I am super excited to finally share our article on the identification of AvrWTK4, the first wheat powdery mildew Avr recognised by a tandem kinase protein thanks to an integrated HMA-like domain 🍄🌾 check it out! ➡️ doi.org/10.1038/s414...

An HMA-like integrated domain in the wheat tandem kinase WTK4 recognises an RNase-like pathogen effector - Nature Communications

The wheat powdery mildew avirulence effector AvrWTK4 is recognised by the integrated HMA-like domain of the tandem kinase resistance protein WTK4. Wheat powdery mildew evades from WTK4-mediated recogn...

doi.org

Our work is out now! (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...). We discover a selective autophagy pathway that protects plants from the mess caused by RNA viruses. Intrigued? Follow the spaghetti trail for a summary of our findings🧵-->

Selective autophagy fine-tunes plant immunity to promote cell survival during viral infection

RNA viruses co-opt host endomembranes to form replication complexes, often triggering cellular stress and immune responses. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana activates selective autophagy to res...

science.org

Join us for our next Research Seminar! Jorge M. S. Faria will be presenting: "Novel plant pest detection techniques based on volatile organic compounds (VOCs): The Purpest project. 🗓️Date: April 17th 📍CIALE and Online 🕛Hour: 12:00 @usaloficial.bsky.social @agrienvironcyl.bsky.social

Join us for our next Research Seminar! Michelina Ruocco will be presenting: "The Role of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in Plant-Plant and Plant-Microbe Communication" 🗓️Date: March 20th 📍Online 🕛Hour: 12:00 meet.google.com/qna-erbw-inz @usaloficial.bsky.social @agrienvironcyl.bsky.social

If you have the opportunity, apply for the TSL @thesainsburylab.bsky.social Summer Conference. An intense week with top experts in plant-microbe interactions. What you can learn here in a week would normally take months (or longer)!!! @kamounlab.bsky.social 🦠🔬🌱 www.tsl.ac.uk/tsl-summer-c...

Parientes silvestres y variedades locales atesoran una biblioteca de genes de interés agrícola esencial para conseguir cultivos más resistentes y sostenibles 🌱🧬👨‍🌾🌍 #PGR Las semillas de Salamanca que duermen en la bóveda del fin del mundo de Svalbard www.salamanca24horas.com/provincia/se...

Las semillas de Salamanca que duermen en la bóveda del fin del mundo de Svalbard

El rompesacos de Babilafuente, cártamo de Las casas del Conde, frejol de la Virgen de Cantapino o el guisante de Tamames son algunas de las variedades charras que España ha enviado al Ártico

salamanca24horas.com

Muchas gracias @carmen-agro.bsky.social por visitarnos la anterior semana! Charla amena, didáctica y de gran calidad científica. Mucho y...bueno 🌱👩‍🔬🧫🦠. Todo lo mejor en @irnasa.bsky.social @csiccyl.bsky.social

Carmen S. Cañizares@carmen-agro.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Muchas gracias @javicheztin.bsky.social por la invitación, un placer visitar hoy el #CIALE y tener la oportunidad de contaros mi trabajo 🌱🫛🦠😊

If you're interested in #PlantScience R&D work at a plant breeding company: @kwsgroup.bsky.social is hosting its annual R&D TalentCampus here in Einbeck on May 29th. More info here: www.kws.com/corp/en/care...

Our new article is now online on @natplants.nature.com! ✨ We identified and characterised AvrPm4 and SvrPm4, a pair of powdery mildew effectors controlling avirulence on the wheat kinase fusion resistance protein Pm4 🌾 check it out ➡️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A good day por powdery mildew research community 😍! We described how virulence on Pm4 resistance gene is controlled but two effectors! Avirulence vs Suppression. Work led by @zoebernasconi.bsky.social, Aline Herger, Pilar Caro and @lukas-kunz.bsky.social 🌱🦠🧬A big thank you to everyone involved

Zoe Bernasconi@zoebernasconi.bsky.social · 8mo ago

With @lukas-kunz.bsky.social @marioncmueller.bsky.social @vwidrig.bsky.social @javicheztin.bsky.social and others

With @lukas-kunz.bsky.social @marioncmueller.bsky.social @vwidrig.bsky.social @javicheztin.bsky.social and others

TEs aren’t just genomic parasites, they’re also engines of genomic novelty. Our new study with ~2,000 Z. tritici genomes shows repeated TE mobilization waves during global expansion. With @danielcroll.bsky.social & @guidopuccetti.bsky.social 🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #TEworldwide

Historic transposon mobilisation waves create distinct pools of adaptive variants in a major crop pathogen - Nature Communications

In this study, the authors analysed a large genomic dataset to trace how jumping genes shaped the global spread of a major wheat pathogen and reveal bursts of activity over decades that drove adaptati...

nature.com

Glad to share our latest article “Off-season sex in #Zymoseptoria tritici: little room for late encounters”, which continues our series of studies conducted in #ADEPTeam @inrae-bioger.bsky.social on the epidemiological determinants & impact of sexual reproduction in STB. doi.org/10.1016/j.fg...

Frédéric Suffert@wheatpath.bsky.social · 4y ago

Glad to share the last PhD paper of C Orellana-Torrejon: "Multiple scenarios for sexual crosses in the fungal pathogen #Zymoseptoria tritici on #wheat residues: potential consequences for virulence gene transmission" @INRAE_Bioger @INRAE_ECOSYS @dropsplash doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.…

My new Emmy Noether Group is recruiting! 🔬 Two PhD positions in plant pathogen evolution 🧬 Start: April 2026 (flexible) 📍 Dept. of Phytopathology & Plant Protection @rstam.bsky.social @uni-kiel.de ⏰ Apply by 15 Dec 2025 🔗 More info: www.uni-kiel.de/personal/de/... Do get in touch or share 😊

Thanks a lot Isa @isabelmonte.bsky.social👩‍🔬for accepting our invitation🤩. Such a terrific talk, opening up new research lines hand-in-hand with #Trichoderma. MPMI in its purest state!!! Special thanks to @agrienvironcyl.bsky.social for funding the visit, and many more yet to come. 🌿🧫🦠🧬

Isabel Monte@isabelmonte.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Thanks @javicheztin.bsky.social for hosting me. It's been a pleasure to go back to my dear @usaloficial.bsky.social and know more about the ongoing projects at #CIALE. Thanks for the lively scientific discussions on Trichoderma, MPMI and Marchantia, including 26 min of Q&A 😎

A wheat NLR conferring broad-spectrum resistance against powdery mildew by recognizing two structurally diverse AVR effectors. Interested? Check out our newest preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Dual recognition of structurally unrelated mildew effectors underlies the broad-spectrum resistance of Pm3e in wheat

Broad-spectrum resistance genes are highly valuable for sustainable crop protection, yet the molecular basis of their activity is often unknown. The Pm3 allelic series in wheat encodes NLR receptors t...

biorxiv.org

Our latest work from led by the one and only @zoebernasconi.bsky.social reporting on a decoy-based pathogen recognition by wheat tandem kinases. Check it out! 🌱 🦠 🔬🧬

Zoe Bernasconi@zoebernasconi.bsky.social · last yr.

Check out our new pre-print! ✨ We cloned AvrWTK4, the first wheat powdery mildew effector recognised by a tandem kinase protein, and show that an HMA-like integrated domain in WTK4 acts as pathogen decoy. Discover the whole story on bioRxiv ⬇️

Check out our new pre-print! ✨ We cloned AvrWTK4, the first wheat powdery mildew effector recognised by a tandem kinase protein, and show that an HMA-like integrated domain in WTK4 acts as pathogen decoy. Discover the whole story on bioRxiv ⬇️

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · last yr.

An HMA-like integrated domain in the wheat tandem kinase WTK4 recognises an RNase-like pathogen effector https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.26.672365v1

Our latest article is now online! @PlantBiotechnologyJournal Expression of Arabidopsis FLS2 in N. benthamiana confers responsiveness to Ralstonia flg22 and activation of anti-bacterial immunity doi.org/10.1111/pbi.... By Meng Li, Yujiao Chen, and Yali Wei

Muy contento con el apoyo a nuestro proyecto en la convocatoria ITINERARIO PARA LA TRANSFERENCIA DE RESULTADOS, plan T-CUE @usal Trichoderma en acción!!! 😍 GIR Fitopatología y Control Biológico. @vwidrig.bsky.social tcue.usal.es/convocatoria...

Just back from #2025ISMPMI and #SEFIMEC2025, where we shared first results from the @cienciagob.bsky.social -funded TANGO project PID2022-142651OA-I00 . Great discussions, fresh insights and exciting new ideas! 🌱🔬🧪Kudos to David Encalada Bustamante...and none of it possible w/o @vwidrig.bsky.social

Thrilled to share our latest preprint! This work started during my PhD and was finished together with @jmadhuprakash.bsky.social. We found a Phytophthora infestans L-shaped effector that bridges a host TOL protein to activated NLRs to suppress immunity! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/15

Check out our work on virulence on Pm4 controlled not by one, but two effectors! Avirulence vs. Suppression, a beautiful case of the arms race between wheat and mildew. Work led by @zoebernasconi.bsky.social , Aline Herger, Pilar Caro, and @lukas-kunz.bsky.social 😍🌱🦠! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Virulence on Pm4 kinase-based resistance is determined by two divergent wheat powdery mildew effectors

The wheat resistance gene Pm4 encodes a kinase fusion protein and has gained particular attention as it confers race-specific resistance against two major wheat pathogens: powdery mildew and blast. He...

biorxiv.org

VERY HAPPY to share our last publication...In a world full of SNPs...k-mers made the most biological sense out of the complex wheat genome! 🌱🧬 genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... Grateful to Benjaming Jaegle for the trust, & co-authors for their collaboration!

k-mer-based GWAS in a wheat collection reveals novel and diverse sources of powdery mildew resistance - Genome Biology

Wheat genetic resources hold the diversity required to mitigate agricultural challenges from climate change and reduced inputs. Using DArTseq, we genotype 461 wheat landraces and cultivars and evaluat...

genomebiology.biomedcentral.com

Our paper on the evolution of fungicide resistance in wheat powdery mildew is now published! Congrats to all coauthors! doi.org/10.1111/mpp....

Genomic Surveillance and Molecular Evolution of Fungicide Resistance in European Populations of Wheat Powdery Mildew

Mutations conferring fungicide resistance to wheat powdery mildew emerged multiple times and are characterised by distinct geographic ranges in Europe and neighbouring regions.

doi.org

From lesions to lessons: 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of filamentous plant pathogen genomics. In our new review, we present lessons we learned over the past 2 decades and discuss the future of plant pathogen genomics. Take a first look! apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/...

From Lesions to Lessons: Two Decades of Filamentous Plant Pathogen Genomics | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions®

Filamentous plant pathogens pose a severe threat to food security. Current estimates suggest up to 23% yield losses to pre- and post-harvest diseases and these losses are projected to increase due to ...

apsjournals.apsnet.org

Following thermal adaptation, we investigated Zymoseptoria tritici's responses to extreme temperature stresses using transcriptomics and kmer-based GWAS. 🌡️🧬 Check out our findings in the preprint: biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

@tbadet.bsky.social and I have a preprint out on transposon silencing in fungi! Genome size evolution is fascinating and showcases the dynamic nature of transposon activation. What we understand less are the dynamics of transposon defense systems encoded by the genomes. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

1/10 We are thrilled to share our preprint on spatial transcriptomics in wheat spikes led by the amazing @katielong.bsky.social and Ashleigh Lister. We resolved expression of 200 genes to cellular resolution. Pre-print👉 tinyurl.com/c7t3kncf., @johninnescentre.bsky.social @earlhaminst.bsky.social

Nice and elegant work by @lukas-kunz.bsky.social and @marioncmueller.bsky.social. Congrats!!! journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Avirulence depletion assay: Combining R gene-mediated selection with bulk sequencing for rapid avirulence gene identification in wheat powdery mildew

Author summary Breeding for disease resistant cultivars that withstand pathogen infection represents an important strategy for environmentally sustainable wheat production. The underlying disease resi...

journals.plos.org