The mycobiont of the lichen Xanthoria parietina produces the siderophore ferrichrome which enables iron acquisition and nutrient exchange with its algal photobiont. Great collaboration with my group & @metalichen.bsky.social led by Hubertus Haas 👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nature research paper: A secreted endosymbiont protein essential for colonizing host cells go.nature.com/4f0pqJt

A secreted endosymbiont protein essential for colonizing host cells - Nature

SyeA was present in the Buchnera ancestor, is secreted into the host cytoplasm, is homologous to secreted effectors of bacterial pathogens and is essential for Buchnera transmission.

go.nature.com

Including a selection of papers forming the basis of Kew Gardens' 2026 State of the World's Plants & Fungi report. Read Kew's 2026 State of the World's Plants & Fungi report: bit.ly/SOTWPF Browse the Joint Special Collection: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/harnessi...

State of the World's Plants & Fungi

We publish reports that give our assessment of the current knowledge on the world's plants and fungi.

bit.ly

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Global density and biomass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi form symbioses with ~70% of plant species, building hyphal networks that exchange nutrients for host-derived carbon. These tubular networks move ~1 billion metric tons of ...

science.org

Nearly a year after our symposium on Repeat-Induced Point (RIP) mutations, I’m happy to share the fruit of some of our discussions. The fungal RIP hypermutator mechanism has deep eukaryotic roots www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... We hope to spark interest in this underappreciated mechanism.

So proud to see this story finally out!🎉 We added new data since our previous preprint—transgenic barley plants with an engineered immune receptor that fights off two fungal pathogens at once. Short 🧵 and link to the original preprint thread on X👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Molecular mimicry of a pathogen virulence target by a plant immune receptor

Plants and animals respond to pathogen attack by mounting innate immune responses that require intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins. These immune receptors detect pathog...

science.org

Effector recognition by molecular mimicry of its target by an NLR - enabling multiple disease resistance specificities to be generated- first seen on @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social - great work led by @dianagdlc.bsky.social and Matt Moscou www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Molecular mimicry of a pathogen virulence target by a plant immune receptor

Plants and animals respond to pathogen attack by mounting innate immune responses that require intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins. These immune receptors detect pathog...

science.org

Thrilled to see this finally out!! Our new work suggests #Starships helped #Colletotrichum acquire the genes needed to infect lupin. A glimpse into how fungal pathogens emerge through horizontal transfer and genome reshaping. biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Fungi #Genomics #Pathogenicity #evolution

We are excited to release the BAT!🦇🚨 We've used this phylogenetic analysis pipeline in our lab for years, and grad Ben Sheppard now presents a Github release and preprint. I run BAT analyses almost daily. It makes exploring gene families routine, customizable, and fun🧵

An ant that behaves like a cleaner fish? With awesome photos. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Our warmest and wildest 100th birthday wishes to Sir David Attenborough, vice-patron of our Society. Today, we are celebrating Priam's Birdwing, which he said he would include in his "ark" to protect from extinction. This illustration is from E Donovan's "An Epitome of...Insects of India" (1800).

Pentapartite symbiotic system in #Legendrea loyezae by @filiphusnik.bsky.social & co. doi.org/10.21203/rs.... #SymbioSky #protistsOnSky

New preprint out! 🚀 biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We mapped how septins organise infection in the rice blast fungus—and found they are far more dynamic than previously thought. Thread 👇 #FungalPathogenesis #CellBiology #septins

Heya science peeps, my first first-author paper is on Biorxiv! We show how transcriptome-wide expression variability in outbred animals responds massively to an environmental stressor and is underpinned by cryptic variability- (not just mean-) controlling alleles. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our paper is now out in its final form in @natcomms.nature.com ! We show that ancient insect symbionts can undergo extreme, convergent genome reduction to as little as ~50 kb - driven by ecological shifts and symbiont replacement. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... More below 👇 1/

Convergent extreme reductive evolution in ancient planthopper symbioses - Nature Communications

Symbiotic bacteria can have exceedingly small genomes. This study finds that ancient bacterial symbionts of planthoppers have repeatedly evolved the smallest known genomes, losing most biosynthetic fu...

nature.com

That’s a wrap on our Mechanics of Symbiosis meeting in Heidelberg 🎉 Had an amazing time organizing this with @berasymbionts.bsky.social, @floravincent.bsky.social & Tom Richards. Safe trip home everyone! #EESSymbiosis @events.embl.org

EMBL Events@events.embl.org · 5mo ago

Welcome to Day 1 of #EESSymbiosis! ✨ 🔬🧫 From host cells to insects and marine unicellular eukaryotes, today’s discussions showcased innovative methods in symbiosis research. We’re excited to take you along on this journey as we explore the fascinating complexities of symbiotic function.

How does root invasion differ between endophyte & pathogen? We are interested in this dichotomy of expression in the most important root disease of wheat, take-all: Stealth vs SEVs Exceptional tenacity from Stella (looking for a PhD) and the team @earlhaminst.bsky.social @rothamsted.bsky.social 🙏

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology@biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Transcriptional signatures underlying divergent lifestyles of endophytic and pathogenic fungi in early colonisation of wheat roots https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.13.711015v1

Transcriptional signatures underlying divergent lifestyles of endophytic and pathogenic fungi in early colonisation of wheat roots https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.13.711015v1

🎉🧬 Multiple genomes/pangenome? Time for a parTEA! 🧬 ☕️ Tired of annotating TEs one genome at a time? Same. So we organised a parTEA! Introducing EarlGrey ParTEA v0.1.3 — consistent TE annotation across all your genomes, in parallel, with one command: github.com/TobyBaril/Ea... #TEworldwide #TEsky

New Dispatch article on the multitude of fungal symbionts now being reported in lichens, led by @puginiercamille.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Fungal symbioses: A multiplicity of fungi in the lichen union

Increasing evidence suggests that lichens are not just a partnership between one fungus and one alga or cyanobacterium but may contain multiple intera…

sciencedirect.com

Congratulations to @marlenygarcial.bsky.social for defending her PhD today 👩‍🎓 She is an outstanding researcher, labmate and friend who makes every project, discussion, and coffee break better. It’s been a privilege to work with you. I can't wait to see all the amazing science you'll do next! ✨🪲🐝

Huge thanks to Ruth Ley, Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt & Andreas Brune for being part of Marleny’s committee. And the Mutualisms Lab for a masterful hat & celebration! Marleny is off to an exciting postdoc w/ Philipp Engel in Lausanne 🇨🇭

Thrilled to share our work in @natcomms.nature.com! Thankful for a great collaboration ☺️ Grateful for the support of the @humboldt-foundation.de and the @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social More details below.

Hassan Salem@hassansalem.bsky.social · 6mo ago

How specific are heritable symbioses? And what can we learn from swapping obligate symbionts across host species? We address this in our latest, led by @inespons.bsky.social & in our collaboration w/ @microbiome.bsky.social 🦠🪲 Out today in @natcomms.nature.com! 1/n www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bacterial entrapment protects plants from fungi Diverse bacteria trap fungal carbon repressor CreA in nucleus, suppressing pathogenesis-related gene expression. Consortium of CreA-targeting bacteria confers broad-spectrum resistance in field trials www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Bacterial entrapment of a fungal carbon repressor prevents plant colonization

Xu et al. demonstrate that diverse bacteria trap the carbon repressor CreA in the nucleus, thereby suppressing pathogenesis-related gene expression. This reveals a conserved bacterial strategy that ex...

cell.com

Can plant pathogens boost vector fitness? Together with @hassansalem.bsky.social, we review how phytopathogens can spread further by moonlighting as insect symbionts 🪲 More on this nifty lifestyle in @annualreviews.bsky.social! www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Plant Pathogens Moonlighting as Beneficial Insect Symbionts

Herbivorous insects can shape the epidemiology of disease in plants by vectoring numerous phytopathogens. While the consequences of infection are often well-characterized in the host plant, the extent...

annualreviews.org

Very excited to share this article written with my PhD advisor @hassansalem.bsky.social, highlighting the amazing work on organ remodeling for symbiosis by Nishino et al @fkttkm.bsky.social. A fascinating system to think about!

Hassan Salem@hassansalem.bsky.social · 7mo ago

How are host organs remodeled for symbiosis? And do some insects converge in how they sustain life within/on these structures? Loved unpacking these Qs w/ @francespi.bsky.social in light of the stunning Nishino & @fkttkm.bsky.social study! www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Extensive horizontal transfer of transposable elements shapes fungal mobilomes @currentbiology.bsky.social by @jromeijn.bsky.social et al from @mfseidl.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...

Extensive horizontal transfer of transposable elements shapes fungal mobilomes

Romeijn et al. reveal that horizontal transposon transfer is widespread in fungi, contributing up to 70% of transposon content in some taxa. The authors uncover thousands of events across diverse line...

cell.com

Everything you always wanted to know about mushroom-forming fungi! Great collab with amazing mycologists. Thanks Laszlo Nagy for leading this effort! www.nature.com/articles/s44...

The biodiversity, genomics, ecology and evolution of mushroom-forming fungi - Nature Reviews Biodiversity

Mushroom-forming fungi have along evolutionary history and a suite of important ecological roles. This Review highlights advances in understanding of Agaricomycetes evolution and ecology driven by gen...

nature.com

Our December issue is out! www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v... The image shows a female Asian tiger mosquito cadaver covered by mycelium (white) following infection with spores of an engineered Metarhizium strain. Parts of the mycelium produce spores (green) that can again attract and kill mosquitoes.

New light on old stones: a fossil #fungus in #symbiosis with one of the oldest known land plants @chistinesd.bsky.social, et al. nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @dromius.bsky.social @ffercoq.bsky.social #PlantScience Summary also available in French and Spanish.