Hypersensitive Cell Death in Response to Pathogens

Dear Colleagues,

Plant resistance to disease involves the establishment of costly defence responses, closely connected to plant physiological and developmental processes. A representative example is the hypersensitive response (HR), a localized form of programmed cell death (PCD) that prevents propagation of biotrophic/hemibiotrophic microbial pathogens beyond the site of infection. This localized “cell suicide” restricts pathogens access to essential water and nutrients during the early steps of infection, usually haltering disease. The ability to suppress the HR is therefore a major factor in determining infection outcomes. Indeed, depending on whether their lifestyle is biotrophic or necrotrophic, successful pathogens have evolved to either compromise or promote the triggering of the HR.

Downstream of the recognition of the invading microbe by plant immune receptors, major signalling events that act as HR triggers include calcium, reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide and salycilic acid. The sharp boundary of the HR suggests the existence of efficient mechanisms that control cell death and survival. A tight spatio-temporal regulation of the HR is thus essential to activate this cell death programme specifically in the inoculated area while, in surrounding cells, death is repressed thus preventing the HR from spreading beyond the zone of infection. In this context, the HR represents a promising target to increase crop quality, weed control and overall crop resistance against pests which would improve productivity in the field.

In this Special Issue, we invite manuscripts addressing the genetic and molecular basis of the HR-related PCD in both model plants and crop species. Papers describing microbial strategies to either suppress or activate the establishment of the HR are also welcome. We aim at bringing together a collection of primary research, technical and review papers that not only provide un update of the current knowledge of this particular form of PCD but also open new avenues for future investigation as well as perspectives on translational research.

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• hypersensitive response
• programmed cell death
• plant immunity
• microbial effector