Molecular Pathways in Plant Immunity and Protection Against Stress
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 72
Special Issue Editors
Interests: gene expression analysis; single-cell analysis; biotic and abiotic stress responses; auxin and ros pathways; plant immunity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant protection; disease resistance; molecular diagnosis of plant pathogens
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Plant pathogens threaten global food security by reducing agricultural productivity. Plants possess an innate immune system that protects them from pathogen attacks. Plant immunity consists of two interdependent and synergistic systems that confer resistance against pathogens. The first system, pattern-triggered immunity (PTI), is activated by pathogen-/damage-/microbe-/herbivore-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs/DAMPs/MAMPs/HAMPs), which are recognized by cell-surface pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). The second system, effector-triggered immunity (ETI), is activated by effectors—virulence molecules secreted by pathogens—that are recognized by intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat proteins (NLRs). Both PTI and ETI enhance defense gene expression and promote the accumulation of the phytohormone salicylic acid (SA), which mediates systemic acquired resistance (SAR). PRRs, NLRs, and their corresponding coreceptors form a complex immune receptor network. Understanding how this network functions is crucial for developing crops with durable resistance to diverse pathogens. Additionally, research has shown that the SA signaling pathway, a key component of plant defense, is negatively affected by elevated temperatures. This raises concerns about the impact of increasingly frequent and extreme heat waves, driven by climate change, on the effectiveness of plant immune responses. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the crosstalk between PRRs, NLRs, and SA signaling is essential for developing crops that are resilient to climate change and resistant to pathogens.
We welcome manuscripts using interdisciplinary approaches and advanced techniques to gain knowledge on the following aspects:
- Molecular mechanisms of plant–pathogen interactions;
- Molecular strategies for enhancing plant immunity;
- PRR-mediated immunity;
- NLR-mediated immunity;
- Induced resistance and defense priming;
- Using multi-omics to reveal plant immune responses;
- Salicylic acid signaling, calcium signaling, and ROS signaling in plant immunity;
- Pathogen perception and signaling;
- Resistance (R) genes.
Dr. Isabel Velada
Dr. Maria Doroteia Campos
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- plant pathogens
- plant immune systems
- pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat proteins (NLRs), salicylic acid signaling
- crop production
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