Abstract: Mulberry is a perennial woody plant with a huge economic, ecological and social value. Genetic improvement programsplay a crucial role in the sustainable management of mulberry resources. The rapid development of modern molecular biotechnology bringsnew opportunities and challenges to mulberry improvement. Molecular biotechnology has already shown great application potential for mulberry improvement. The recent advance on molecular biology of mulberry, including its molecular markers, transgenic technology,screening for genotypic stress tolerance and mulberry breeding were summarized in this paper. Moreover, the perspective applications of molecular biotechnology to mulberry genetic improvement were also discussed. This work provides a reference for further study of the molecular biology of mulberry.