In nature, plants are constantly exposed to a multitude of microorganisms and pathogens, causing diseases that represent a major threat to agriculture, global food security and ecological biodiversity. To combat such diseases, plants have evolved a sophisticated innate immunity system capable of detecting and responding to pathogen infection, as well as acquired immune mechanisms that enable them to recognize and combat pathogens. Novel approaches and recent technological advances such as high‑throughput sequencing and (multi-)omics, single‑cell profiling, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, deep learning and precision breeding, among others, can help researchers investigating plant-pathogen interactions and plant diseases with unprecedented resolution and scale.

In support of United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2: Zero Hunger), 13 (SDG 13: Climate action) and 15 (SDG 15: Life on Land), BMC Plant Biology presents the Collection Plant disease resistance - Part II. This Collection invites research that can improve our understanding of disease resistance in plants and plant-pathogen interactions and builds towards the sustainable breeding for disease-resilient crops. Research without a clear focus on plants and crops or plant-microbe interactions will not be considered. We invite submission of research articles that explore, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Mechanisms and evolution of plant disease resistance: regulation and evolution of resistance genes (R genes), their mode of action, and how R genes initiate immune signaling
• Plant immune systems, immune mechanisms, signaling, systemic acquired resistance, immune priming and immune memory
• Immune surveillance systems in crops
• Biological control agents and induced systemic resistance (ISR)
• Cell-surface immune receptors (e.g. receptor-like kinases (RKs or RLKs) and receptor-like proteins (RPs or RLPs)), and intracellular immune receptors (e.g. the nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat-containing protein (NLR) family)
• Mechanisms and regulation of plant hypersensitive response (HR)
• Resistance genes and elicitors of plant immunity
• Plant resistomes (genome-wide repertoires and diversity of plant immune receptors and resistance-associated genes)
• Cell and molecular biology of plant disease resistance
• Plant-pathogen interactions
• Emerging and re-emerging plant pathogens and resistance strategies
• Plant microbiome and endophyte-mediated disease resistance
• The role of rhizosphere microbiome in disease suppression
• Plant secondary metabolites and natural products in disease resistance
• Epigenetic regulation of plant disease resistance
• Small RNAs, RNA silencing and cross-kingdom RNA communication in plant immunity
• RNA-based disease management including RNAi, spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS), host-induced gene silencing (HIGS)
• Cross-kingdom RNA trafficking and RNA-mediated plant-pathogen communication
• Pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI)
• Multi-omics approaches, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics and gene-editing for understanding disease resistance
• Spatial, single-cell and cell-type-specific approaches to plant immunity
• Extracellular vesicles and intercellular communication during plant–pathogen interactions
• The influence of climate change and combined abiotic–biotic stresses on disease resistance
• Novel breeding strategies for plant disease resistance
• Bioengineering, genetic modifications and synthetic biology applied to crops to improve disease resistance
• Nanotechnology in plant disease resistance (use of immunity booster nanoparticle formulations)
• Artificial intelligence in plant disease resistance, including plant-microbe interactions
• Technological and methodological advances applied to plant disease resistance research

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer-review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.

Carbon metabolism is central to the growth, development and productivity of photosynthetic organisms. It involves dynamic regulation and interplay between a number of complex processes (e.g. photosynthesis, carbon use and storage, respiration, nutrient metabolism), response and adaptation to environmental cues and stress (e.g. light, CO₂ content, temperature), as well as the integration of fine-tuned enzymatic activity, post-translational modifications and signalling pathways.

Over the past decades, much research has been carried out to understand carbon fixation and utilization in model plants/crops, as well as other photosynthetic organisms. Advancing our understanding of the working principles and regulation of key enzymes like Rubisco, the Calvin–Benson–Bassham (CBB) cycle, C3, C4, and CAM metabolism, carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs), or how specific micro-compartments and organelles facilitate carbon concentration, has fundamental relevance. Moreover, the engineering of carbon metabolism has the potential to help addressing current global challenges linked to food security and climate change. For instance, novel insights into carbon metabolism regulation can inform breeding strategies to enhance crop yield and resilience by optimizing photosynthetic efficiency and carbon utilization, and lead to metabolic engineering of photosynthetic (micro)organisms with improved carbon fixation.

In support of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2: Zero Hunger), BMC Plant Biology launches the Collection Plant carbon metabolism. This Collection invites research addressing the mechanisms and regulation of plant carbon metabolism, including research that explores new applications and approaches to modulate carbon metabolism and enhance the yield and stress resilience in crops and photosynthetic organisms (e.g. micro/macroalgae, cyanobacteria). We invite researchers and experts in the field to submit research articles that explore, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• C3, C4 and CAM metabolism in photosynthetic organisms: diversity, regulation and evolution
• Mechanisms and regulation of the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle in photosynthetic organisms
• Synthesis, assembly, mechanisms and activity regulation of Rubisco
• Functions and diversity of carbon-concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) in photosynthetic organisms
• Functions, working principles and diversity of micro-compartments and organelles that facilitate carbon concentration in photosynthetic organisms (e.g. carboxysome, pyrenoid)
• Mechanisms and regulation of carbon allocation (e.g. starch and sucrose metabolism)
• Mechanisms and regulation of the central carbon metabolism, e.g. glycolysis, Oxidative Pentose Phosphate pathway, the Tricarboxylic Acid (TCA) cycle in photosynthetic organisms
• Metabolic engineering of carbon metabolism to enhance yield and stress resilience in photosynthetic organisms
• Synthetic biology approaches to enhance carbon fixation
• Impact of environmental stress on carbon metabolism
• Regulation of plant carbon assimilation metabolism by post-translational modifications
• Role of plant secondary metabolites in carbon metabolism regulation

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer-review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.