REVIEW article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Plant Biotechnology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1599450

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Plant Defense: Genome Editing, RNAi, and Synthetic Biology for Sustainable Pest ControlView all 3 articles

Plant immunity to insect herbivores: Mechanisms, interactions, and innovations for sustainable pest management

Provisionally accepted
Vasantha-Srinivasan PrabhakaranVasantha-Srinivasan Prabhakaran1Mi Young NohMi Young Noh1Ki Beom ParkKi Beom Park2Tae Yoon KimTae Yoon Kim3Senthil-Nathan, SengottayanSenthil-Nathan, Sengottayan4Yeon Soo HanYeon Soo Han1*
  • 1Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
  • 2Invirustech Co., Inc, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
  • 3FarmInTech Co., Inc, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
  • 4Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India

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Plant–insect interactions pose a major threat to global food security and ecological stability. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying plant immunity against herbivorous insects, with emphasis on structural defenses, secondary metabolites, and hormone signaling pathways including Jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, and ethylene. It highlights key advances in understanding defense signaling crosstalk, effector-triggered responses, and the role of microbiota and environmental cues. The review further discusses insect counterstrategies and explores cutting-edge technologies-CRISPR/Cas9, RNA interference, and metabolic engineering that are reshaping pest management. However, challenges remain, including limited field validation of engineered traits, ecological trade-offs, and regulatory hurdles. We conclude by outlining future research directions focused on multi-omics integration, climate-resilient defense networks, and ethical deployment of plant biotechnologies within sustainable agroecosystems.

Keywords: Plant-insect interactions, Plant Immunity, Sustainable pest management, Biotechnological approaches, Climate Change, plant defense

Received: 25 Mar 2025; Accepted: 27 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Prabhakaran, Noh, Park, Kim, Sengottayan and Han. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Yeon Soo Han, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material