Multi-Omics Insights into Fruit-Pathogen Interactions During Ripening

Fruit ripening involves coordinated changes in hormone signaling, metabolism, cell wall structure, antioxidant systems, and immune responses. These changes can substantially modify the ability of fruits to interact with and respond to microorganisms, while pathogens can in turn manipulate host physiology to facilitate colonization and disease development. Such reciprocal interactions are particularly important during postharvest storage, when fruits remain metabolically active but are exposed to diverse microbial communities and environmental stresses.Advances in omics technologies have generated extensive datasets describing molecular changes in both fruits and pathogens during infection. However, an integrated understanding of how developmental processes, host defense, pathogen virulence, and microbial communities interact throughout fruit ripening remains limited. A multi-omics perspective provides an opportunity to connect these molecular layers and uncover the dynamic mechanisms governing fruit–pathogen interactions.Fruit ripening dramatically alters the physiological and molecular state of fruits and consequently reshapes their interactions with pathogenic microorganisms. However, the mechanisms linking ripening-associated developmental programs to pathogen colonization, virulence, host defense, and disease progression remain incompletely understood. Although individual omics studies have identified numerous genes, proteins, metabolites, signaling pathways, and microbial taxa associated with fruit diseases, these findings are often investigated independently and provide only a partial view of the dynamic host–pathogen interaction.The goal of this Research Topic is to integrate recent advances in multi-omics technologies to provide a systems-level understanding of fruit–pathogen interactions during ripening. We aim to highlight how integrated omics approaches can reveal reciprocal molecular changes between fruits and pathogens, identify key regulatory networks and molecular determinants of disease development, and uncover novel targets for disease management. By connecting fruit developmental biology with plant immunity, pathogen biology, microbiology, and postharvest science, this Research Topic will promote interdisciplinary research and facilitate the translation of omics discoveries into strategies for maintaining fruit quality and reducing postharvest losses.This Research Topic welcomes studies investigating fruit–pathogen interactions during fruit development, ripening, and postharvest storage using transcriptomics, proteomics, phosphoproteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, epigenomics, microbiomics, single-cell omics, spatial omics, and integrated multi-omics approaches. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:• Molecular mechanisms underlying fruit–pathogen interactions during ripening;• Host immunity, hormone signaling, MAPK cascades, and transcriptional regulation;• Pathogen virulence, effectors, secretomes, and metabolic adaptation;• Cell wall remodeling and ripening-associated changes affecting pathogen colonization;• Host and pathogen metabolomic and proteomic responses;• Dual RNA-seq and other approaches for simultaneous host–pathogen profiling;• Fruit microbiome dynamics and beneficial–pathogenic microbial interactions;• Epigenetic regulation, single-cell and spatial omics;• Systems biology, network analysis, artificial intelligence, and machine learning;• Identification of molecular targets for disease control and postharvest quality preservation. We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Perspectives, Methods, and Data Reports. Topic editors: Dongchao Ji, Ashok P. Giri, Deyvid Novaes Marques, Peiwen Wang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86377/multi-omics-insights-into-fruit-pathogen-interactions-during-ripening