Advances in Asexual Reproduction in Plants: Physiological, Molecular, and Biotechnological Perspectives

Asexual reproduction is a vital biological process that enables plants to propagate clonally while maintaining desirable genetic traits. In horticultural, forestry, ornamental, and medicinal crops, vegetative propagation methods such as adventitious rooting, tissue culture, grafting, somatic embryogenesis, and apomixis are extensively used for rapid multiplication, germplasm conservation, and the production of uniform planting materials. Over the past decade, significant advances in plant physiology, molecular biology, genomics, and biotechnology have greatly improved our understanding of the hormonal, genetic, and epigenetic mechanisms regulating plant regeneration and clonal development. Emerging multi-omics approaches, including transcriptomics, metabolomics, and genome-wide analyses, have further revealed the complex regulatory networks controlling rooting, regeneration, and stress adaptation during asexual propagation. However, many molecular mechanisms underlying plant regeneration remain insufficiently understood, particularly in woody perennial species and economically important fruit crops.The primary goal of this Research Topic is to provide a comprehensive platform for advancing our understanding of the physiological, molecular, genetic, and biotechnological mechanisms underlying asexual reproduction in plants. Although substantial progress has been achieved in model species, important challenges remain in understanding the regulatory networks governing adventitious rooting, organogenesis, somatic embryogenesis, and vegetative propagation in horticultural and woody crops. In many species, low regeneration efficiency, genotype dependency, and environmental sensitivity continue to limit the practical application of propagation technologies and breeding programs.This Research Topic aims to address these challenges by bringing together recent discoveries in plant physiology, hormone signaling, functional genomics, epigenetics, and biotechnology-assisted propagation. We encourage studies integrating multi-omics technologies, gene functional analyses, genome editing, and advanced tissue culture systems to uncover key regulators of plant regeneration and clonal propagation. By highlighting both fundamental and applied research, this collection seeks to promote innovative strategies for sustainable crop production, rapid propagation of elite germplasm, stress-resilient rootstock development, and modern horticultural improvement.This Research Topic welcomes high-quality contributions focusing on the mechanisms, applications, and technological advances in plant asexual reproduction and regeneration. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, adventitious and lateral root formation, somatic embryogenesis, organogenesis, apomixis, grafting biology, tissue culture and micropropagation, hormone-mediated regulation, epigenetic and small RNA pathways, stress responses during regeneration, and biotechnology-assisted propagation. Studies employing transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, genome editing, and other multi-omics approaches are particularly encouraged.We invite submissions involving horticultural crops, fruit trees, forestry species, ornamental plants, medicinal plants, and model systems. Manuscript types include Original Research Articles, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Perspectives, Methods, and Opinion articles. Interdisciplinary studies bridging molecular biology, physiology, genetics, and applied horticulture are especially welcome. Topic editors: Muhammad Mobeen Tahir, Jiangping Mao Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83094/advances-in-asexual-reproduction-in-plants-physiological-molecular-and-biotechnological-perspectives