Call for Papers: Analytical Methods in Plant Science

Plants and algae generate the primary materials for life on Earth. With new analytical methods, we aim to improve our understanding of their function in complex biological systems. We are excited to announce a call for papers for a PeerJ Life & Environment and PeerJ Analytical Chemistry cross-journal Special Issue on “Analytical Methods in Plant Science“, edited by Prof. Robert Winkler and Dr. Scott Wallen.

Analytical Methods in Plant Science: Novel methods for analyzing plants and algae function in complex biological systems

Photosynthetic organisms build complex organic molecules from simple inorganic compounds, using sunlight as an energy source. As primary producers, plants and algae are essential participants of complex ecosystems. The oxygen released by their photosynthetic processes makes aerobic life on Earth possible and is critical to maintaining carbon cycle balance.

Although humans entirely depend on the activity of plants for respiration, nutrition, and raw materials, adequate methods for studying them are often lacking. We know about the importance of plant interactions with other organisms (the ‘holobiont’ concept) and the crucial role of chemical communication. Yet, we have been limited by the methods used for observing physiological processes like inter- and intraspecies plant interactions under ambient conditions.

High resolution microscopy can now provide detailed insights into tissue and cell structure. Omics technologies, such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, can generate vast amounts of data at a molecular level. Novel approaches permit the real-time monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the untargeted localization of molecules by mass imaging, and the high-throughput sequencing of microbial communities.

This special issue invites the submission of manuscripts that report original methods for analyzing plants and algae, ideally in their natural context. Further, novel applications, for example, in plant phenotyping and breeding and software for data mining and integration, are welcome.

Submissions are welcome to both PeerJ Life & Environment and PeerJ Analytical Chemistry.

To find out more and to submit your abstract, please visit https://peerj.com/special-issues/87-org-chem-for-health

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