A lettuce receptor-like kinase recognizes the highly conserved heptapeptide motif within microbial Nep1-like proteins | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PLEASE SHARE! New job openings in my lab @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social. We have a broad interest into the mechanistic basis of how molecular complexes are rewired during cellular development in plants and during invasion by pathogens. 🌱🍄🔬 See details below 👇 #PlantSciJobs

Role of membrane-organizing SPFH proteins in plants: @hannah-web.bsky.social, Alexandra Ehinger, @birgitkemmerling.bsky.social et al define how Arabidopsis HIR2 forms higher-order assemblies and organizes receptor signaling domains link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The Arabidopsis SPFH protein HIR2 modulates receptor signaling and plasma membrane organization - The EMBO Journal

Plant plasma membrane proteins are organized into distinct domains; however, the principles that govern this spatial organization are not fully understood. HYPERSENSITIVE-INDUCED REACTION (HIR) protei...

link.springer.com

Selective repurposing of the eukaryotic DNA replication machinery by a plant virus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.23.740281v1

Deadline extended 📢 Submit your abstract for the #PPRM2026 by July 29th! Check our fantastic lineup of invited speakers and come join us discuss all things #plant peptide receptors 🌱 Please spread the word and see you in Freising (Germany) from September 14 to 16 😊 www.events.tum.de/frontend/ind...

A tomato MIK2‐clade receptor is involved in the perception of a Fusarium‐derived elicitor - Maroschek - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A tomato <fc>MIK2</fc>‐clade receptor is involved in the perception of a <fi>Fusarium</fi>‐derived elicitor

Fusarium elicitor responsivness and MIK2-clade proteins are conserved across plant families.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Transcriptomic analysis of FER-RALF-LRX pathway mutants suggests constitutive gene expression defects contribute to powdery mildew resistance https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.25.734470v1

Time for another preprint from the lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Led by @yuanyuanzhang.bsky.social and @defengshen.bsky.social. We found some surprising secrets that connect and uncouple root barrier formation with systemic nitrogen signaling in shoots. see the thread below for more details

A tunable receptor separates root barrier formation from nutrient signaling through ligand-perception states

In roots, the endodermis controls nutrient entry by forming a barrier known as the Casparian strip. Yet how barrier-associated processes interface with systemic signaling remains unclear. Here, we sho...

biorxiv.org

Latest work from our group on powdery mildew susceptibility is finally out! We show that host RALF signalling, cell wall organization, and apoplastic pH regulation are required for successful fungal colonization. Surprisingly, the function of RALFs is only partly dependent on FERONIA. #TRR356

New Phytologist@newphyt.bsky.social · 2mo ago

RALFs, likely combining cell wall and signalling functions, support powdery mildew infection of #Arabidopsis 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... by Leicher et al. @WileyPlantSci #PlantScience

This is of course all just a glimpse into what these groups have been working on together for the past years. If you want to check out the rest of the publications from our consortium, have a look here : www.bio.lmu.de/en/research/... And, of course, there is a lot more to come! Stay tuned :)

Publications

The LMU is one of the most prestigious and traditional universities in Europe. It combines outstanding research with a challenging range of courses.

bio.lmu.de

Its preprint season for #TRRPlantMicrobe and in the last weeks a flurry of great plant microbe papers were posted. It's been wonderful seeing these stories take shape over the last years amid a supportive community of young researchers, so I wanted to collect them all in one place. Take a look👇

Can’t describe it better than @sebastian-dts.bsky.social did, with whom collaborating on this #TRR356 project has been a treat! Special thanks also to Martin Stegmann and @carogutj.bsky.social , and to all other co-authors! Find our manuscript at: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Sebastian Schade@sebastian-dts.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Born from the collaborative spirit of #TRR356, I’m excited to share my first first-author project! 🪴🦠 What started as a side project with @kbuhrman.bsky.social led us to discover that KAR/KL and SL signalling fine-tune the strength and timing of plant defense responses in a conserved manner!

Born from the collaborative spirit of #TRR356, I’m excited to share my first first-author project! 🪴🦠 What started as a side project with @kbuhrman.bsky.social led us to discover that KAR/KL and SL signalling fine-tune the strength and timing of plant defense responses in a conserved manner!

bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Karrikin and strigolactone signalling affect pattern-triggered immunity and resistance to specific pathogens https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.05.722863v1

📢How do supervisory behaviours impact early-career researchers? Our preprint explores how scientific supervisors shape the wellbeing of ECRs. We analysed 2604 anonymous responses from ECRs across 65 countries🌍 to understand the impact of mentorship. This is what we found👇

A bacterial lipid triggers membrane mechanosensing immunity in Arabidopsis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.23.720373v1

And that’s a wrap for the #TRR356 “Plant-Microbe” PhD & PostDoc retreat at beautiful Frauenchiemsee 🌿 We enjoyed talks from within the TRR and from our fantastic invited speakers, along with an engaging poster session, workshop, and career development discussions. A truly great event!

PPRM2026 Registration is now OPEN! www.events.tum.de/frontend/ind... You can book hotel rooms at the venue here 👇

New Preprint: Plasma membrane nanoscale dynamics of Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase complexes (2026) https://www.tsl.ac.uk/publications/164874

bioRxiv: Plasma membrane nanoscale dynamics of Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase complexes (2026)

Plasma membrane-localized receptors operate as dynamic signaling complexes and integrative networks, yet the spatial and temporal regulation of these interactions remain largely unknown. Here, by analyzing the components of a minimal Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase network, we describe the differential diffusion and organization of receptor complex components and unveil the nanoscale spatial and temporal logic underlying the formation of receptor kinase complexes. The ligand-binding receptors FLS2 and BRI1, and the accessory receptor BIR3, are organized in plasma membrane nanodomains, within which the co-receptor BAK1 diffuses and is spatially arrested upon ligand perception. BAK1 spatial arrest relies on extracellular domain (ECD)-ECD interactions but does not require receptor complex activation. Mathematical modelling, single molecule imaging and bio-assays infer that accessory receptors maintain a dynamic pool of co-receptors in the vicinity of ligand-binding receptors to promote ligand-induced complex formation and signaling. We propose that ligand-induced receptor kinase complex formation is a deterministic process defined by the relative nanoscale spatial positioning of individual signaling and regulatory components.

doi.org

The Receptor Kinase MEE39/ATHE Mediates Cell Wall Integrity Surveillance During Root Vascular Pathogen Infection https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.05.708959v1

Alternative splicing expands the functional portfolio of a plant virus to control the viral cycle https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.19.706752v1

Very nice and useful. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/F87AVP...

Dear PPRM community, we are pleased to invite you to the next PPRM meeting, 14-16 September 2026 in Freising, Germany. Registration opening soon!

Plants use cell-surface and intracellular receptors that collaborate to detect pathogens🦠. We discovered that a key #ubiquitin recognition event recruits both receptor types into an unexpected dual receptor complex that boost the translation of defence proteins and establishes robust #PlantImmunity👇🏾

bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Ubiquitin recognition integrates plant immune signaling by cell-surface and intracellular receptors https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.06.703835v1

Please share! My group at @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social is offering a post-doctoral position (4 years). We look for a structural biologist with experience in Cryo-EM/Cryo-ET to investigate the mechanisms of host invasion by pathogenic fungi. Deadline February 28th! uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

Thank you @marioncmueller.bsky.social, @binebrumm.bsky.social, Eric Kemen, Yiheng Hu and Thomas Lahaye for this nice common effort on effector diversity. Diversify and conquer: How effector diversity is shaped by host–microbe co-evolution doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Diversify and conquer: How effector diversity is shaped by host–microbe co-evolution

doi.org

Important theoretical framework for NLR evolution. doi.org/10.32942/X2R...

Membrane-binding domains define REMORIN phylogeny and provide a predicted structural basis for distinctive membrane nano-environments https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695504v1

Manipulation of REMORIN gene dosage affects salt signaling and tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695520v1

An ancient alkalinization factor informs Arabidopsis root development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695669v1

Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH. And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you. A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Organelles harbour pH gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694065v1