I am honored that my microscopy image has been selected as the cover of a @newphyt.bsky.social issue for the third time. Thanks to the production team for selecting my image.

Targeting of the barley cell-surface receptor SRF3 by the Blumeria hordei effector AVRA13 overlaps with AVRA13 recognition by MLA and the induction of NLR-mediated cell death. Pathogens secrete effector proteins to promote virulence. Despite their recognition by barley Mla resistance genes, the structurally-related Blumeria hordei ( Bh ) AVRA effectors are maintained in the...

Wei Shi @wshisky.bsky.social & Merle‘s work is online. Wei really pushed this work from scratch and Merle linked it to MLA diversification…3rd (co-)first author paper in her PhD. Very proud PI!
And only possible through collaboration with G. Döhlemann, @grandpahiro.bsky.social &, Matt Platre. (1/x)

Tree showing relationships of LAR genes. Details: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-12429-5

Excited to share that Maria's work on the evolution of the LAR gene has been published in BMC Genomics:

Evolutionary dynamics of the proanthocyanidin biosynthesis gene LAR
doi.org/10.1186/s128...

#Evolution #FlavonoidBiosynthesis #PlantSciences
@bpucker.bsky.social @maferrecinos.bsky.social

Effector biology and immunometabolic (re)programming: microbial strategies for compatibility Root immunometabolism: balancing defense and accommodationPlant health depends on balanced immune defense and microbial accommodation. As constant contact zones, roots must exclude pathogens while fos...

Now online: Effector biology and immunometabolic (re)programming: microbial strategies for compatibility: Molecular Plant www.cell.com/molecular-pl...

Excited to share that our recent paper @newphyt.bsky.social is highlighted by @plantteaching.bsky.social on @plantaeofficial.bsky.social.

Wie der Erreger der gefürchteten Kohlhernie die pflanzliche Abwehr gleich zweimal ausschaltet, haben Forschende um Prof. Jutta Ludwig-Müller @tudresden.bsky.social mit Forschenden um @ifeussner.bsky.social @uni-goettingen.de im @jxbotany.bsky.social geschildert

doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

Transcriptional Response of Magnaporthe oryzae Towards Barley-Microbiome Derived Bacteria | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® The composition of the plant microbiome is shaped not only by the host plant and abiotic environmental factors, but also by inter-microbial cooperation and competition. Plant pathogens, therefore must...

CONGRATS to team @effectomics.bsky.social and @steidele.bsky.social . Transcriptional Response of Magnaporthe oryzae Towards Barley-Microbiome Derived Bacteria | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/...

Galls on maize (left). - Tissue structure alterations caused by infection are visible under a microscope (center). When Arabidopsis thaliana (right) forms the fungal effector protein Tip4, gall-like accumulations of undifferentiated cells appear instead of lateral roots. © Figure: (c) Professor Djamei’s research group / University of Bonn

When the fungus Ustilago maydis infects maize plants, tumour-like tissue growths develop. Researchers led by Prof. Armin Djamei have now discovered that the fungus hijacks a programme in the plant that is responsible for forming lateral roots: www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/002-...
@effectomics.bsky.social

Working model for class II Topless (TPL)-interacting protein effectors in maize shoot reprogramming.

Read the paper by Mamoona Khan, et al. 👇
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

How a Fungus Leads to Tissue Growths in Maize When a maize plant is attacked by the fungus Ustilago maydis, tumor-like tissue growths occur at the site of infection. How the pathogen causes this response in its host has long been unknown. But a…

A University of Bonn study shows how a maize pest hijacks the plant’s root-building function 🌽

www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/002-...

@unibonn.bsky.social @effectomics.bsky.social

#PlantScience

Team around Armin Djamei @effectomics.bsky.social show in @newphyt.bsky.social that the fungus #Ustilago maydis hijacks a programme in the #maize plant that is responsible for the formation of lateral roots www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/002-...

A landscape photo with the text “especially in 2027, the IS-MPMI Congress held on the beautiful Jeju Island will offer you an unforgettable and special experience”

#2027ISMPMI - Try 2 for Jeju, Korea!

Hope to see you there and I’m glad that South Korea gets to host after their turn was missed because of the pandemic.

There is a promise of good food 🤤

Though I may need to start saving up now with the state of things…
#2025ISMPMI

Mary wildermuth #2025ISMPMI gives the best introduction to the Powdery mildew fungus :)

#2025ISMPMI Songyuan Zhang from the Zipfel lab is learning from nature how to engineer new MAMP receptors. Great results.

#2025ISMPMI Benjamin Menn presents an elegant yeast surface displace screen to identify new carbohydrate binding receptors of plants.

#2025ISMPMI Thi Bich Luu wants to make a difference by transferring Nod factor susceptibility to barley, maize and other cereals. Taking candidate homolgs of NFR5 receptor and by domaine swapping chimaric receptors are build.

#2025ISMPMI Rhizobia and Haber-Bosch good bye? Luis Rubio goes for the challenge on reconstituting nitrogen fixation directly in plants by targeting around 20 needed components in Mitochondria in a step-wise process.

@kenichitsuda.bsky.social is introducing the Concurrent sessions on biotic/abiotic trade-offs in plant-microbe interactions #2025ISMPMI

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Up next at #2025ISMPMI @kseniakrasileva.bsky.social discussing work on protein language model for receptor engineering.

A woman talking at a lectern with MPMI logo

@kseniakrasileva.bsky.social is the first talk at the engineering traits session at #2025ISMPMI

Branching into PRRs thanks to @danimstevens.bsky.social.

The ?: Can we use language models to predict host and microbe proteins interaction outcomes?

The answer: Yes! New “mamp-ml”does pretty well.

#2025ISMPMI - first new to nature chimeric NLR sensors being created, with integrated domains that do not have sequence or structure matches in the recorded life - raises questions on assessing biosafety & food safety aspects for these immune receptors for lab and field studies.

A man giving a presentation at a lectern with an MPMI logo

@angusb.bsky.social wants to engineer plant resistance proteins (NLRs) from scratch.

Can we create protein domains to integrate into NLRs to catch pathogen effectors? New tech makes this possible now.

Chose Magnaporthe and Fusarium effectors as targets - many steps later, it worked!
#2025ISMPMI

Dani’s recent paper appears to be the top #2025ISMPMI post which is impressive for someone not here 💓
bsky.app/profile/dani...

A woman speaking at a lectern with the MPMI logo

In the trait engineer session and Aurelia Rakotondrafara makes a quip that her talk has no AI 😅

Under-revision-study from her lab uses a treatment of a mycovirus protein to reduce growth and increase fungicide susceptibility of the pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.
#2025ISMPMI

#2025ISMPMI Aurelie Rakotondrafara shows very interesting effects of mycovirus infection of Sclerotinia on virulence on the host plant. Take home to use mycoviruses and plant viruses to limit the spread of fungal pathogens.

#2025ISMPMI Agnus Bucknell of the Talbot lab gives an exciting presentation to engineer fungal effectors recognizing immune sensors based on Pik1. Great and clear talk.

#2025ISMPMI Ksenia Krasileva gives an impressive talk on predicting receptor-ligand interactions. CHECK OUT mamp-ml!

TODAY. 15:15 @ Room P&Q #2025ISMPMI

#2025ISMPMI Oswaldo Valdes-Lopez points out that other nutrients beside Nitrogen limitation are important cues to decide on symbiosis with rhizobia. Phosphate limitation negatively impacts nodule formation.

#2025ISMPMI Evans Lagudah gives a beautiful and clear talk on the challenge to find durable and broad resistances. Most are genes of whatever type show race specificity but Lr34, Lr67 and Lr46 are encoding for membrane transporters showing a pathogen-attenuating resistance.