About this Research Topic
Defense priming does not consume many resources but does maintain energy allocation under recurrent infectious and stress conditions. A better understanding of this defense response(s) is vital to achieving sustainable and high-yielding agriculture. However, our current knowledge about this phenomenon is mostly descriptive and only a few mechanistic insights on the systemic resistance programs and the primed state have been described. The goal of this Research Topic is to deepen our comprehension of the systemic resistance and priming signals. We question how many, how and where they are produced in local organs/tissues, and how they are perceived/function in the distal parts of plants. It also aims to expand our understanding of the (epi)genetic mechanisms and defense factors directly implicated in the establishment and maintenance of the primed state in model and crop plants. This is necessary information to move forward in this research area.
In this Research Topic, we welcome manuscripts that improve our understanding of systemic resistance programs and primed states in plants. This topic includes but is not limited to:
- Systemic resistance programs (e.g., Induce Systemic Response and Systemic Acquired Resistance) and defense priming in model and crop plants.
- Defense priming onset and maintenance mechanisms, such as epigenetic changes, levels and localization of defense factors, changes in the abundance of dormant signaling factors, and others.
- Transgenerational defense priming.
- Production, nature, movement, perception, and mode of action of the known or novel long-distance mobile signals capable of triggering systemic resistance and defense priming.
- Precise role of different organs/tissues on systemic resistance and defense priming.
- Lab and field experiments to see whether priming influences plant fitness.
- Defense priming triggered by microbe communities interacting with plants.
- Effects of external growth conditions or abiotic stress on the development of systemic resistance programs and defense priming.
This Research Topic will accept Original Research, Review, Perspective, and Mini Review. We are also open to Methods papers that present novel approaches to address the above topics.
Keywords: systemic resistance, priming, mobile signals, immunological memory, pathogens, immunity, defense, systemic signals
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.