BABA versus ABA: A Battle to Win in Defense Priming

Plants possess a remarkable capacity to perceive numerous environmental signals and to respond to their surroundings. Stimuli from pathogens, beneficial microbes, as well as chemicals and abiotic stress, can trigger establishment of induced resistance in plants. Defense priming is an intrinsic part of induced resistance: plants take defensive measures while also prepare its immune system for a faster and/or stronger response against subsequent pathogen attacks. Various signals have been implicated to play a role in defense priming, including salicylic acid (SA), pipecolic acid (Pip), and ß-aminobutyric acid (BABA).