The March 2016 Focus Issue highlights exciting research on noncoding RNA regulation of plant–microbe interactions. As such, this issue comprises a fitting tribute to our deeply missed colleague, Biao Ding.

MPMI Editor’s Pick: Characterization of RNAi-Transgenic Tomato Plants with Resistance to Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV)
Fuentes and colleagues describe the benefits and limitations of a transgenic approach for RNAi-based protection against TYLCV. They demonstrate that resistance in transgenic tomato is stable over multiple generations and effective under field conditions. Importantly, they also use transcriptomics to discover probable off-target effects of the transgene.