Omics-driven improvement of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) for climate resilience, oil quality, and high-value metabolites under changing environments.

Omics research has advanced safflower's climate resilience, oil quality, and bioactive compounds, but key gaps remain in multi-omics integration and functional validation.

• Why it matters: Improving safflower's adaptation to changing environments is crucial for sustainable production and high-value product development, yet research remains fragmented and incomplete.
• What they did: The review consolidates recent omics studies, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, phenomics, epigenomics, lipidomics, and metagenomics, highlighting critical advances and gaps.
• The result: Addressing these gaps will enable development of stress-tolerant, high-yielding safflower cultivars with improved oil and bioactive profiles, supporting climate-resilient agriculture and value-added products.