PEPRs spice up plant immunity

Some pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) in plants, such as PEPRs, sense endogenous, damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that are released during pathogen infection. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Yamada and colleagues show that genetic or pathogen-induced depletion of Arabidopsis BAK1, a co-receptor for multiple PRRs, primes immune activation through PEPRs. The work illustrates a link between pathogen-induced perturbation of BAK1 and DAMP signaling.