Recent Posts

Conserved biochemical defenses underpin host responses to oomycete infection in liverwort (Curr Biol)

Marchantia polymorpha is an emerging model for plant molecular biology and has contributed to studies on development and plant-microbe interactions. Here, using RNA-seq and proteomics, Carella et al. present a detailed time-course analysis of Marchantia molecular responses to pathogen infection triggered…

A liverwort-Pseudomonas interaction reveals an ancient plant defensive mechanism (Curr Biol)

Plants are sessile organisms that have evolved sophisticated immune systems in defense of pathogens, thus maximizing the chance of survival. Most of our understanding of plant defenses comes from studies in angiosperms. Evolutionary molecular plant-microbe interactions (EvoMPMI) can reveal the origins…

The EDS1-SAG101 complex regulates TNL-based immunity in Solanaceous plants (Plant Cell)

Microbial pathogens secrete virulence effector proteins into host cells to suppress basal plant defenses. Plant resistance (R) receptors induce robust immune signaling after directly or indirectly detect such effector-mediated host manipulation. In Arabidopsis, immunity transduced through many TNL (TIR-NBS-LRR)…

RIN4/NOI fragments utilize different N-end rules of degradation to fight off pathogens (Plant Physiol)

To fight off invading pathogens, plants such as Arabidopsis are intrinsically programmed with a subset of defense responses often known as pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI). AvrRpt2, an effector secreted by the pathogen Pseudomonas syringe, is a protease that can…

PEN3 and PDR12 secrete camalexin to the apoplast to limit pathogen growth in Arabidopsis (Plant Cell)

Phytoalexins are important antimicrobial compounds that plants synthesize to fend off invading pathogens. In the Brassica family, the tryptophan (trp)-derived phytoalexin ‘camalexin’ provides broad-spectrum resistance against bacterial, fungal, and oomycete pathogens. The regulation of camalexin…

Immunity-growth Trade-off in Plants

Jing et al. reveal how danger-associated peptides inhibit root growth in plants in response to pathogen attack. Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00145.   Background: Plants defend themselves against pathogens and pests through an innate immune system that is activated by pathogen-associated…

Review: Plant immunity, refining the model (Trends in Plant Sci and Curr Opin Plant Biol)

Interactions between plants and microorganisms occur in many different ways and on many different levels. Scientists have been attracted to this field of research because of the need to identify the agents causing infectious diseases in economically important crops. Models have been developed to describe…

Plant Calcium Channels Perceive the Hungry Caterpillar

Meena et al. identify a Ca2+ channel involved in herbivory recognition. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00057 By Mukesh Kumar Meena, Ramgopal Prajapati, Deepthi Krishna and Jyothilakshmi Vadassery are from National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi, India Background:…

Insight: Rapid evolution in plant – microbe interactions (New Phytol)

Plants and associated microbes co-exist and co-evolve over time. The rate of evolution is higher in pathogens as compared to plants. Although the phenotypic consequences of rapid evolution in pathogens are well studied, changes at genomic level are not as well known, and are the subject of a recent review…