Recent Posts

Repeated gain and loss of a single gene modulates the evolution of vascular plant pathogen lifestyles (Science Advances)

Within the bacterial genus Xanthomonas there are many plant pathogens, some of which colonize living cells within leaves, and others of which are vascular pathogens that colonize and spread through vascular tissues. Gluck-Thaler et al. looked at genomes from sets of closely related bacteria that…

N-glycosylation shields Phytophthora sojae apoplastic effector PsXEG1 from a specific host aspartic protease (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA)

Physicists say “for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction,” an expression that applies to the interactions between plants and pathogens as well. Here, Xia et al. have uncovered another layer in the “arms race” between soybeans and the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora sojae.…

Sensing Attack: The Role of Wall-associated Kinases in Plant Pathogen Responses

Sam Amsbury Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Sheffield, UK ORCiD: 0000-0002-2767-9768 s.amsbury@sheffield.ac.uk The physical and chemical barrier provided by the cell wall is one of the first lines of defence for plants against pathogen attack. Plant cell walls provide physical protection…