Tandem kinase–NLR pairs: Novel paradigms in cereal disease resistance

Pathogen-driven crop losses pose a significant threat to global food security. Plants deploy two primary branches of innate immunity: pathogen-associated molecular pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI) (Yu et al., 2024). While PTI relies on surface-localized pattern recognition receptors, ETI is mediated by intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) that directly or indirectly recognize pathogen effectors, often triggering hypersensitive cell death and systemic resistance (Yu et al., 2024).