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

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

After USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school

Move comes after Roger Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs

scim.ag

📢 EffectorGeneP is finally here! Stop missing small, single-exon or orphan genes from your favourite pathogen genome. Current tools only annotate 15%-78% of effector genes, EffectorGeneP finds 95% - including the large AvrSr26 family in stem rust. #Bioinformatics 📖 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New preprint out! We generated haplotype-phased genome assemblies for two poplar rust fungi. These resources open new opportunities to explore rust genome architecture, haplotype diversity, and TE-driven evolution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Please share widely! We think MycoMobilome can go a long way to support high-quality TE annotations across fungi! Also, try it on your favorite 🍄 genome and tell us what you think 😉

Toby Baril@tobybarilbio.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Need to annotate transposons in fungal genomes? 🧬 Good news #MycoMobilome is now live! Check it out here: doi.org/10.1093/narg... Access the sequences through our Zenodo community (you can also contribute seqs with credit), and synchronisation with @dfam.bsky.social! w/ @danielcroll.bsky.social

📣 Our latest story just dropped on bioRxiv:: A structurally unique effector shared between Verticillium dahliae and Fusarium oxysporum is involved in cotton defoliation and virulence on other hosts www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵

PRESS RELEASE - Rapid response launched to tackle new yellow rust strains threatening UK wheat Fifty percent of the UK’s wheat is under threat from a newly identified strain of the yellow rust pathogen, due to the breakdown of a key resistance gene, Yr15 www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas... 1/ 🧵 (cont)

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

A chromosome-scale genome assembly of the flax rust fungus reveals the two unusually large effector proteins, AvrM3 and AvrN https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.28.651126v1

Several excellent USDA group leaders were fired last week. Anyone at scientific federal agencies that could be fired, were. Anyone within a couple years of hiring (Matthew Moscou, Amelia Lovelace, etc, etc), or reclassified within the last couple years (promotion, new department, new title). 1/2

To US colleagues who have lost or are in imminent danger of losing their jobs: please DM whether we can accommodate your research.

The dominant lineage of Phakopsora pachyrhizi in the United States of America does not have a Brazilian origin https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.26.634911v1

Don't miss your opportunity to attend New Phytologist next generation scientists, the FREE meeting for early career researchers in plant science. #npnextgen 4–7 July 2025 Birmingham, UK Apply to attend by 27 January! www.newphytologist.org/nextgenevent...