Stable developmental programs normally resist reprogramming, yet pathogens can override these constraints to induce profound tissue and cellular remodeling. How microbial pathogens access conserved de...

W2 Professorship

Pathogens secrete effector proteins to promote virulence. Despite their recognition by barley Mla resistance genes, the structurally-related Blumeria hordei ( Bh ) AVRA effectors are maintained in the...

Root immunometabolism: balancing defense and accommodationPlant health depends on balanced immune defense and microbial accommodation. As constant contact zones, roots must exclude pathogens while fos...

The composition of the plant microbiome is shaped not only by the host plant and abiotic environmental factors, but also by inter-microbial cooperation and competition. Plant pathogens, therefore must...

When a maize plant is attacked by the fungus Ustilago maydis, tumor-like tissue growths occur at the site of infection. How the pathogen causes this response in its host has long been unknown. But a…

Aphids hijack plant immunity via p-bodies, but plants fight back with a heat shock protein in an unexpected twist on defense.

Cleavage by pathogen-derived proteases of an engineered chimeric protein activates its plant immune receptor component, enabling broad-spectrum resistance to pathogens in plants.