Domain gain or loss in a fungal chitinase enables specialization towards antagonism or immune suppression - Nature Communications Gain or loss of a particular domain contributes to functional specialization of a conserved chitinase in beneficial root endophyte towards microbial antagonism or host immune suppression.

Really proud of this work led by Ruben Eichfeld! We show how a CBM domain gain/loss can rewire fungal chitinases, turning them from antifungal enzymes into immune-suppressing effectors that support plant symbiosis.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Historic transposon mobilisation waves create distinct pools of adaptive variants in a major crop pathogen - Nature Communications In this study, the authors analysed a large genomic dataset to trace how jumping genes shaped the global spread of a major wheat pathogen and reveal bursts of activity over decades that drove adaptati...

TEs aren’t just genomic parasites, they’re also engines of genomic novelty.

Our new study with ~2,000 Z. tritici genomes shows repeated TE mobilization waves during global expansion.

With @danielcroll.bsky.social & @guidopuccetti.bsky.social

🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#TEworldwide

Great work by everyone involved!
Anne Loos, Ella Doykova
@jiangzhaoqian.bsky.social
@florian-kuemmel.bsky.social
Heba Ibrahim
Levente Kiss
Ralph Panstruga
@rwth.bsky.social

TEtrimmer: a tool to automate the manual curation of transposable elements - Nature Communications Transposons are repetitive DNA sequences that are hard to identify and map accurately. TEtrimmer automates key manual steps, enabling faster and more reliable annotation of transposable elements in any genome.

Some highlights:
- fully sequenced and annotated genomes of two species, including transposon space using #TEtrimmer for the first time in newly sequenced genomes www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- cultured Arachnopeziza in vitro
- confirmed selective fungicides
- expressed hygromycin resistance +RFP

Saprotrophic Arachnopeziza Species as New Resources to Study the Obligate Biotrophic Lifestyle of Powdery Mildew Fungi Obligate biotrophic plant pathogens like the powdery mildew fungi commit to a closely dependent relationship with their plant hosts and have lost the ability to grow and reproduce independently. Thus....

Genetic modification of obligate biotrophic pathogens like #powderymildew is often not possible, in part because they cannot be grown without a host.

We took a detour and established Arachnopeziza, closest extant relative of powdery mildew, as substitute!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

TEtrimmer: a tool to automate the manual curation of transposable elements - Nature Communications Transposons are repetitive DNA sequences that are hard to identify and map accurately. TEtrimmer automates key manual steps, enabling faster and more reliable annotation of transposable elements in any genome.

Thrilled to share that our TEtrimmer paper has just been published in Nature Communications! A big thank you to all collaborators — the article is now online ;)

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

TEtrimmer: a tool to automate the manual curation of transposable elements Nature Communications - Transposons are repetitive DNA sequences that are hard to identify and map accurately. TEtrimmer automates key manual steps, enabling faster and more reliable annotation of...

Just published: TEtrimmer by @jiangzhaoqian.bsky.social et al @natcomms.nature.com

TEtrimmer aims to simplify #transposon annotation in any given genome - and improves the accuracy of TE detection!

Check it out: rdcu.be/eH8Sa