Damage limitation...
van Wüllen et al. @charlesmelnyk.bsky.social explore the role of #phytohormones during the various stages of parasitism, expose knowledge gaps in the field, & propose novel strategies to help limit agricultural damage by parasitic plants
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
#PlantScience
When caterpillars attack, the common bean plant relies on a receptor in its leaves to sound a chemical rallying cry that recruits predatory wasps, a new #ScienceAdvances study finds. https://scim.ag/434rXN5
To activate plant immunity, NLR receptors such as SUMM2 form resistosome complexes, which act as Ca2+-permeable plasma-membrane channels. Work @nature shows how SUMM2 and its associates assemble into even higher-order clusters to initiate cell death.
shorturl.at/653TZ
plus N&V
shorturl.at/vqqYg
A plant receptor detects caterpillar attack and triggers emission of chemical cues to attract predatory wasps.
scim.ag
Water is essential to life; so how do cells sense and respond to the stress associated with changes in water levels? Work @nature shows that when water is scarce, the plant protein SAM8 forms condensates, trapping RNA-processing factors and so reprogramming translation.
shorturl.at/4VZQf
It’s an absolute pleasure and honour to have finally met @nkwhiteman.bsky.social, a pioneer in developing model systems (Arabidopsis & leaf-mining drosophila S. flava). Thank you for an inspiring keynote lecture at #MECS2026 highlighting the unpredictability and resilience in science for us ECRs!
Science Magazine
Plant & Cell Physiology
SUMM2, a coiled-coil NLR, promotes the assembly of higher-order resistosome clusters to initiate cell death in plants.
Now out in Science Advances.
Inceptin Receptor helps attract predatory wasps in two years of field experiments.
Next steps: can we tune both receptor recognition and volatile blend traits in crops + companion plants?
🌱🧬Single cell omics, metabolite imaging, and high quality genomes are transforming plant specialized metabolism research.
This guide covers methods, workflows, common pitfalls, and a practical pathway discovery pipeline for newcomers #plantscience @embojournal.org
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Amazing! This report suggests that a gall aphid injects into their plant host an enzyme that manipulates auxin levels in the host and thereby induces galls.
#plantscience #plantsci
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Huge congratulations to Beverley Glover & Uta Paszkowski on being elected Fellows of the @royalsociety.org - a wonderful recognition of their significant contributions to plant sciences! 🎉
Read more: tinyurl.com/3vetucr4
@beverleycubg.bsky.social @paszkowskilab.bsky.social 🧪
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...
Plants sense water deficiency through SAM8 protein condensation, which responds to reduced hydration and triggers stress adaptation by altering RNA export and gene translation.
Recent developments in single-cell -omic and metabolite imaging technologies and the increasing availability of high-quality genome assemblies are having a transformative impact on the way research is...
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...
How do predatory wasps find their caterpillar prey?
In our new preprint on Biorxiv we show that the host plant's immune system detects herbivory to sound the alarm. 🌱🐛
See thread from @nataliagupa.bsky.social -- a surprising role for a plant PRR in indirect defense against herbivores.
Adam Steinbrenner
At the @gmivienna.bsky.social with Junior Group Leader Dr. Yan Ma, who is going pioneering work on molecular mechanisms of gall formation (using the “Swede” midge and Arabidopsis). Swede=rutabaga. Yan is one of the few studying flies that attack above ground Arabdidopsis, so we are kindred spirits!
Noah Whiteman
I am thrilled to share the 2nd chapter of my PhD with @adsteinbrenner.bsky.social In collaboration with @tiszapatrick we demonstrated that the LRR-RLP INR is the missing molecular link between caterpillar recognition and predatory wasp recruitment in the field. A thread 1/6
Natalia Guayazán Palacios
A plant immune receptor mediates tritrophic interactions by linking caterpillar detection to predator recruitment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.29.667524v1
