Because SA levels taper off with distance from the site of infection, NPR3/NPR4 provide a way to spatially regulate the level of NPR1: at the site of infection, NPR1 is ubiquitinated and degraded to remove its inhibitory effect on cell death, whereas in adjacent and more distal tissues, NPR1 accumulates to promote cell survival and SAR (Fig. 1) (Fu et al. 2012; Liu et al. 2016). The gene discussed is NPR3; the disease is infection.