Reviews of New Breeding Techniques (NBT) in Horticultural Crops

Frontiers in Horticulture is delighted to present the 'Reviews in' series of Research Topics. 'Reviews in' is a series being launched across Frontiers in Horticulture's sections that aims to publish high-quality review articles on key topics in the field. The goal of this series is to highlight recent advances across horticultural disciplines, whilst emphasising important directions and new possibilities for future inquiry. We anticipate the research presented will promote discussion within the broader horticulture community and translate to best practice applications in research, industry, and policy settings.Reviews of New Breeding Techniques (NBT) in Horticultural Crops will cover the development, optimization, and application of highly precise genetic and biotechnological tools for breeding horticultural crops. As global horticulture grapples with the urgent need for climate-resilient, high-yielding, and nutrient-dense crops, traditional breeding methods are being significantly accelerated by revolutionary advances in genome sequencing and manipulation. This new volume in the series brings together high-quality scholarly review articles that map the current state of these innovations, address technical and efficiency bottlenecks, evaluate global regulatory frameworks, and chart future directions for the rapid development of advanced horticultural varieties.Reviews of New Breeding Techniques in Horticultural Crops welcomes Review, Mini-Review, and Systematic Review articles on topics within the scope of the Breeding and Genetics section. To ensure clear differentiation from general or conventional breeding collections, this topic focuses strictly on cutting-edge, precision-driven New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) across fruits, vegetables, medicinal, and ornamental crops:• Advanced CRISPR/Cas Systems: Reviews on the implementation of multiplex editing, base editing, prime editing, and epigenome editing in complex horticultural genomes.• Delivery Bottlenecks and Tissue Culture-Free Methods: Critical evaluations of nanoparticle-mediated delivery, viral vectors, and direct pollen/meristem editing to bypass traditional in vitro regeneration constraints.• RNAi and Non-Transgenic Pest Management: Applications of Spray-Induced Gene Silencing (SIGS) and exogenous RNA interference for targeted disease and pest resistance. • TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes) and Eco-TILLING: Reviews on the use of high-throughput non-transgenic reverse-genetics strategies to identify induced or natural point mutations in target genes.• Cisgenesis and Intragenesis: Current progress, potential, and public acceptance of transferring genes exclusively from within the same species or sexually compatible gene pools.• Speed Breeding and Reverse Breeding: Technological innovations designed to drastically shorten generation times, with a particular emphasis on perennial woody plants and fruit trees.• Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering: De novo design of metabolic pathways to enhance nutritional profiles, bioactives, post-harvest shelf life, and ornamental traits. • Genomic Selection (GS) and Predictive Breeding: Reviews on the implementation of genome-wide markers to predict breeding values for complex, polygenic traits in horticulture, addressing challenges unique to these crops such as high heterozygosity, polyploidy, and long juvenile phases.• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Crop Design: Applications of AI, deep learning, and advanced computational models in integrating multi-omics data, predicting optimal CRISPR guide RNAs, optimizing speed breeding protocols, and automating high-throughput phenotyping for accelerated trait selection.• Grafting-Mediated Biotechnology: Utilizing genetically engineered rootstocks to transmit mobile RNA or protein signals to non-transgenic scions.• Off-Target Assessment and High-Throughput Screening: Advances in sequencing techniques to validate the precision, accuracy, and safety of edited horticultural lines.• Global Regulatory Frameworks and Biosafety: Comparative reviews on how NBTs are legally defined, regulated, and perceived by consumers across different regions (e.g., EU, USA, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific). Topic editors: Manuel Jamilena, Shu Xia, Emidio Albertini Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83108/reviews-of-new-breeding-techniques-nbt-in-horticultural-crops