Sign in

Freddie King

@freddie-king.bsky.social
81 followers 147 following 12 posts

PhD in Bozkurt group, Imperial. Synthetic bio 🤝 plant immunity scholar.google.com/citations?user=O…

PostsRepliesMedia
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 22h
Our transient expression system for diverse crops is now published in PLOS Biology! Check it out and see if we tested your favourite species... 🌱 doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org
A broad-host-range Rhizobium rhizogenes strain enables transient expression across diverse crop species
Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression has revolutionized plant research, but is largely confined to solanaceous species. This study shows that the engineered Rhizobium rhizogenes strain AS109 al...
03014 0
Reposted by Freddie King
Tolga Bozkurt @tolgaboz.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Final version of our NRG1 MS is out! We uncover a surprising mechanism: the helper NLR NRG1 targets organellar membranes to trigger immunity Great collaborations with @KamounLab, @JiorgosKourelis, @jonathandgjones, @AdamWu9527, and the @Phil_Carella labs! science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
36627 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
If anyone is interested in obtaining the NRG1 mutant constructs used in this work, feel free to get in touch with me, @tolgaboz.bsky.social or @jiorgoskourelis.bsky.social!
020 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Very excited to see our recent work on NRG1 organellar targeting now published! It has been a pleasure working with Tarhan on this, combining synthetic biology/genetics with some incredible microscopy 🤝 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
A helper NLR channels organellar calcium to trigger plant immunity
Upon activation, plant nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors are known to assemble into oligomeric resistosomes that insert into the plasma membrane, forming calcium (Ca2+)–per...
1166 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Thanks so much Mariana!
010 0
Reposted by Freddie King
bioRxiv Plant Bio @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
A broad-host-range Rhizobium rhizogenes strain enables transient expression across diverse crops and establishes functional assays in faba bean www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
011 0
Reposted by Freddie King
Tolga Bozkurt @tolgaboz.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Proud to share this preprint from Freddie_King and Juan Carlos @AdamWu9527 & @lderevnina labs! AS109-mediated agroinfiltration enables transient expression across non-model plants and positions faba bean as a tractable system for studying disease-resistance
12211 0
Reposted by Freddie King
Juan (胡安) @angiopteris.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Finally out! A follow-up to our Rhizobium rhizogenes story with @tolgaboz.bsky.social and Lida. We hope this work will make it easier to study many other plant species. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
0114 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Thanks to all of our collaborators on this project, especially Juan Carlos Lopez-Agudelo, Christopher Stephens, May Htet Aung, Tarhan Ibrahim, Enoch Yuen and members of the Wu, Derevnina and Bozkurt labs. 7/7
000 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
We propose the AS109-faba bean system as a platform for rapid testing of disease-resistance genes in legumes, just as Nicotiana benthamiana has been for solanaceous crops. 6/7
111 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Aside from immune receptors, AS109 allowed us to visualise a novel pathogen interface in faba bean using fluorescently tagged Phytophthora palmivora! This opens up a whole new avenue for investigating pathogen cell biology in legumes using transient expression. 5/7
121 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Indeed, we show that the sensor NLR Rx recognises its effector in faba bean to trigger cell death, but only when you provide the helper NRC4! 4/7
100 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Using faba bean as a new model, we demonstrate that NRC helper NLRs can trigger cell death and form puncta at the plasma membrane in this legume species. Could sensor-helper NLR pairs from solanaceous plants be deployed in legume crops? 3/7
120 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Given the importance of legume crops, we sought to establish a new model species for studying immunity in Fabaceae. We show that AS109 enables cell localisation, transient RNA interference, and cell death assays in faba bean!
110 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Excited to share our preprint using Rhizobium rhizogenes AS109 for agroinfiltration, facilitating strong transient expression across non-model plants including sweet potato, mustard, Medicago and faba bean! doi.org/10.64898/202... 1/7
doi.org
1147 0
Freddie King @freddie-king.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
I finally got around to publishing my MPMI poster on 'Developing broad bean as a new model system for studying plant immunity'! We show that you can do HR assays, transient RNAi, and confocal microscopy in this legume species 🌱🫘 Check it out: zenodo.org/records/1631... #2025MPMI
zenodo.org
Developing broad bean as a new model system for studying plant immunity
The study of molecular plant immunity using transient Agrobacterium-mediated expression is currently reliant on two key model species, Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana. Whilst these spec...
010 0
Reposted by Freddie King
Tolga Bozkurt @tolgaboz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Plz RT. We are looking for a postdoc to join our collborative project on AI-guided bioengineering of plant immune receptors @tolgaboz.bsky.social and @jiorgoskourelis.bsky.social labs: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNV032/r...
jobs.ac.uk
Research Associate in Programmable Plant Immunity at Imperial College London
Apply for the Research Associate in Programmable Plant Immunity role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
02338 0