Epigenetic regulation of plant immunity: from chromatin codes to plant disease resistance

Facing a deteriorating natural environment and an increasing serious food crisis, bioengineering-based breeding is increasing in importance. To defend against pathogen infection, plants have evolved multiple defense mechanisms, including pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI). A complex regulatory network acts downstream of these PTI and ETI pathways, including hormone signal transduction and transcriptional reprogramming. In recent years, increasing lines of evidence show that epigenetic factors act, as key regulators involved in the transcriptional reprogramming, to modulate plant immune responses. Here, we summarize current progress on the regulatory mechanism of DNA methylation and histone modifications in plant defense responses. In addition, we also discuss the application of epigenetic mechanism-based resistance strategies in plant disease breeding.