April 26, 2021 – Our review article entitled “Damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) in plant innate immunity: applying the danger model and evolutionary perspectives” was published in Annual Review of Phytopathology

How to cite:
Tanaka K and Heil M (2021) Damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) in plant innate immunity: applying the danger model and evolutionary perspectives. Ann. Rev. Phytopathol. 59: 53-75. doi:10.1146/annurev-phyto-082718-100146

Abstract:
Danger signals trigger immune responses upon perception by a complex surveillance system. Such signals can originate from the infectious nonself or the damaged self, the latter termed damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Here, we apply Matzinger’s danger model to plant innate immunity to discuss the adaptive advantages of DAMPs and their integration into pre-existing signaling pathways. Constitutive DAMPs (cDAMPs), e.g., extracellular ATP, histones, and self-DNA, fulfill primary, conserved functions and adopt a signaling role only when cellular damage causes their fragmentation or localization to aberrant compartments. By contrast, immunomodulatory peptides (also known as phytocytokines) exclusively function as signals and, upon damage, are activated as inducible DAMPs (iDAMPs). Dynamic coevolutionary processes between the signals and their emerging receptors and shared co-receptors have likely linked danger recognition to preexisting, conserved downstream pathways.