Plant-Pest Interactions: a research topic of interest for pest control

Plants and phytophagous arthropods have shared more than 400 million years of evolution. Consequently, both adversaries have developed physical and chemical barriers to protect against each other. They have not only modified their metabolic pathways and the physiology but have also adapted behaviour habits, to finally maintain a growth-defence trade off which ensures their survival. Many publications have appeared in the last years, particularly focused on the molecular aspects associated with the defence and counter-defence processes involved in the plant-pest relationship. This Research Topic is addressed in a special issue on plant-pest interactions published in Frontiers in Plant Science, divided into three volumes based on the pest order. Deciphering of the plant defence responses in the interaction with pest species has been the main objective of this special issue. The articles included in these volumes add novel insights at the ecological, physiological and molecular levels as well as new experimental procedures to work with phytophagous pests.