Tianrun Jerry Li
@jerrytli.bsky.social
Postdoc at University of Oxford. Plant pathology
nlp receptor identified in lettuce, different from the receptor in brassicas; convergent evolution in different plant families. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A lettuce receptor-like kinase recognizes the highly conserved heptapeptide motif within microbial Nep1-like proteins | PNAS
Plants rely on cell surface immune receptors to detect microbial patterns and initiate effective defense responses. Although the Asteraceae family ...
pnas.org
"Programmable design of synthetic plant immune receptors for pathogen protein recognition" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Trans-kingdom delivery of aphid-derived small RNAs into Arabidopsis thaliana modulates plant immunity From: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #PlantScience
Trans-kingdom delivery of aphid-derived small RNAs into Arabidopsis thaliana modulates plant immunity
Herbivore insects are on an evolutionary tug-of-war with plants. An important part of the plant-herbivore insect interaction is the exchange of molecules, in particular proteins (in the form of effect...
biorxiv.org
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
It's out! 🥳 In situ architecture of #plasmodesmata - plant cytoplasmic bridges - by #cryoET. 📝 Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵 Thread: bsky.app/profile/madi... #teamtomo #proteomics #AlphaFold
In situ architecture of plasmodesmata in Physcomitrium patens resolved by cryo-electron tomography - Nature Plants
Using cryo-electron tomography, the authors reveal how plasmodesmata (plant cytoplasmic bridges) are gated by cell wall remodelling and how helical protein assemblies scaffold internal membranes, with...
nature.com
Marcel Dickmanns | 🌿❄️🔬@madic.bsky.social · last yr.New preprint: In situ Architecture of #Plasmodesmata. Using #cryoET, #AlphaFold & proteomics, we uncover the native organization of plant intercellular nanopores. 🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🧪🧵1/n #teamtomo #PlantScience #Physcomitrium #Arabidopsis #cryoEM
A single-cell screening platform accelerates functional genetics in plants - @sattelylab.bsky.social go.nature.com/4n8wzLv
A single-cell screening platform accelerates functional genetics in plants - Nature Biotechnology
A pooled, cell-based, genetic screening platform in plants is used for the functional analysis of cytokinin signaling proteins.
go.nature.com
Excited to share our new preprint! We explore how experimental context influences immune responses triggered by elf18 and flg22 in Arabidopsis. Huge thanks to @gittacoaker.bsky.social for her guidance and support, and to Hanxu Sha for her help on this project. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Experimental Context Shapes PRR-Mediated Immune Output Sensitivity in Arabidopsis
Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) mediate plant immune responses by detecting extracellular immunogenic patterns, including microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). PRR signaling is commonly assessed using assays such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) bursts, cytosolic calcium influx, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation, and seedling growth inhibition (SGI), which are performed in distinct experimental systems, including seedlings grown on artificial media and soil-grown rosettes. Here, we systematically compare receptor kinase immune outputs triggered by the bacterial MAMPs elf18 and flg22 in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and rosettes across a range of concentrations. Rosettes exhibited greater sensitivity than seedlings in ROS assays, whereas cytosolic calcium responses measured using the Aeqcyt/pMAQ2 reporter were stronger in seedlings, correlating with reduced reporter transcript accumulation in rosette tissue. MAPK activation was consistently stronger in rosettes, whereas SGI assays revealed higher sensitivity to elf18 than flg22 in seedlings despite flg22 inducing stronger early signaling outputs. Together, these results demonstrate that canonical PRR-mediated immune outputs are differentially sensitive to experimental context and should not be interpreted as interchangeable measures of immune activation. These findings highlight the importance of considering experimental conditions when comparing immune responses across assays and developmental stages. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Institutes of Health, https://ror.org/01cwqze88, R35GM136402 Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero, https://ror.org/02897ye82
biorxiv.org
Really interesting paper from @grey-monroe.bsky.social lab at UC Davis: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... "Genome degradation in plant tissue culture" #PlantScience The data presented have a lot of implications both on basic biology and applications.
Genome degradation in plant tissue culture | PNAS
Many plants, unlike most animals, can reproduce as clones [D. Kester, HortScience 18, 831–837 (1983), 10.21273/hortsci.18.6.831]. Cloning plants is...
pnas.org
We are hiring! We’re excited to recruit a postdoc to our lab at UC Davis to work on plant immune engineering and single-cell analyses of plant pathogen interactions. Apply by June 1. Please repost. www.coakerlab.org/postdoctoral...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Excited to share that PNAS published our research article focused on "Why are Ralstonia goofy?"
The EPS-I exopolysaccharide transforms Ralstonia wilt pathogen biofilms into viscoelastic fluids for rapid dissemination in planta | PNAS
Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) pathogens cause destructive plant wilt diseases of a wide variety of crops, leading to significant ag...
pnas.org
Tiffany Lowe-Power stands with Minnesota@tlowepower.bsky.social · last yr.So -- What are Ralstonia and why are they goopy? Ralstonia are bacterial pathogens of plants. They colonize and clog the water-transporting xylem vessels, causing rapid-onset wilt disease—they can fatally wilt plants within days. This timelapse by Jonathan Jacobs shows a sped-up time-course.
Really excited to join Stanford ChemE this September! We'll engineer proteins in plant immune and hormone pathways, combining high-throughput directed evolution with ML. Our goal is to enhance climate stress resilience and disease resistance in crops: rim.stanford.edu
Harnessing synthetic biology to engineer resilient crops
rim.stanford.edu
I’m honored to share the illustration accompanying our receptor engineering paper in Nature Plants. Created by the talented Phoebe Sinner from the Coaker lab, this artwork elegantly highlights how natural diversity contributes to differences in receptor specificity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy to share that the last piece of my thesis is finally out! Here, we designed and delivered a dual PRR stack in potato to control vector-borne and soil-borne bacterial pathogens, Ca. Liberibacter solanacearum and Ralstonia solanacearum. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Introducing Pattern Recognition Receptors in Potato Confers Enhanced Resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum but Not a Vector Borne Pathogen
Click on the article title to read more.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
It’s my great honor to be part of this project and happy to see this part of my thesis work finally out in Nature Plants!
Gitta Coaker@gittacoaker.bsky.social · last yr.Excited this paper is finally published! We focused on the inner concave surface of LRR RKs to expand bacterial flagellin perception in plants. Selection indicates expanded perception is more common than previously thought. Experiments led by @jerrytli.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#2025ISMPMI 📣 In silico screening of PRR-epitope interactions is now possible! Here, we developed mamp-ml to predict their immunogenic outcomes without structural context. Let's accelerate engineering plant receptors for robust resistance! 🚀🌱 Small 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
mamp-ml: A deep learning approach to epitope immunogenicity in plants
Eukaryotes detect biomolecules through surface-localized receptors, key signaling components. A subset of receptors survey for pathogens, induce immunity, and restrict pathogen growth. Comparative gen...
biorxiv.org
