The Role of Abscisic Acid in Plant–Pathogen Interactions

Dear Colleagues,

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a phytohormone with well-established roles in plant development and stress responses. Indeed, its developmental effects and mediation of abiotic stress have been the subject of ongoing research, across the spectrum of plant biology, since its discovery almost 60 years ago. A considerable breadth of knowledge regarding not only ABA’s physiological relevance, but also the molecular mechanisms underlying its biosynthesis, perception, signal transduction, and interactions has accumulated over the years.

That ABA plays a role in mediating biotic interactions with plant pathogens was first reported roughly 20 years after its discovery, when researchers looked at the effects of exogenous ABA applications on plant resistance to disease. Since then, a modest array of studies has expanded on this, looking at the effects of ABA biosynthetic inhibitors, as well as ABA–biosynthetic and –signaling deficient mutants, on susceptibility and resistance across various plant–pathogen interactions. Further compounding the complexity of the relationship, a number of pathogens were recently shown to biosynthesize ABA. Together, we are left with a somewhat mixed perspective regarding the role of ABA in plant defense, associating it with either resistance or susceptibility depending on the nature of the pathogen and other factors. To better understand the role of ABA in plant–pathogen interactions and the mechanisms underlying its differential activities in this area, we emphasize the need for significantly more research in this field.

In this Special Issue, articles (original research papers, perspectives, hypotheses, opinions, reviews, modeling approaches and methods) that focus on the role of ABA in mediating plant–pathogen interactions, including aspects related to its biosynthesis, catabolism, cross-talk, and physiological effects from the perspective of both plant and pathogen, comprising transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic and epigenomic, biochemical, chemical genetic, whole plant studies, field trials, and agronomics, are requested for submission.

Dr. Michele C. Loewen
Dr. Nora A. Foroud
Guest Editors

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• abscisic acid biosynthesis
• abscisic acid perception
• abscisic acid signal transduction
• abscisic acid physiology
• abscisic acid interactions
• phytohormone crosstalk
• plant defense
• phytopathology
• plant pathogens