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This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact

organic photovoltaics --- solar cells --- nonfullerene --- small-molecule --- interface engineering

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"Intrinsic Clocks" presents an array of current research activities on intrinsic clocks and their contributions to biology and physiology. It elucidates the current models for the intrinsic clocks, their molecular components and key mechanisms as well as the key brain regions and animal models for their behavioral analysis. It provides a timely view on how these clocks guide behavior, and how their disruption may cause depressive-like behavior and impairment in cognitive functions. Thereby, any specific method by which the mood-related functions of the intrinsic clocks might be influenced bears therapeutic potential and has clinical interest. The importance of some of these mechanisms was highlighted by the 2017 award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young for their discoveries of the genetic control of the daily biological rhythm. The key to the explanation was the discovery of transcription-translation feedback loops of the so-called “clock genes.”

nocturnal --- circadian --- tanycytes --- hippocampus --- mood --- diurnal --- seasonal --- cryptochrome --- oscillation --- small-molecule

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"Intrinsic Clocks" presents an array of current research activities on intrinsic clocks and their contributions to biology and physiology. It elucidates the current models for the intrinsic clocks, their molecular components and key mechanisms as well as the key brain regions and animal models for their behavioral analysis. It provides a timely view on how these clocks guide behavior, and how their disruption may cause depressive-like behavior and impairment in cognitive functions. Thereby, any specific method by which the mood-related functions of the intrinsic clocks might be influenced bears therapeutic potential and has clinical interest. The importance of some of these mechanisms was highlighted by the 2017 award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young for their discoveries of the genetic control of the daily biological rhythm. The key to the explanation was the discovery of transcription-translation feedback loops of the so-called “clock genes.”

nocturnal --- circadian --- tanycytes --- hippocampus --- mood --- diurnal --- seasonal --- cryptochrome --- oscillation --- small-molecule

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• Reference Manager
• EndNote
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This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact

Science: general issues --- organic photovoltaics --- solar cells --- nonfullerene --- small-molecule --- interface engineering

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Biologically active small molecules have increasingly been applied in plant biology to dissect and understand biological systems. This is evident from the frequent use of potent and selective inhibitors of enzymes or other biological processes such as transcription, translation, or protein degradation. In contrast to animal systems, which are nurtured from drug research, the systematic development of novel bioactive small molecules as research tools for plant systems is a largely underexplored research area. This is surprising since bioactive small molecules bear great potential for generating new, powerful tools for dissecting diverse biological processes. In particular, when small molecules are integrated into genetic strategies (thereby defining “chemical genetics”), they may help to circumvent inherent problems of classical (forward) genetics. There are now clear examples of important, fundamental discoveries originating from plant chemical genetics that demonstrate the power, but not yet fully exploited potential, of this experimental approach. These include the unraveling of molecular mechanisms and critical steps in hormone signaling, activation of defense reactions and dynamic intracellular processes. The intention of this Research Topic of Frontiers in Plant Physiology is to summarize the current status of research at the interface between chemistry and biology and to identify future research challenges. The research topic covers diverse aspects of plant chemical biology, including the identification of bioactive small molecules through screening processes from chemical libraries and natural sources, which rely on robust and quantitative high-throughput bioassays, the critical evaluation and characterization of the compound’s activity (selectivity) and, ultimately, the identification of its protein target(s) and mode-of-action, which is yet the biggest challenge of all. Such well-characterized, selective chemicals are attractive tools for basic research, allowing the functional dissection of plant signaling processes, or for applied purposes, if designed for protection of crop plants from disease. New methods and data mining tools for assessing the bioactivity profile of compounds, exploring the chemical space for structure–function relationships, and comprehensive chemical fingerprinting (metabolomics) are also important strategies in plant chemical biology. In addition, there is a continuing need for diverse target-specific bioprobes that help profiling enzymatic activities or selectively label protein complexes or cellular compartments. To achieve these goals and to add suitable probes and methods to the experimental toolbox, plant biologists need to closely cooperate with synthetic chemists. The development of such tailored chemicals that beyond application in basic research can modify traits of crop plants or target specific classes of weeds or pests by collaboration of applied and academic research groups may provide a bright future for plant chemical biology. The current Research Topic covers the breadth of the field by presenting original research articles, methods papers, reviews, perspectives and opinions.

Plant-pathogen interaction --- High-Throughput Screening --- agricultural biotechnology --- plant growth regulator --- Chemical Genetics --- bioactive small molecule --- Target identification --- Chemical Biology --- Plant immune response --- phytohormone