群体的学术带头人和研究骨干（共四人）在植物与病原物互作机理、植物激素在抗病抗虫中的作用、植物与病原物互作的结构与生化基础、RNA干扰和表观遗传学机理等研究领域有系统性和原创性的重要发现。近五年来，共发表通讯作者论文64篇，其中7篇在Cell、Science或Nature发表； 近五年发表的论文已被SCI他引3171次。群体成员四人均为国家杰出青年基金获得者，其中三人为教育部长江学者特聘教授。群体成员间在植物生物胁迫的机理研究方面有良好的合作基础（已共同发表论文4篇），在专业知识背景和研究技术特长上有高度的互补性，可望产生协同作用，形成一支创新性强、研究效率高的团队，从而在“植物响应生物胁迫的机理”这一共同研究方向上做出突破性科学发现。

The PI and co-PIs have made original and important discoveries in the fields of plant-pathogen interaction, plant hormone signaling pathway, structural biology, RNA interference and epigenetics. In the last five years, they have published 64 papers as corresponding authors, seven of which were published in Cell, Science, or Nature. These papers have been cited 3171 times by SCI-indexed journals. The PI and co-PIs are all awardees of the China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists, and three of them are Chang Jiang Scholars. The PI and co-PIs have established collaborations on the study of mechanisms of plant responses to biotic stress, and co-authored on four publications. With unique combination of scientific backgrounds and technical expertise, the PI and co-PIs are favorably positioned to pursue their common goal of understanding the mechanisms of plant responses to biotic stress.