Myth busted: immune activation ≠ immunity 🌱⚔️. We found ETI can trigger full cell death without stopping bacterial growth - if water stays in the apoplast. Want to know what immunity is from a physiological standpoint? 👇 A thread🧵

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

Extracellular water withdrawal drives disease resistance in the phyllosphere https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.27.747301v1

<I am Recruiting!> The MEFE Lab (Microbiome Ecology & Functional Engineering) at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, will open March 2027. We'll start the recruitment process Sep-Oct 2026. Please share this post with anyone interested! Read the Join Us page carefully to apply! mefelab.github.io

Excited to see our review out in ISME Communications! We propose a multi-faceted evaluation approach for microbial inoculant performance & discuss potential applications of adaptive laboratory evolution for inoculant improvement 🦠🧪 academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...

Fit for purpose: evaluation and evolution of agricultural bioinoculants across production landscapes

Abstract. Microbial inoculants are currently advancing sustainable agriculture by reducing reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and enhancing s

academic.oup.com

“Diverse Pseudomonas Species Engage in Beneficial and Suppressive Interactions with the Kiwifruit Pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae Across Actinidia Germplasm,” by Haileigh R. Patterson et al. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-08-25-0071-R #microbiome #Pseudomonas

It's time! They're blooming! Join the #PrettyVirusProject on @inaturalist.bsky.social to join a community of plant virus hunters: (1) Join the project on iNaturalist (2) Identify Dame's Rocket in your area and (3) Tag "TuMV" when the petals are speckled www.inaturalist.org/projects/pre...

Pretty Viruses Project

Viruses infect plants in agricultural fields, marginal habitats, prairies, on mountain peaks...and everywhere else we look! Not all virus infections induce visible symptoms, though, and it&#39;s chall...

inaturalist.org

Why does antibiotic resistance evolution vary between patients? Come to @officialuom.bsky.social @mermanchester.bsky.social to help us find out! 2.5 year @wellcometrust.bsky.social postdoc position in experimental evolution Closing 15 May. Apply here: www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Research Associate in Microbial Evolution:Oxford Road

jobs.manchester.ac.uk

The Barrick & Lenski Labs in Dept of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology at Michigan State Univ seek a Research Assistant II to manage their research operations and participate in projects related to microbial evolution and synthetic biology. See details below. careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...

Research Assistant II - East Lansing, Michigan, United States

Position Summary The Barrick and Lenski Labs in the Department of Microbiology, Genetics, &amp; Immunology at Michigan State University are seeking a Research Assistant II to manage their research ope...

careers.msu.edu

New PDRA position with @knightjar.bsky.social @coytelab.bsky.social & me Community assembly processes in soil microbiomes with focus on bioinformatics and computational modelling of data from field and lab experiments www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

We’re looking for a postdoc to investigate Pseudomonas viridiflava virulence across diverse plant lineages. The 3yr position will combine plant and microbial molecular biology to understand core processes of infection - email for more info & apply online @ www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po...

We’re looking for a postdoc to join the Hendrickson lab! The project will involve dissecting the molecular mechanisms of a fascinating mobile element in our honeybee biocontrol phages. Sound like something you would be interested in? Get in touch! Details: jobs.canterbury.ac.nz/jobdetails/a...

Delighted to see this published in ISMEJ at the end of 2025!! Building on our previous work with the Psa-kiwifruit pathosystem, we competed Psa effector knockout strains against one another, across hosts, to more sensitively identify effector requirements. 🥝🌿 academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

Individually redundant effectors are collectively required for bacterial pathogen virulence

Abstract. Host specificity of a plant pathogen is defined by its effector complement. However, it remains unclear whether the full complement is required f

academic.oup.com

New @genomejournal.bsky.social special collection “Early Leads: Plant Biology Side Projects with Big Potential”. We’re looking for short, self-contained studies with big impact. Deadline July 31st, 2026. OA, no pub. fees, ECRs! Questions? Reach out to us (Olivia and @zoejolylopez.bsky.social)

Delighted to present on behalf of the BENEFIT project in the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems showcase @ Cultivating Resilience summit this week! (+ a lightening talk + a poster, for completeness' sake...) 🦠🌱

Here’s published version of our manuscript using GWAS to investigate tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae. TL:DR pretty clear LPS is tailocin receptor but also that P.syringae often completely swaps out its entire O antigen biosynth pathway w/ recombination academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

Genomic correlates of tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae

Abstract. Phage-derived bacteriocins, also referred to as tailocins, are structures encoded by bacterial genomes and deployed into the extracellular enviro

academic.oup.com

Two new positions are available at the MPI for Evolutionary Biology to support development of our genomics facility. Both stand to become permanent. Both offer a ton of opportunity to engage in a wide range of creative science. Pls repost 🙏 www.evolbio.mpg.de/3838377/job_...

Two full-time positions | Bioinformatician (m/f/d) + Applications Specialist (m/f/d) - Molecular Biology

The Genome Facility at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön is seeking to fill two positions (full time) to support and expand our core facility services.

evolbio.mpg.de

Editor’s Pick: Terrence H. Bell et al. believe that there is no single “best” approach to iterative microbiome passaging but that experimental design choices can have substantial impacts on outcomes. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-11-24-0113-P

1/2 What's best: a field-first or lab-first approach? No easy answers but differences between lab and field should not be seen as failure but motivate further inquiry and allow complementary discovery. Read our thoughts on this here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Lab to field: Challenges and opportunities for plant biology

Plant-microbe research offers many choices of model and strain and whether a field-first or lab-first approach is best. However, differences between l…

sciencedirect.com

We are proud to announce the Keynote Speakers for ISME20, held in Auckland, New Zealand, from 16 - 21 August 2026! These eight internationally renowned microbial ecologists will each give a 45-minute presentation at the symposium. View them on isme-microbes.org/isme20-keyno... #isme20

Happy to share the first paper from my lab! We wrote a review on bacterial plant pathogen evolution 🧫 🌱 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @microsky.bsky.social @plantsky.bsky.social

From genes to epidemics: Genomic insights into bacterial plant pathogen emergence

Bacterial phytopathogens are major causal agents of newly emerging plant diseases. The roles of both agricultural practices and the alteration of bact…

sciencedirect.com

Published in Nature today! Here, we sought to systematically ask how natural community's metabolism changes with the environment. A simple consumer-resource model can predict N-cycle metabolism (nitrate use) and, more importantly, the mechanism behind its change. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Functional regimes define soil microbiome response to environmental change - Nature

Experimental perturbation of soil pH leads to a generalizable model of the soil microcosm comprising three functional regimes with distinct mechanisms linking environmental change to metabolite dynami...

nature.com

Extremely honoured to be a #2025ISMPMI travel awardee this year, and to be able to present the results of my masters degree all the way from NZ! Come and see me at P-319 to learn about the bacterial microbiome of Actinidia (kiwifruit).

Thrilled to see this work published! We analyzed foliar disease suppressive microbial communities from tomato to identify taxa and functions associated with suppression. Congratulations to lead author @hanareiaehau.bsky.social, and co-authors Javad Sadeghi and Terrence Bell! tinyurl.com/4pnxxuus

Rapid and sustained differentiation of disease-suppressive phyllosphere microbiomes in tomato following experimental microbiome selection - Environmental Microbiome

Background Microbial-based treatments to protect plants against phytopathogens typically focus on soil-borne disease or the aboveground application of one or a few biocontrol microorganisms. However, ...

tinyurl.com

How Bacteria Outsmart Plants—Then Flee the Scene! #MicroSky #PlantScience #Pseudomonas Our new research in Nature Microbiology uncovers the sophisticated teamwork of Pseudomonas syringae, a notorious plant pathogen. 🔗 rdcu.be/egczU

Pseudomonas syringae subpopulations cooperate by coordinating flagellar and type III secretion spatiotemporal dynamics to facilitate plant infection

Nature Microbiology - Single-cell gene expression analysis reveals phenotypic heterogeneity to enable bacterial specialization over the course of plant colonization.

rdcu.be

Pseudomonas syringae subpopulations cooperate by coordinating flagellar and type III secretion spatiotemporal dynamics to facilitate plant infection www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Pseudomonas syringae subpopulations cooperate by coordinating flagellar and type III secretion spatiotemporal dynamics to facilitate plant infection - Nature Microbiology

Single-cell gene expression analysis reveals phenotypic heterogeneity to enable bacterial specialization over the course of plant colonization.

nature.com

I'm delighted to announce that the 2025 @microbiologysociety.org meeting on "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics" will be held in Liverpool 26-27 November 2025! Abstract submission will open soon... #microsky 🧪🧫🦠 microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics - 2025 meeting

microbiologysociety.org

Great to see this preprint out, based on Haileigh Patterson's MSc work with me, Matt, & Jay! 🥝🌿

bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 2y ago

Diverse Pseudomonas species engage in beneficial and suppressive interactions with the kiwifruit pathogen Psa across Actinidia germplasm https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.31.635981v1

It’s finally out! The last paper from my PhD! enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Differential Responses of Methylobacterium and Sphingomonas Species to Multispecies Interactions in the Phyllosphere

Leaf-associated bacterial populations of Methylobacterium and Sphingomonas in two- and three-member synthetic communities on Arabidopsis thaliana display distinct spatial structures and population dy....

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Stoked to have my picture on the February cover of Plant, Cell & Environment! Massive win for Psa enthusiasts everywhere 🌿 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

It's a snowy end of the year at UTSC! ❄️