The epigenetic landscape of plant defense: Unlocking nature's toolkit for new plant protection

Abstract

Epigenetic regulation constitutes an important layer of plant immune control, governing how defense genes are activated, silenced, and primed in response to biotic stress. Epigenetic editing has recently emerged as a transformative strategy in both mammals and plants, enabling precise, reversible, and potentially heritable modulation of gene expression without altering DNA sequences. In this review, we summarize current advances in epigenetic mechanisms underlying plant–pathogen interactions that can be rationally utilized for plant protection. We further address the technical and conceptual challenges that constrain the practical application of epigenetic editing, including off‐target effects, epigenetic stability and heritability, limitations of delivery platforms, and broader ecological and environmental considerations. Together, this review proposes epigenetic editing as a versatile and sustainable tool for unlocking the plant immune repertoire and developing disease‐resistant plants, offering a promising alternative that addresses several limitations of conventional genetic modification.