScPetC Gene Improves Water-Deficit and Oxidative Stress Tolerance in Transgenic Tobacco Plants
by Carolina Ribeiro Liberato Silva, César Bueno de Souza, Claudiana Moura dos Santos, Bruno Spinassé Floreste, Nicholas Camargo Zani, Andrea Akemi Hoshino-Bezerra, Giane Carolina Bueno, Eder Bedani Ruiz Chagas and Marcelo Menossi
Agronomy 2024, 14(7), 1371; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071371 - 26 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1226
Abstract
Water deficit is the main limiting factor constraining sugarcane productivity, and its impact is expected to increase due to climate changes. During prolonged drought periods, most plants become extremely vulnerable to ROS accumulation, which can severely damage their photosynthetic apparatus. The PetC gene, [...] Read more.
Water deficit is the main limiting factor constraining sugarcane productivity, and its impact is expected to increase due to climate changes. During prolonged drought periods, most plants become extremely vulnerable to ROS accumulation, which can severely damage their photosynthetic apparatus. The PetC gene, encoding a Rieske FeS protein (ISP), has been shown to regulate the electron transport chain and protect photosystems (PSs) under drought conditions in some plant species. In sugarcane, transcriptome analysis revealed that ScPetC is repressed during drought stress in the field. In this study, we have overexpressed ScPetC in tobacco plants and evaluated its role in water-deficit tolerance. Our results indicate that the ScPetC protein structure is conserved when compared to other species. ScPetC overexpression reduced the negative impact of water deficit on plant development. This effect was associated with a positive impact on ScPetC quantum efficiency and the electron transport rate of PSII, the photosynthetic rate, and water use efficiency. The total chlorophyll content under water deficit was higher in plants overexpressing ScPetC, and this was correlated with less chlorophyll degradation from oxidative damage. Together, these results demonstrate that ScPetC confers tolerance to water deficit and oxidative stresses, making it a candidate gene for crop improvement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sugarcane Challenges: From Germplasm to Biotechnology)
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