Pivoting plant immunity from theory to the field

Plants live in complex environments and are constantly exposed to potential pathogens with different lifestyles and infection strategies.The evolutionary arms race between plants and their attackers has provided plants with a highly sophisticated and multi-layered defense system,which recognizes pathogen molecules and responds by activating defense pathways in order to resist the invaders.Here,we discuss recent developments in plant immunity,summarize conserved anti-microbial defense outputs and pathways,and provide new insights into the edge-cutting theories and technologies applied in crop production to enhance disease resistance.In the near future,the wide application of plant immune activators and precious bio-edited disease resistant agronomic crops will bring green,economic,and sustainable agriculture to reality.