Tête-à-Tête during plant-pathogen interactions: Intricacies involved and beyond

Plant-pathogen interaction is always a fascinating theme, as it involves a systematic and well-orchestrated event of interactions between two distinct, dynamic and rapidly evolving biological entities, namely, the host plant and the pathogen. understanding the functional roles of major molecular players viz. pathogen associated molecular pattern (PAMPs), effectors and R proteins that play like a tête-à-tête during plant-pathogen interactions would provide deeper insights into the molecular events underpinning plant immune system like PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI), effector-triggered immunity (ETI) and effector-triggered susceptibility (ETS). Though different models (zig zag model, refined zig zag using biomodels, iceberg model) being proposed to explain the quantitative and qualitative outcome of molecular events of plant-pathogen interactions, the principal concepts remain to be same. we present the fundamental concepts of these molecular players and their cascading events that decide the outcome of plant-pathogen interactions as either compatible/incompatible (susceptible/resistant) interactions.