After microbe recognition, plants induce a local defense response and consequently long-lasting and broad-spectrum systemic disease resistance usually characterized by plant alertness or “immunological memory” known as defense priming. Despite not showing constitutive defenses, the primed state allows for a predisposition to a rapid and/or strong (and more efficient) response to recurrent infections. The establishment and maintenance of the priming may involve epigenetic alterations, accumulation of inactive signaling factors and changes in the levels of immune receptors, among others. Different systemic resistance programs are established depending on the triggering microbe, plant organs/tissues involved in the local interaction and the long-distance mobile signal(s) implicated. Until now, several systemic signals have been proposed/identified in model and crop plants. Interestingly, exogenous treatment with many of these signaling molecules or some other natural or synthetic compounds can also induce the primed state in many plants.

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.

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Frontiers in Plant Science

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