Editorial: Plant responses to phytophagous mites/thrips and search for resistance

Phytophagous mites and thrips are global pests affecting a wide range of agricultural crops (Mouden et al., 2017; Agut et al., 2018). Among the arthropods, they are phylogenetically distant, but both classes harbor species ranging from highly specialized to extremely polyphagous (Rioja et al., 2017; Wu et al., 2018). Through convergent evolution, mites and thrips evolved stylets to facilitate feeding from mesophyll or epidermal cells (Bensoussan et al., 2016; Rioja et al., 2017; Wu et al., 2018). Despite large crops losses (Agut et al., 2018; Steenbergen et al., 2018) that are expected to become more severe with global warming (Ximenez-Embún et al., 2017; Urbaneja-Bernat et al., 2019), the interactions between mites/thrips and their host plants have been understudied. Hence, understanding how plants defend themselves against these pests is essential for developing crop protection strategies. This Research Topic provides an update on recent advances in the plant molecular and physiological mechanisms associated with phytophagous mite/thrips-plant interactions, and provides an overview of different approaches for improving crop resistance sustainably, either through repellence, feeding disruption or prevention of feeding damage. Here, we highlight some of the major points arising from these reports.