Molecular Interactions between Plants and Pests
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2024 | Viewed by 2386
Special Issue Editor
Interests: plant immune system; plant pests; biochemistry; immunology; nematodes; oxygen metabolism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Plants have always been exposed to attacks to their aboveground parts by insects and to their roots by soil-borne parasites (mostly by parasitic nematodes). Plant–pest interactions are primarily characterized by the feeding habits of pests, which can be categorized as necrotrophs, biotrophs and hemibiotrophs. Biotrophic interactions are the most intriguing as pests do not kill host cells and establish an intimate relationship with the host by secreting digestive fluids that are able to induce considerable changes in host gene expression, metabolism, biochemistry, and tissue histology. The interactions induce an elaborate array of reactions involving the release of volatile compounds, effector and signaling molecules, trans-membrane proteins, and a variety of enzymes and hormones.
At the root level, interactions are more complex because of the presence of an array of soil microorganisms that constitute the rhizosphere with a rich microbiome. Beneficial groups of microorganisms are selected by plants from bulk soil to act as defense activators against pests of roots and leaves. The molecular aspects of this sort of immunization, which can occur in natural soils or be induced in agricultural cropping systems, have still scarcely been investigated.
This Special Issue welcomes multifaceted research on the pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms activated in plant–pest interactions, including the complex network of molecules, signals, and pathways that overcome mutually established defense systems. The aim of this Special Issue is also to gather the most recent studies on the molecular mechanisms of immunization induced by rhizosphere beneficials, and those exerted in the immune response when insects or soil-borne pests attack immunized plants. An additional aim of this Special Issue is to highlight signaling and metabolic pathways through which immunized plants recognize challenges and promptly react to invasions, mitigating infection damage and pest reproduction.
Dr. Sergio Molinari
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- immunity molecular mechanisms
- plant immunity
- plant pests
- root microbiome
- plant defense signaling
- defense metabolites
- plant defense tolerance
- plant receptors
- effectors
- elicitors
- phytophagous arthropod co-evolution
- effectors
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