Abstract: Jasmonic acid (JA) is the specific phytohormone responding to plant wounding and plays a central function in both plant local and systemic wounding signaling. However, an 18-amino acid polypeptide system has been identified in tomato for initiating systemic JA production and defense gene expression in undamaged distal tissues. Arabidopsis At-PEPs (a class of short peptides) can activate transcription of the defense gene defensin (PDF1.2) and be induced by wounding, JA and ethylene, which are potentially connected to the wounding response. Both antagonistic and synergistic interactions occur between abscisic acid (ABA) and JA signaling in Arabidopsis. The deficiency in activation of JA-induced genes in ABA-deficient mutants indicates that ABA precedes or cooperates with JA in activating the defense response. In addition, plants have a JA-independent wounding signal pathway, overrepresented by RNase. We review recent advances in investigating the mechanism and signal transduction in the wounding response of plants.