The phytohormone salicylic acid (SA) plays a pivotal role in plant defense against pathogens. SA activates plant defenses by binding to several receptors and activating transcriptional programs. One of these receptors, NPR1, enters the nucleus and acts as a transcriptional coactivator upon SA binding. Another molecule called EDS1 also participates in activating plant immune responses, but how it does so remains poorly known. In their latest study titled "Two interacting transcriptional coactivators cooperatively control plant immune responses",  members of the Fu lab demonstrate that NPR1 and EDS1 interact with each other to form a protein complex and synergistically activate plant immunity via SA signaling. Their study reveals a unique mechanism in which two interacting transcriptional coactivators cooperatively control transcriptional reprograming to activate plant defense responses. Nice job!