Plant diseases caused by fungal, bacterial, viral, and nematode pathogens incur serious economic losses to crops every year and pose a major threat to global food security. Changes in climate conditions, along with the rising threat of pathogen resistance to chemicals, demand an urgent need for developing sustainable disease management strategies for current and future climate change. An understanding of the relationship between a pathogen and its host is essential for the development of effective disease control measures. During the last decade achievements made by scientists in the fields of plant genomics and pathogenomics have been exceptional, leading to major advancements in how pathogens cause disease in their host plants and how plants resist pathogens at the mechanistic and molecular levels. However, there are still a lot of gaps in our knowledge to dissect the genetic architecture of host-pathogen specificity and the mechanisms of host plant immunity for exploiting the full potential of this core capability for engineering disease resistance crops for the future.

In this Research Topic, we invite investigators to submit manuscripts highlighting the latest developments and new concepts in the areas of plant genomics and pathogenomics that can contribute to the in-depth understanding of the mechanisms underlying pathogenicity and virulence of the pathogen as well as defense and resistance of the host, for engineering low cost durable and environment-friendly disease management strategies against serious pathogens and pests in valuable crops. Our main goal is to promote technological advancements and discoveries in plant research and microbial pathogenesis that can streamline the application of this knowledge in designing future crops with enhanced disease resistance.

This Research Topic gives scientists an opportunity to publish alongside the related work of peers to highlight progress in the focal areas of plant genomics and pathogenomics. The Research Topic aims to have a collation of original research articles, methods, and reviews (comprehensive reviews are particularly encouraged) related to, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Harnessing the power of genomics for implementing pathogen resistance in crop plants
• Discovery of new pathogenicity, virulence/avirulence factors, and effector proteins
• Functional genomics applications in plant disease resistance.
• RNAi-based plant protection strategies
• Manipulation of plant immunity responses (plant hormones, small RNAs, secondary metabolite pathways, cell wall modifications, etc.)
• New insights into DAMPS/MAMPS/PAMPS for triggering plant defense responses
• Progress in genetic engineering and gene editing technologies for creating new opportunities in plant disease management

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Impact

Frontiers in Plant Science

Participating Journals

Impact