In 2025, Chinese plant scientists achieved an explosive growth (a twofold increase) in the number of papers published in the three international comprehensive academic journals (Nature, Science, and Cell) compared to 2024. The number of papers published in mainstream plant science journals also continued to steadily increase relative to 2024. Significant research progress was made in fields such as plant hormones and secondary metabolism, plant biochemical analysis and bioinformatics, photosynthesis and light signaling, stress tolerance mechanisms, and plant systematics and evolution. Among them, “Epigenetic variation drives plant stress adaptation” and “AI-driven protein engineering enables breakthrough in precise chromosome manipulation” were selected as two of the “Top Ten Advances in Life Sciences in China” in 2025. Here we summarize the achievements of plant science research in China in 2025, and briefly introduces 160 representative important research advances, aiming to help readers understand the overall development trend of plant science in China and its position in international plant science, and to evaluate future research direction to meet major national strategic needs.
Gu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.