Antimicrobial effectors of plant-associated fungi: multipurpose proteins with fast-evolving surfaces and structurally conserved cores Plants are exposed to a variety of devastating pathogens, causing significant yearly yield losses. In order to facilitate infections, plant pathogens …

So diverse and yet conserved. Check out opinion paper by Leonhard Pachinger @leopach.bsky.social on antimicrobial effectors produced by fungal pathogens: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Transposable elements hitchhike on Starships across fungal genomes - Nature Communications Large mobile genetic elements known as Starships act as vehicles for transferring transposable elements (TEs) between fungi. Here, Griem-Krey et al. show that these ‘hitchhiking’ TEs can drive rapid e...

Now out!
We show that TEs can be horizontally transferred between fungal species via Starships. Once transferred, these TEs can become active, changing the genome organization and affecting the lifestyle of the recipient fungus.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@oggenfussursula.bsky.social #TEsky

ECRs, one week to go! Please join us for an exciting event:

The Sainsbury Laboratory Summer Conference in Plant-Microbe Interactions

for Early Career Researchers

20th – 31st July 2026
Norwich, UK

Application deadline: 12:00 BST (UTC +1) Monday 30th March 2026 www.tsl.ac.uk/tsl-summer-c...

Early bird registration closing soon (31st March) for this years International Symposium on Cereal Leaf Blights ISCLB2026 to be held in Banff. I am devastated to miss out due to schedule conflicts but it's sure to be an amazing meeting!

@thaisdalsasso.bsky.social is applying new tools to address the evolution and functional diversification of secreted proteins of fungal plant pathogen. Preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Postdoctoral position in biology (m/f/d) (2/2026) Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (Halle) offers a Postdoctoral position in Biology

Please share! We are looking for a postdoctoral scientist (2 years, extension possible) starting from 01/05/2026 at
@ipbhalle.bsky.social! The project focuses on plant immune receptor biochemistry and structural biology.
Deadline 09/03/2026.

Apply at: ipb-halle.mhm.jobs/11-postdocto...

Congrats @marco-guerreiro.bsky.social. @estukenbrock.bsky.social and colleagues on this exciting study linking codon optimization and adaptive translation to lifestyle transitions in a group of fungi.

📢 2 PhD Positions Available in Plant Immune Receptor Bioengineering at Imperial College London
🌱 Start: Oct 2026
📅 Deadline: 10 Feb 2026
🇬🇧 UK/settled status only
💰 Fully funded (48 months)
ℹ️ Info: shorturl.at/po61I
#PlantImmunity #PlantPathology #SyntheticBiology
🙏 Share with interested candidates!

Engineering plant immune responses (Plant BioDesign JIC project) at University of York on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Engineering plant immune responses (Plant BioDesign JIC project) at University of York, listed on FindAPhD.com

We have a PhD studentship available for a student who wants to engineer immune responses by tinkering with the connectivity between cells. Based at JIC, collaboration with the Ezer lab, deadline 19th Jan, UK students only. Get in touch for more info! #PlantSciJobs

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

The virulence gene ToxB is both amplified and disrupted by transposons in the wheat pathogen Pyrenophora tritici-repentis ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, https://ror.org/051dzs374 Alberta Grain Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commissio...

Our latest pre-print on TE-mediated tandem duplication of the ToxB effector is now online...still a puzzle for us but we think it is in a Helitron! Together with amazing collaborators, Reem Aboukhaddour and Ryan Gourlie #TE #fungi
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Two really cool PhD positions available with Christina Barragan on Plant Pathogen evolution!

Our dept. just moved to a brand new building with great facilities and we have an absolutely amazing team!

Shedding light on receptor kinase processing

Thrilled to share our latest review on receptor kinase processing in plants! 🌱

Huge congratulations to @adithya1972.bsky.social and Anna for leading this work, and a big thank you to our fantastic collaborator Martina-Ried Lasi for making this a truly rewarding team effort!

Registrations for the Stromlo Plant Pathogen Conference #StromPath25 are rolling in fast and the program is now full!
Exciting lineup from Japan, Korea, USA, UK, NZ + strong local crew. Join us in Canberra — rego open until Nov 13.
Program available here tinyurl.com/3e3tx9j2

📣 Applications are now OPEN for the John Innes Foundation Rotation PhD Programme

This 4-year #PhD programme trains graduate students in Plant & Microbial Sciences at The Sainsbury Laboratory, @johninnescentre.bsky.social and @earlhaminst.bsky.social

🗓️ Apply before 13 Nov '25 ➡️ okt.to/qjy60T

Join a PhD in Biosecurity: Protecting Australia's Future Join a pioneering PhD project in Plant Biosecurity, explore socio-cultural impacts on biosecurity practices, and secure your career.

@arc-pbtc.bsky.social is seeking a #PhD student to explore how Australian growers engage with biosecurity preparedness and design strategies to boost on-farm readiness. Work with industry, growers & government on impactful research. Generous stipend + national network. tinyurl.com/ykwj97th

Very happy to see this work finally online!
Resistance against necrotrophic pathogens is not generally conserved. When comparing five wild tomato spp, we saw that one spp co-opted a different mechanism against Sclerotinia infection!

There are no words to describe how excited and honored I am to take on the role. Already had such amazing support from the plant pathology community in Switz and cannot wait to grow the team further and see how far we can get in tackling our fungal foes. Look out for jobs starting in May 2026!

Years ago I became obsessed with this effector, which resembles a plant LRR, hypothesising it suppressed PTI. @graemekettles.bsky.social had the perfect system, and together we validated the hypothesis. Thankfully he, @zymohaider.bsky.social & team worked hard to follow up and complete this story!

Molecular mimicry of plant cell-surface immune receptors by fungal secreted leucine-rich repeat proteins Leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs) are important plant immunity proteins. The wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici produces many virulence effectors during infection; however, m...

Really happy this is out in preprint - Congratulations to @graemekettles.bsky.social @zymohaider.bsky.social, and everyone involved for their hard work completing this study! It examines a Z. tritici effector that is a molecular mimic of plant LRRs, and suppresses PTI www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Registrations are rolling in for the 2025 Stromlo Plant Pathology meeting in Canberra (Nov 27–28)! Secure your spot! Speakers: @yasukadota.bsky.social, Cecille Segonzac, @thamlab.bsky.social, @yichangsung.bsky.social, Tek Tay & @danielsyu.bsky.social. Register at tinyurl.com/3e3tx9j2
#strompath25

I am looking for a (bio)chemist to join the lab and help us making affinity-based probes for proteases! The project is truly interdisciplinary with a strong computational chemistry component, peptide synthesis and plant biochemistry!
Text me if interested and please spread the word!

Research Associate in Programmable Plant Immunity at Imperial College London Apply for the Research Associate in Programmable Plant Immunity role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

Plz RT. We are looking for a postdoc to join our collborative project on AI-guided bioengineering of plant immune receptors @tolgaboz.bsky.social and @jiorgoskourelis.bsky.social labs: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNV032/r...

📣 We have a postdoc position in fungus-microbiota interactions! Apply here: jobportal.uni-koeln.de/bewerben/2197
⁩
For more details, visit: bewerbungsmanagement.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...

Are you considering applying for a postdoc fellowship to come to Germany? Check this out.

Happy to announce that registration for the 2025 Stromlo Plant Pathology (and plant pests!) conference at ANU is now open (Nov 27-28). Plenary speakers confirmed include @yasukadota.bsky.social, Cecile Segonzac and@thamlab.bsky.social. Please go to tinyurl.com/2rdxuap3 to register - all are welcome!

Vacancy — PhD Candidate Plant-pathogenic Fungus Interaction Are you an early-career researcher with a passion for molecular plant or microbial science? Would you like to take on a highly relevant project in the field of plant-pathogen interactions? Then we hav...

Are you interested in molecular plant microbe interactions and would like to study effector biology in Fusarium-lettuce patho-system? Consider this PhD position @uva.nl in the lab of Martijn Rep as part of our recently funded joint TKI project werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

We're officially launching the ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity on the International Day of Plant Health, May 12. This is a 5yr, $10M investment into postgrad research training funded by Australian Research Council, 3 unis (ANU, JCU & UC) and 27 partner organisations @arc-pbtc.bsky.social

Fine Grain: Molecular, Cellular, and Genomic details of crop diseases t.co/1bk6cdL9mc
special issue 📜 in @mpmijournal.bsky.social

Swiss Alps seen from Neuchatel

Excited to do a postdoc in beautiful Neuchatel / Switzerland🇨🇭?

We have several postdoc positions open at the moment!

Check our website for the full ads here: pathogen-genomics.org/jobs

Happy to answer any question and please spread the word to anyone who might be interested!

We are exploring the physiological and evolutionary adaptations of plants to various stress factors in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

A key focus is understanding the central role of the microbiome—the microorganisms residing in/on plants—in the development of plant stress defense mechanisms.