Activation and Suppression of Plant Immunity

Plants constantly face many kinds of abiotic and biotic stresses. One of the major threats is from many plant fungal, oomycete, viral, bacterial and nematode pathogens. Plant diseases caused by these pathogens reduce crop yield by 10-15% worldwide every year. Throughout the human history, plant diseases are responsible for many famines including the infamous Irish Potato Famine. Besides the negative impact on the yield, the quality of the infected crop will be adversely affected and the toxins produced by plant pathogens pose threat to human health. During the co-evolution between plants and pathogens, plants developed elegant defense system against pathogen infection and plant pathogens deploy a variety of strategies to suppress plant innate immunity. A deeper understanding the molecular mechanisms on the activation of plant defense in plants and suppression of plant defense by plant pathogens will be crucial to develop effective ways to minimize the detrimental effects from plant diseases on human beings. This Research Topic aims to increase our understanding on the molecular interactions between plants and pathogens.