“…Therefore, CmPP1 and CmPP2, as well as the exudate transcriptome, proteome and metabolome, have been investigated in detail (Clark et al ., 1997; Dinant et al ., 2003; Lin et al ., 2009; Sui et al ., 2018). More recent studies have shown that cucurbit exudates originate mainly from the extrafascicular phloem, which is an additional phloem system unique to the family Cucurbitaceae (Zhang et al ., 2010; Lopez‐Cobollo et al ., 2016; Schnieder et al ., 2022). The extrafascicular phloem probably does not facilitate the transport of photoassimilates (Schnieder et al ., 2022) but may instead play a role in defense similar to the laticifer system of latex‐producing plants (Konno, 2011; Gaupels & Ghirardo, 2013).…”