Concerns over widespread use of insecticides and heightened insect pest virulence under climate change continue to fuel the need for environmentally safe and sustainable control strategies. However, to develop such strategies, a better understanding of the molecular basis of plant-pest interactions is still needed. Despite decades of research investigating plant-insect interactions, few examples exist where underlying molecular mechanisms are well characterized, and even rarer are cases where this knowledge has been successfully applied to manage harmful agricultural pests. Consequently, the field appears to be static, urgently needing shifts in approaches to identify novel mechanisms by which insects colonize plants and plants avoid insect pressure. In this perspective, we outline necessary steps for advancing holistic methodologies that capture complex plant-insect molecular interactions. We highlight novel and underexploited approaches in plant-insect interaction research as essential routes to translate knowledge of underlying molecular mechanisms into durable pest control strategies, including embracing microbial partnerships, identifying what makes a plant an unsuitable host, capitalizing on tolerance of insect damage, and learning from cases where crop domestication and agronomic practices enhance pest virulence.

对广泛使用杀虫剂和气候变化下害虫毒力增强的担忧继续推动对环境安全和可持续控制策略的需求。然而，为了制定这样的策略，仍然需要更好地了解植物与害虫相互作用的分子基础。尽管对植物-昆虫相互作用进行了数十年的研究，但很少有例子能够很好地描述潜在的分子机制，甚至更罕见的是这种知识已成功应用于管理有害农业害虫的案例。因此，该领域似乎是静态的，迫切需要改变方法来确定昆虫定殖植物和植物避免昆虫压力的新机制。从这个角度来看，我们概述了推进捕捉复杂植物-昆虫分子相互作用的整体方法的必要步骤。我们强调植物-昆虫相互作用研究中新的和未充分利用的方法是将潜在分子机制的知识转化为持久的害虫控制策略的重要途径，包括拥抱微生物伙伴关系，确定是什么使植物成为不合适的宿主，利用对昆虫损害的耐受性，以及从作物驯化和农艺实践增强害虫毒力的案例中学习。