New Development: A Printed Edition

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www.mdpi.org/entropy/ Open Access Publishing Policy and Efficient Editorial Procedure

With the development of Internet, human societies have evolved rapidly with the emerging information society. The way of scientific communication has been changing dramatically. After a few years, the Online Journal publishing has been completely accepted by all scientific communities. The traditional business model of subscription based journal publishing is being challenged by the alternative Open Access publishing model [1-3]. However, financially sustainable Open Access publishing is still a goal difficult to reach. Dr. Shu-Kun Lin has been identified among the pioneers of Open Access in Natural Sciences, and has been managing online open access journals for about 10 years [4]. Dr. Derek McPhee and Dr. Francis Muguet have tried to help Dr. Shu-Kun Lin in order to make Open Access publishing a sustainable alternative which can be tentatively assessed, inter alia, by the quantity (number of published papers) and quality (impact factor of our journals). Entropy is an online Open Access journal and it is the Publisher’s full intention to have it continue as such. As a general rule, traditional Open Access journals are working under the assumption that all authors are paying publication fees. However, as a remarkable exception, the journal Entropy had been operating without requesting publication charges. However, as the MDPI foundation needs a minima

A New Editorial Office in Qingdao, a New E-Publishing System for MDPI Journals and Beilstein Starts Coverage of Molecules

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A New Editorial Office in Qingdao, a New E-Publishing System for MDPI Journals and Beilstein Starts Coverage of Molecules

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Epigenetics for crop improvement in times of global change

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Research on plant epigenetics aims to understand how endogenous, biotic, and abiotic factors regulate plant development and growth independent of changes in the genome sequence. Often, the epigenetic changes are heritable across generations and modulate plant growth and crop tolerance, particularly in response to environmental stimuli. To take advantage of epigenetic adaptation, recent research has focused on implementing targeted epigenetic diversity to engineer plants that harbour advantageous traits for optimal crop production. Epigenetics has the potential to provide a powerful toolbox for crop breeders; however, most mechanistic studies are based on information from model plant species due to the challenges that arise when working with crops. Here, we summarise the contribution of epigenetics to optimising crop adaptation in response to climate change and overview potential future applications as well as challenges. ABSTRACT: Epigenetics has emerged as an important research field for crop improvement under the on-going climatic changes. Heritable epigenetic changes can arise independently of DNA sequence alterations and have been associated with altered gene expression and transmitted phenotypic variation. By modulating plant development and physiological responses to environmental conditions, epigenetic diversity—naturally, genetically, chemically, or environmentally induced—can help optimise crop traits in an era challenged by global climate change. Beyond DNA sequence variation, the epigenetic modifications may contribute to breeding by providing useful markers and allowing the use of epigenome diversity to predict plant performance and increase final crop production. Given the difficulties in transferring the knowledge of the epigenetic mechanisms from model plants to crops, various strategies have emerged. Among those strategies are modelling frameworks dedicated to predicting epigenetically controlled-adaptive traits, the use of epigenetics for in vitro regeneration to accelerate crop breeding, and changes of specific epigenetic marks that modulate gene expression of traits of interest. The key challenge that agriculture faces in the 21st century is to increase crop production by speeding up the breeding of resilient crop species. Therefore, epigenetics provides fundamental molecular information with potential direct applications in crop enhancement, tolerance, and adaptation within the context of climate change