This Research Topic is part of the DAMPs across the Tree of Life series:
Volume 2 - Regulated Cell Death and Immune ResponsesVolume 3 - Human DiseasesAll organisms on the planet use Damage Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMPs) to signal that injury has occurred, in order to initiate repair, remodeling, and immunity. It suggests that DAMPs and DAMPs-initiated signaling systems might be the most primordial form of innate immunity and tissue repair systems in living organisms before sophisticated immune systems evolved. Therefore, studying DAMPs is relevant for various fields, including agriculture, insect control, cancer, wound healing, pregnancy, transplantation, and various inflammatory disorders.
In the plant sciences, damaged-self recognition and DAMPs-dependent signaling represent a very recent research field, with a history of 10 years. Early responses to DAMPs in plants are shared with mammals: examples including membrane depolarization, Ca2+ fluxes, the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Downstream signaling comprises the synthesis of plant hormones such as jasmonates and salicylic acid and the formation of a long-lasting immunological memory. Few DAMPs have been identified in plants, and most of them are shared with the mammalian immune system: examples include eATP, HMGB, extracellular peptides, fragments of extracellular matrix molecules, and DNA. However, few DAMPs receptors have been identified so far and several observations indicate several unique characteristics of DAMPs-dependent signaling in plants. For example, multiple di-saccharides and oligosaccharides act as damage signals and the immune response to DNA shows a unique level of self/nonself-specificity, with self-DNA having the strongest immunogenic effects.
In this volume, we welcome Original Research and Review articles focusing on, but not limited to, the following sub-topics:
1. DAMPs versus PAMPs in plant innate immunity
2. DAMPs in the co-evolutionary arms-race with pathogens and herbivores
3. DAMPs-receptors
4. DAMPs-dependent signaling cascades
5. Synergies among DAMPs and other signals
6. Cell wall-derived DAMPs
7. Nucleotides as DAMPs, including ATP, RNA and DNA
8. Extracellular DNA NETs as direct defence
9. Carbohydrates as DAMPs
10. Extracellular peptides as DAMPs
11. Airborne DAMPs and plant-plant communication
12. DAMPs in the establishment of microbiomes
13. DAMPs in biological control
