The innate immune system of plants plays an important role in disease defense.Under pathogen attack,plant innate immune system can perceive injury via recognition pathogen-derived elicitors and endogenous danger signals molecules(DAMPs)and activate various defense responses.This thereby blocks or reduces the invasion of pathogen.Recently,some studies found that plant extracellular self-DNA(esDNA)fragments as a DAMP induces plant growth inhibition and immune response.In this paper,the production,functional characteristics,signaling pathways,potential receptors,and applications of esDNA are systematically summarized,which provides good reference for the further basic study and agricultural application of the signal molecule.