The 'prime-ome': Towards a holistic approach to priming

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Plants can be primed to respond faster and more strongly to stress and multiple pathways specific for the encountered challenge are involved in priming. This adaptability of priming makes it difficult to pinpoint an exact mechanism: the same phenotypic observation might be the consequence of unrelated underlying events. Recently details of the molecular aspects of establishing a primed state and its transfer to offspring have come to light. Advances in techniques for detection and quantification of elements spanning the fields of transcriptomics proteomics and metabolomics together with adequate bioinformatics tools will soon allow us to take a holistic approach to plant defence. This review highlights the state of the art of new strategies to study defence priming in plants and provides perspectives towards 'prime omics'.