Weijers, D.
; Ljung, K.
; Estelle, M.
; Leyser, O.
(Ed.)
The plant hormone auxin governs many aspects of normal plant growth and development.
Auxin also plays an important role in plant–microbe interactions, including interactions
between plant hosts and pathogenic microorganisms that cause disease. It is now well established
that indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), the most well-studied form of auxin, promotes disease in
many plant–pathogen interactions. Recent studies have shown that IAA can act both as a plant
hormone that modulates host signaling and physiology to increase host susceptibility and as a
microbial signal that directly impacts the pathogen to promote virulence, but large gaps in our
understanding remain. In this article, we review recent studies on the roles that auxin plays
during plant–pathogen interactions and discuss the virulence mechanisms that many plant
pathogens have evolved to manipulate host auxin signaling and promote pathogenesis.
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