Nitzan Shabek
@shabeklab.bsky.social
Prof. @UC Davis ∙structural biologist⚛︎ ubiquitin system aficionado ✾ signaling & sensing mechanisms in plants🌱in vivo interacomes 🎸dad of 2 https://shabek-lab.ucdavis.edu/
check out our latest review. Beyond prediction: Why experimental structural biology remains essential in plants. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Beyond prediction: Why experimental structural biology remains essential in plants
Structural biology is undergoing a transformative era driven by advances in artificial intelligence (AI)-based protein structure prediction and cryo-e…
sciencedirect.com
While plants don't get headaches, they do use salicylic acid to fight infections. But too much stunts growth. A new UC Davis study shows how plants regulate this important hormone www.ucdavis.edu/news/plants-...
Plants Walk a Fine Line Between Growth and Defense
Salicylic acid, the active molecule in aspirin and some acne medications, is a hormone in plants that is essential for immunity, but it’s a double-edged sword: Too much can cause autoimmunity and stun...
ucdavis.edu
🔥our latest study is now online @natcomms.nature.com we found that the salicylic acid catabolic enzymes DMR6/DLO1 are controlled by the ubiquitin system. SA modulates their turnover, revealing a regulatory circuit linking hormone metabolism to immune balance. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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...
Excited to share our latest review on ubiquitin ligases in plant immunity onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Ubiquitin ligases in plant immunity: structural mechanisms and signaling
The ubiquitin system is a central regulator of plant immunity, with E3 ligases conferring substrate specificity across diverse signaling pathways. This review synthesizes structural and mechanistic i...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Humbled and honored to receive the UC Davis Distinguished Teaching Award 🏅 Beyond our research mission, education & mentoring are at the core of what we do @ucdavis.bsky.social & I’m grateful for the opportunity to teach such engaged & motivated students www.ucdavis.edu/news/senate-...
Senate and Federation Honor ‘Transformative,’ ‘Inspiring’ Academics
The Academic Senate and Federation have announced their top awards, comprising 15 academics across various disciplines throughout the university.The awards cite the impact these academics have had on ...
ucdavis.edu
Excited to share our new review, now online @annualreviews.bsky.social : Structural Insights into Plant Hormone-Sensing Mechanisms www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Structural Insights into Plant Hormone-Sensing Mechanisms
Plant hormones are essential small molecules that regulate plant growth, development, and systemic responses to environmental stimuli. These processes are mediated by complex signaling networks involv...
annualreviews.org
UC Davis has a Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology that allows students to engage with industry professionals deb.ucdavis.edu. We also have shadowing programs that allow grad students to interact with and advise leadership grad.ucdavis.edu/CGPSA.
Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology (DEB)
deb.ucdavis.edu
Excited to share our latest work to close out 2025: Dynamic ASK1 proximity networks uncover SCF-dependent and noncanonical roles in ABA and drought adaptation🌱 With @justinwwalley.bsky.social , we map how ASK1/SKP1 dynamically rewires protein networks during stress www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Dynamic ASK1 proximity networks uncover SCF-dependent and noncanonical roles in ABA and drought adaptation
Plants rely on rapid proteome remodeling to withstand fluctuating environmental conditions, yet how the ubiquitin system dynamically coordinates these multilayered responses remains unclear. Here we d...
biorxiv.org
Excited to share our latest work to close out 2025: Dynamic ASK1 proximity networks uncover SCF-dependent and noncanonical roles in ABA and drought adaptation🌱 With @justinwwalley.bsky.social , we map how ASK1/SKP1 dynamically rewires protein networks during stress www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Dynamic ASK1 proximity networks uncover SCF-dependent and noncanonical roles in ABA and drought adaptation
Plants rely on rapid proteome remodeling to withstand fluctuating environmental conditions, yet how the ubiquitin system dynamically coordinates these multilayered responses remains unclear. Here we d...
biorxiv.org
📚New 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: 🌱An emerging signaling hub: KAI2 at the nexus of phytohormone networks🌱 Highlights KAI2 as an integrator of plant hormone signaling, despite its unknown endogenous ligand. ✍️By Jacob Moe-Lange and Nitzan Shabek @shabeklab.bsky.social Read it here👉 doi.org/10.1111/tpj....
An emerging signaling hub: KAI2 at the nexus of phytohormone networks
KAI2 signaling has emerged as a central integrator of plant hormonal networks, coordinating growth and stress responses despite the continued mystery surrounding its endogenous ligand. This review sy...
doi.org
Was super excited to host @shabeklab.bsky.social in Tel Aviv for the first time since starting my position here and to hear all about the cutting-edge science his lab has been up to since we parted ways! Truly inspiring talk. ✨🤩💪🌱 @ucdavis.bsky.social @telavivuni.bsky.social
An emerging signaling hub: KAI2 at the nexus of phytohormone networks onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
An emerging signaling hub: KAI2 at the nexus of phytohormone networks
KAI2 signaling has emerged as a central integrator of plant hormonal networks, coordinating growth and stress responses despite the continued mystery surrounding its endogenous ligand. This review sy...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
excited to be part of this study published @pnas.org led by the wonderful Caroline Gutjahr 👏revealing how the GRAS protein RAM1 partners with WRI transcription factors to regulate genes essential for arbuscule formation & nutrient exchange in plant-fungal symbiosis www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
pnas.org
Wow! The Proteasome generates antimicrobial peptides that directly affect bacterial membranes #proteostasis www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cell-autonomous innate immunity by proteasome-derived defence peptides - Nature
Proteasomal degradation of cellular proteins generate defence peptides constitutively and in response to bacterial infection. Such peptides might provide a source of natural antibiotics that...
nature.com
🧪what with the demolition of #NIH funded #research, where, dare I ask, are our friends from #bigpharma? y'all good? mooched enough off of public-access NIH-funded research? Stocked up with PhD level scientists who were trained on NIH training grants to tide you over until Academia comes back?
Super excited to contribute to this amazing work on the evolution of interorganismal strigolactone biosynthesis www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Evolution of interorganismal strigolactone biosynthesis in seed plants
Strigolactones (SLs) are methylbutenolide molecules derived from β-carotene through an intermediate carlactonoic acid (CLA). Canonical SLs act as signals to microbes and plants, whereas noncanonical S...
science.org
New to #ubiquitin? Been with it for a while? Either way this review may be for you 🤩 Excited to share our review article in @molcell.bsky.social, diving deep into everything #ubiquitin Read here 👉: kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F... @cellpress.bsky.social @wehi-research.bsky.social
🆕 Our Latest Issue is online now! 📚 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14698137... Highlights: 🌱 Announcing the 2024 Tansley Medal winner 🌱 Unravelling plant centromeres 🌱 Is auxin the key to improve crop nitrogen efficiency? 🌱 Vegetation responses to moisture conditions
New Phytologist: Vol 244, No 6
<em>New Phytologist</em> is an international journal owned by the New Phytologist Foundation publishing original research in plant science and its applications.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Excited to share that our research on the SCF E3 ubiquitin ligase interactome in plants is now published in New Phytologist and featured as the cover of the current issue! 🌱 @newphyt.bsky.social #ubiquitin #proteostasis nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/CA8XRQ...
I made a starter pack for the plant proteostasis community - please let me know if I missed someone to add new members #proteostasis
The email announcement of International Plant Growth Substances Association (IPGSA) Conference in 2025 in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA is just out! Please spread the word of what will be a very exciting conference in a beautiful place. #IPGSA2025
Final version of or single-cell proteomics paper is now published in the New Phytologist December issue! @dormichicken.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Single‐cell proteomics differentiates Arabidopsis root cell types
See also the Commentary on this article by van Schie & Weijers, 244: 1678–1680.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
our latest work @natureportfolio.bsky.social nature communications: Structural insights into strigolactone catabolism by carboxylesterases reveal a conserved conformational regulation rdcu.be/d0s6l
Structural insights into strigolactone catabolism by carboxylesterases reveal a conserved conformational regulation
Nature Communications - Plant hormone levels are regulated by synthesis and breakdown, but the mechanism of strigolactone degradation remains unclear. This study reveals the structure of distinct...
rdcu.be
Should've done this a long time ago, but here's my first post on #Bluesky. Check out my postdoc paper on a bacterial ubiquitin-like defense system that we recently published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bacteria conjugate ubiquitin-like proteins to interfere with phage assembly - Nature
To mitigate phage infection, an antiphage defence system in bacteria conjugates a ubiquitin-like protein to a structural protein of the phage, demonstrating that conjugation of ubiquiti...
nature.com
Check out this list of ubiquitin and Ubl profiles to follow. Repost if you want me to add you to it. Let’s create a good community here ☁️ go.bsky.app/3VPQofn
I direct the UC Davis Biotechnology Program - looking forward to building #academicsky community! 🧬🧫🔬🧪🥼#ucdavis #biotech
our latest work @natureportfolio.bsky.social nature communications: Structural insights into strigolactone catabolism by carboxylesterases reveal a conserved conformational regulation rdcu.be/d0s6l
Structural insights into strigolactone catabolism by carboxylesterases reveal a conserved conformational regulation
Nature Communications - Plant hormone levels are regulated by synthesis and breakdown, but the mechanism of strigolactone degradation remains unclear. This study reveals the structure of distinct...
rdcu.be
molecular basis of SCOOP perception by the MIK2–BAK1 immune complex rdcu.be/d0s5E
Mechanistic study of SCOOPs recognition by MIK2–BAK1 complex reveals the role of N-glycans in plant ligand–receptor–coreceptor complex formation
Nature Plants - Wu et al. elucidate the molecular basis for SCOOPs perception by the MIK2–BAK1 immune complex and demonstrate an unexpectedly pivotal role of N-glycans in plant...
rdcu.be