The conservation of immune systems from prokaryotes to eukaryotes can guide discovery of immunity genes across the tree of life. Most studies to date have focused on metazoan systems, while the extent...

Using cryo-electron tomography, the authors reveal how plasmodesmata (plant cytoplasmic bridges) are gated by cell wall remodelling and how helical protein assemblies scaffold internal membranes, with...

Fungal effectors may have evolved from ancient antimicrobials, shaping plant microbiota and immunity during infection.

Phytophthora secretes an infection-induced apoplastic lipase, damaging Arabidopsis extracellular vesicles and suppressing plant defence against infection.

Large mobile genetic elements known as Starships act as vehicles for transferring transposable elements (TEs) between fungi. Here, Griem-Krey et al. show that these ‘hitchhiking’ TEs can drive rapid e...

Trans-species RNA interference (tsRNAi), in which plants produce small RNAs (sRNAs) to silence target genes in pathogens, has emerged as a promising strategy for disease control. However, whether tsRNAi constitutes an endogenous, regulated immune response remains unclear. Here, we show that ARGONAUTE10 (AGO10) plays a critical role in pathogen-induced tsRNAi. Loss of AGO10 in Arabidopsis abolished pathogen gene silencing during infection, leading to hypersusceptibility to oomycete and fungal pathogens. Importantly, AGO10 rapidly responds to pathogen infection through increased protein accumulation and re-location into discrete cytoplasmic condensates, thus promoting the production of trans-species sRNAs at the pathogen infection sites. This immune responsiveness relies on the N terminal intrinsically disordered region (IDR) of AGO10, which is responsible for sensing and responding to immune activation. Specific features in the IDR partitions AGO10 into two deeply diverged subgroups, AGO10a and AGO10b, with the immune responsiveness and defense function evolutionarily conserved in AGO10a but not AGO10b. Together, these findings establish tsRNAi as a bona fide, evolutionarily conserved immune response and position AGO10 as a signal-responsive hub linking pathogen perception to tsRNAi-based defense.

Cell surface receptors perceive immunogenic elicitors, triggering downstream signalling via receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases such as BIK1. Here the authors define and use the phosphorylation motif of...

ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins are a highly conserved family of RNA-binding proteins that play central roles in gene regulation and developmental process...

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are an essential signalling entity in human plasma implicated in health and disease. Still, their core protein and lipid componentry, which lie at the centre of EV form and function, remain poorly defined. Here we performed high-resolution density gradient fractionation of over 140 human plasma samples to isolate circulating EVs, and systematically constructed their quantitative proteome (4,500 proteins) and lipidome (829 lipids) landscapes using mass spectrometry. We identified a highly conserved panel of 182 proteins (including ADAM10, STEAP23 and STX7) and 52 lipids (including PS, PIPs, Hex2Cer and PAs), providing a deep survey of hallmark molecular features and biological pathways characteristic to circulating EVs. We also mapped the surfaceome diversity, identifying 151 proteins on the EV surface. We further established a set of 42 proteins and 114 lipids features that served as hallmark features of non-EV particles in plasma. We submit ADAM10 and PS(3

Here a mechanism for nitrogen fixation maintenance is identified in Medicago truncatula where two polygalacturoneases are expressed in nodules and secreted into the symbiosome space for clearing of ex...

Kompetenzzentrum für Pflanzengesundheit: Vergleichendes Bewertungsverfahren für 1 Stelle/n als „Tecnologo“ erster Ebene mit befristetem Arbeitsvertrag (A)

The propagation of a viral infection from a host parent to its progeny is known as vertical transmission, or seed transmission in plants. It allows viral infections to rapidly spread locally via polle...

The evolutionary diversification of an exocyst subunit was enabled by electrostatic shifts leading to its dissociation from the ancestral complex.

This study presents an extensive single-nucleus and spatial transcriptomic atlas of the Arabidopsis life cycle that represents ten distinct developmental time points inclusive of six diverse organs.

Discover two fully funded PhD opportunities in Agricultural Biotechnology (Entomology) at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy. Conduct advanced pest and parasitoid research in one of Europe's most dynamic agricultural regions. Apply by June 11, 2025!