Plants have evolved a set of highly sophisticated mechanisms to deal with environmental stresses and to survive in a cost-efficient manner. For example, upon pathogen attack, plants reallocate their limited resources away from growth towards defense against pathogens, and this trade-off between growth and defense is finely balanced to optimize fitness. To date, extensive researches on how plants recognize and response to pathogens have been done, but the molecular mechanisms underlying fine-t...

By 2050, the world’s population is predicted to reach 9.8 billion and food production through conventional agriculture has been straining the global environment. Moreover, urbanization has continued to reduce farmland capacity and farm labor. The rise in urbanization also means that more food needs to be transported into inner cities, and the increasing food miles demand greater efficiency in food preservation.