Happy to be part of this collaborative work from the Zuccaro lab 🌱 Prion-like fungal PEPSI effectors target plastids and modulate host metabolism during root symbiosis, including the PEPSI6–DXR interaction. PEPSI6 also connects to phytocytokine biology through possible CAP/CAPE-like processing.

Team_Zuccaro@algazuccaro.bsky.social · 3mo ago

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...

Science Shared: May 16 www.botany.one/science-shar... This week: hybrids everywhere, plasmodesmata in many places, and more. #Botany #PlantScience

Science Shared: May 16

This week: hybrids everywhere, plasmodesmata in many places, and more.

botany.one

An immune signal can hide inside a precursor protein. 🌱 Phytocytokines are cut free by proteases - from proteins with related, unrelated, or unclear functions. The challenge: predicting which protease acts where, when, and at which site. Read more in our review: 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

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....

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! 🍄

Spatial organization of plant defense at the infection front https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.01.715938v1

Metabolic Engineering Boosts Strigolactone Production in Nicotiana benthamiana and Uncovers a Novel P450 Function https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.02.716082v1

Plant-parasitic nematodes produce functional mimics of plant PSK peptides to facilitate parasitism https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.04.713059v1

Have you ever wondered how phytocytokines are transported to the extracellular space and which factors regulate this process? We elucidated this mechanism for the maize-specific phytocytokine Zip1. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Here, we dissect the processing and release mechanism of the maize phytocytokine Zip1. Our results reveal a two-step mechanism of phytocytokine processing, translocation, activation and clearance. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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

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

Non-invasive imaging of salicylic and jasmonic acid activities in planta https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.17.636591v1

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.