Very happy to see our Zip1 work highlighted in Plant Physiology 🌽 Sequential proteolysis across compartments can shape where, when and in which form peptide signals act. Thanks to @mamoonakhan.bsky.social for the insightful highlight! academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...

A tale of 2 realms: spatial processing of the maize phytocytokine Zip1

Plants rely on sophisticated cell-to-cell communication to perceive environmental changes and coordinate appropriate responses. Among the signalling molecu

academic.oup.com

@madfungi.bsky.social (For5682) Retreat in beautiful Bad Breisig! great get together, great talks and science, super useful discussions with @algazuccaro.bsky.social @teamthomma.bsky.social @effectomics.bsky.social, Döhlemann and Requena and Hensel teams. Cool stuff and great Progress in sight!

A valuable and inspiring two-day retreat of the MadFungi research group in Bad Breisig. The retreat provided a great opportunity to step back from our daily work, exchange ideas, reflect on our research, and strengthen collaboration within the group. 🍄

Very happy to share our new paper in Plant Physiology! 🌽 We uncover a 2-step mechanism controlling maize phytocytokine Zip1: ZmMC9 processes PROZIP1 intracellularly, enabling export of bioactive Ct-PROZIP1, while apoplastic proteases attenuate the signal. doi.org/10.1093/plph...

Proud to share our new paper on how prion-like fungal effectors target plastids and modulate host metabolism during root symbiosis. Exciting collaborative work uncovering PEPSI effectors and the interaction of one of them with DXR in plants. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... bsky.app/profile/eell...

Ernesto Llamas@eellamas.bsky.social · 5mo ago

1/ Happy to share our latest work, now on bioRxiv! 🌱🍄 We explore how Serendipita indica effectors target root plastids and modulate plastidial metabolism through prion-like domains. bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #plastids #plantmicrobe #chloroplasts #plants

One highlight from our review: peptide signals can be copied or rerouted to redirect plant responses. 🌱 Bacteria, fungi and nematodes tap into phytocytokine pathways via mimics or altered release - steering infection, colonization and symbiosis. Read more about it here: doi.org/10.1111/tpj....

Processing and release of endogenous immunogenic peptide signals

Plant endogenous peptides, termed phytocytokines, coordinate immune responses and mediate intercellular communication within and across plant tissues. While an expanding repertoire of ligands, recept...

doi.org

Plants use immunogenic peptides to coordinate immunity. Pathogens can mimic them to hijack defense. 🌱 We compare phytocytokines with animal cytokines and ask how these signals are made, released, mimicked, and controlled in space and time. doi.org/10.1111/tpj....

Where do plant pathogen effectors come from? @mesny.bsky.social shows how fungi turned shield 🛡️ into sword ⚔️ to end up with dual-function molecules to disrupt host immunity & protective host microbiota. @ceplas.bsky.social @mibinet.bsky.social @madfungi.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Plant-associated fungi co-opt ancient antimicrobials for host manipulation

Fungal effectors may have evolved from ancient antimicrobials, shaping plant microbiota and immunity during infection.

science.org

Thank you to @izzysaurlab.bsky.social, @teamthomma.bsky.social, and their teams for hosting our next two MadFungi workshops, "Expression in Barley Protoplasts" and "Expression of Antimicrobial Proteins," at @unicologne.bsky.social. It was a great week with all of our MadFungi PhD candidates! 🍄

So diverse and yet conserved. Check out opinion paper by Leonhard Pachinger @leopach.bsky.social on antimicrobial effectors produced by fungal pathogens: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Antimicrobial effectors of plant-associated fungi: multipurpose proteins with fast-evolving surfaces and structurally conserved cores

Plants are exposed to a variety of devastating pathogens, causing significant yearly yield losses. In order to facilitate infections, plant pathogens …

sciencedirect.com

Very proud to share our new paper led by Mathias Brands from my team at @UniCologne! With Markus Pauly team @HHU. Host-adapted enzymatic deconstruction of acetylated xylan limits immune activation and facilitates mutualistic colonization of monocot roots: Molecular Plant www.cell.com/molecular-pl...

Host-adapted enzymatic deconstruction of acetylated xylan limits immune activation and facilitates mutualistic colonization of monocot roots

This study identifies a monocot-specific enzymatic module in the beneficial root endophyte Serendipita indica, showing how ancestral saprotrophic enzymes have been repurposed into an immune-compatible...

cell.com

Check out our new preprint ☺️⏬️

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Cis-regulatory elements orchestrate phase-specific effector gene expression in Ustilago maydis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.26.714514v1

Huge thanks to my amazing co-authors, to AG Saur and AG Döhlemann, and to all our collaborators for their fantastic contributions @Merle Bilstein-Schloemer@izzysaurlab.bsky.social @grandpahiro.bsky.social @sara-stolze.bsky.social@Gunther Döhlemann@Matthieu Pierre Platre ! 🙏

Isabel saur@izzysaurlab.bsky.social · 9mo ago

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)

Our PhD candidates are having a great time at the MadFungi transcriptomics workshop at the University of Kiel @uni-kiel.de. Special thanks to @estukenbrock.bsky.social and her team for the great organization!

I am thrilled &honoured, what a journey that was! Only possible with the great support from family, all lab members, friends, current @unicologne.bsky.social / @ceplas.bsky.social & former colleagues & mentors. With this project, we will do all that we can to help protect plants from diseases (1/2)

Universität zu Köln@unicologne.bsky.social · last yr.

🎉 Three ERC Starting Grants for Cologne researchers: Dr. Sabina Hillebrandt, Dr. Isabel Saur, and Professor Dr. Johannes Wohlfart. They will now receive up to €1.5 million in funding for a period of five years. Congratulations 🥳 Read more👇 uni.koeln/H4YG9

Happy to share our last preprint where we discovered a two step mechanism for the release of the maize signaling peptide Zip1. A “two - factor authentication”. Enjoy the reading! 👇

bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · last yr.

Processing and release of the maize phytocytokine Zip1 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.11.659102v1

Processing and release of the maize phytocytokine Zip1 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.11.659102v1

Happy to share our work on a recombinant interspecific smut hybrid of two fungal maize pathogens which helped us to understand how the regulation of effector genes determines infection style and tumor formation. Thanks to Gunther Doehlemann, Weiliang Zuo & Tom Winkler! www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Check this out👇 New from the Doehlemann lab! A fungal enzyme modulates plant-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions 🔥

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 2y ago

GH25 lysozyme mediates tripartite interkingdom interactions and microbial competition on the plant leaf surface https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.04.647216v1

This was a truely fantastic day with great speakers. Thx to the organisers at the IfP @unicologne.bsky.social, @ceplas.bsky.social and the @trr341.bsky.social & of course all speaker. Cu next year on 19.02. for the next symposium

Team Thomma@teamthomma.bsky.social · 2y ago

Today we celebrate a wide diversity in plant sciences at the Symposium of our institute at @unicologne.bsky.social with support from @ceplas.bsky.social & @trr341.bsky.social #PlantScience

The MadFungi🍄 research unit funded by @dfg.de kicked off this week with our meeting in Cologne @unicologne.bsky.social. We're excited to see what great science we'll achieve over the next four years.

Gunther Döhlemann starting the MadFungi research unit (for5682.uni-koeln.de) kick off meeting involving groups from @hhu.bsky.social, @unibonn.bsky.social @uni-kiel.de, @kit.edu and of course @unicologne.bsky.social (eg. @teamthomma.bsky.social, @algazuccaro.bsky.social ). Let‘s go