: Plants are exposed to diverse abiotic and biotic stimuli. These require fast and specific integrated responses. Such responses are coordinated at the protein and transcript levels and are incorporated into larger regulatory networks. Here, we focus on the evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks involved in plant-pathogen interactions. We discuss the evolution of regulatory networks and their role in fine-tuning plant defense responses. Based on the observation that many of the cornerstones of immune signaling in angiosperms are also present in streptophyte algae, it is likely that some regulatory components also predate the origin of land plants. The degree of functional conservation of many of these ancient components has not been elucidated. However, ongoing functional analyses in bryophytes show that some components are conserved. Hence, some of these regulatory components and how they are wired may also trace back to the last common ancestor of land plants or earlier. Of course, an understanding of the similarities and differences during the evolution of plant defense networks cannot ignore the lineage-specific coevolution between plants and their pathogens. In this review, we specifically focus on the small RNA regulatory networks involved in fine-tuning of the strength and timing of defense responses and highlight examples of pathogen exploitation of the host RNA silencing system. These examples illustrate well how pathogens frequently target gene regulation and thereby alter immune responses on a larger scale. That this is effective is demonstrated by the diversity of pathogens from distinct kingdoms capable of manipulating the same gene regulatory networks, such as the RNA silencing machinery.
Keywords: co-evolution; gene expression; molecular plant pathology; plant evolution; plant immunity; plant pathogens; plant–microbe interaction.