Tessera

@ritu2806.bsky.social

Have you ever wondered why the same gray mold appears on so many fruits and vegetables? 🍓🍇🍅🧅 That familiar mold is Botrytis cinerea, one of the world's most successful plant pathogens. It infects more than 1,500 plant species, raising a long standing question.

@scisoup.bsky.social · 3w ago

Scientists Uncover Why Grey Mold Defeats Resistance Across Crops scisoup.org/in/2026/07/1... @ritu2806.bsky.social @annajomu.bsky.social @spicybotrytis.bsky.social @ccaseys.bsky.social @scicommindia.bsky.social

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching @plantteaching.bsky.social · 3w ago

#plantbio2026 Come see me at my poster tonight 000-018 and learn about the Assistant Features Editor program of @theplantcell.bsky.social & @plantphys.bsky.social 💚

000-018
"The best thing that ever happened to me"

Prof. Keiko Torii @keikoutorii.bsky.social · 3w ago

Don't forget to join the 100 Celebration of Plant Physiology Symposium- #PlantBio2026 @plantphys.bsky.social Monday, July 20, 1:30 pm-, Canada Hall 1. And, stop by our booth 🥰🌱🍁 -Photo, our might EIC, Yunde Zhao!

Remco Stam @rstam.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Host killing by necrotrophs is really complex. Using a 29-gene knockout series in Botrytis cinerea, we show that removing nearly all known cell death-inducing proteins and major phytotoxins is not sufficient to prevent host necrosis. Check out the paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Deletion of 29 cell death-inducing proteins and phytotoxin biosynthetic genes does not completely abolish virulence of Botrytis cinerea

Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic plant pathogen with an extremely wide host range. During invasion, the fungus induces rapid host cell death and proliferates in the necrotic tissue. The mechanisms o...

biorxiv.org

@ritu2806.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Excited to share two new PNAS papers on Botrytis cinerea—the fungus that spoils nearly everything. Together, these studies explore how the pathogen infects diverse hosts and how plants respond across evolutionary diversity.

UCDavisPlants @ucdavisplants.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🌱 From UC Davis: Gray mold can sense which crop it infects and tailor its attack, helping explain why broad resistance breeding has had limited success. (Dan Kliebenstein) ▶️ www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/fu... #PlantScience #PlantPathology

The Fungus That Spoils Nearly Everything

UC Davis scientists discovered gray mold adapts to different crops, revealing why decades of disease-resistant breeding failed.

ucdavis.edu

UCDavisPlants @ucdavisplants.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🌱 From PNAS: Plant defenses against gray mold rely on shared stress responses but highly species-specific immune networks. (Ritu Singh, Anna Jo Muhich, Cloe Tom, Celine Caseys, Daniel J. Kliebenstein) ▶️ www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #PlantScience #PlantPathology

Isolate-driven transcriptional responses across hosts. (A) PCA of host transcriptional responses based on the expression of 803 single-copy orthologs shared across all 10 eudicot hosts. To normalize for interspecific scale differences, expression values were z-scaled within each host prior to analysis. Points are colored by host species and shaped by treatment (circles = B. cinerea infected; triangles = mock). Mock samples are additionally highlighted with arrows. The percentage of variance explained by each principal component is indicated on the axes. (B) Rank heatmap of B. cinerea isolates based on their PC1 scores, which capture the primary axis of transcriptional variation. Isolates (columns) are ordered by their average rank across all hosts. Host species (rows) are arranged according to their phylogenetic relationships. The color scale represents the rank of each isolate within a host, where 1 (yellow) corresponds to the highest PC1 score (strongest transcriptional response) and higher ranks (purple) indicate weaker responses closer to mock controls.

Tiffany Lowe-Power stands with Minnesota @tlowepower.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Gitta is an excellent scientist and mentor 🤩

Gitta Coaker@gittacoaker.bsky.social · 4mo ago

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...

Postdoctoral Scholar position in the Coaker group
University of California, Davis
We are seeking a Postdoctoral Scholar to join our research program focused on immune receptor engineering and spatial analyses of plant pathogens interactions using computational and imaging approaches. The position will involve integration of molecular, imaging, and computational approaches. Relevant publications from the laboratory include Nature Plants (2025, PMID: 40721669), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024, PMID: 38814867), and Cell Reports (2023, PMID: 37342910). https://www.coakerlab.org/
Qualifications:
• Ph.D. in plant biology, molecular biology, genetics, computational biology, or a related field
• Strong background in genomics and/or computational biology
• First author publications in peer-reviewed journals
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary environment
• Experience in plant innate immunity is preferred

Application Instructions:
The position is initially available for two years, with the possibility of extension based on performance and funding. Salary is based on the University of California postdoctoral salary scale (https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2025-26/represented-oct-2025-scales/t23.pdf). The salary range for this position is $69,073-$82,836 US Dollars/year.
Review of applications will begin June 1, 2026 and will continue until the position is filled.
Please submit a CV, a brief statement of research interests (~1 page), and contact information for three references to glcoaker@ucdavis.edu. The research statement should describe your previous work, how your expertise aligns with ongoing research in the lab, and potential future research directions.

Dan Kliebenstein @spicybotrytis.bsky.social · 7mo ago

One benefit/complication of co-transcriptomics is it takes a whole paper to describe one facet of the data. This complements a previous paper studying the Botrytis transcriptome across the same plant species. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Combined generalist and host-specific transcriptional strategies enable host generalism in the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea

How generalist pathogens infect phylogenetically diverse hosts remains a central question in plant-pathogen biology. In particular, the extent to which broad host range is enabled by genetic variation...

biorxiv.org

Dan Kliebenstein @spicybotrytis.bsky.social · 7mo ago

We intentionally included 72 different Botrytis genotypes to ask how these patterns were or were not stable. Interestingly, each plant species differentiated between the isolates but in their own unique ways. Suggests that translating mechanisms across plants will need to focus on concepts (2/3)

Dan Kliebenstein @spicybotrytis.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Ever wondered if diverse plant species respond similarly when infected by the same exact pathogen? Infect different asterids and rosids with the same Botrytis genotypes and teh short answer, quite differently. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @annajomu.bsky.social @ccaseys.bsky.social (1/3)

A multi-plant transcriptomic atlas reveals conserved and lineage specific defense architectures in response to Botrytis cinerea

Generalist pathogens pose a challenge to plant immunity by infecting diverse hosts while harboring extensive intraspecific genetic variation. Whether evolutionary distant plant lineages rely on a shar...

biorxiv.org

Plant Physiology @plantphys.bsky.social · 11mo ago

NEWS & VIEWS: Blue-light only: How horsetails broke the rules of stomatal control (Ritu Singh, Erin Cullen) doi.org/10.1093/plph... #PlantScience