A milestone for plant genomics just out @natgenet.nature.com 130 bryophyte genomes! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Tylenol doesn’t cause autism. It just treats the headache I get listening to this nonsense. And today, there isn’t enough Tylenol.

We proudly present a new preprint by Leon Pierdzig et al: Wall teichoic acids, glycopolymers specific to Gram-positive bacteria, trigger defense and cell death in Arabidopsis. Cysteine-rich RLKs act as key components in their perception. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

My department at UC Davis is hiring a mycologist, broadly interpreted. Please repost, share, and consider applying. recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07339

Gram-positive bacterial MAMP sensed by a plant cysteine rich receptor kinase. I've been waiting for this preprint to drop. Nice story! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

"With 2 weeks left before the end of this fiscal year, USDA’s [NIFA] had awarded just 558 competitive grants ... 68% fewer than during the prior fiscal year—and $741 million less in competitively awarded research funds" Don't forget #PlantSci and ag research, folks. www.science.org/content/arti...

New: ‘Kronos’ #wheat genome preprint • PacBio+Hi-C; 99.9% BUSCO • 2.3k curated NLR loci (1,089 high conf) • 3k EMS datasets re-mapped; 📈 new mutations • Curated smallRNA atlas 🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... zenodo.org/records/1021... #genomics #openscience team effort led by Dr Kyungyong Seong 💫

Our review on disease resistance gene diversity in Triticeae is finally online 🌾🌾! Gained so many insights writing it with Yinghui Li & Liubov Govta and from the guidance of gittacoaker.bsky.social & Tzion Fahima. Fascinated by plant resistance gene diversity—excited to share!

The news lately is overwhelming- both in general and in science. But on a brighter note—I have a new cat, and he’s ridiculously cute. 😻

Happy to share this review on the diversity of resistance in Triticeae. I learned a lot writing it. Heavy lifting by Yinghui Li, Liubov Govta, and @yichangsung.bsky.social with our long-time collaborator Tzion Fahima. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Looking back at some of the inspiring lectures from #PPRM2025 in Edinburgh—such a privilege to learn from so many outstanding researchers. Grateful for this community and the ideas it sparks. @keikoutorii.bsky.social @gittacoaker.bsky.social @marischuster.bsky.social

US Department of Education announces elimination of funding for programs that support Universities designated as Hispanic Serving Institutions, Minority Serving Institutions, and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions. 😞

It was a great meeting and I learned a lot!

Very happy to share our latest work “Systematic discovery and engineering of synthetic immune receptors in plants” out in @science.org ! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thousands of protesters marched in Chicago on Saturday against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Donald Trump’s plan to send National Guard troops and immigration agents to the city.

People from all over are showing up for DC. This is not a moment. It’s a movement. We are united in our demands. We are all DC! #FreeDC

🚨 New publication alert 🚨 Tomato Roots Exhibit Development-Specific Responses to Bacterial-Derived Peptides 🔗: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Authors: R Leuschen-Kohl, R Roberts, @danimstevens.bsky.social, N Zhang, S Buchanan, B Pilkey, @gittacoaker.bsky.social , and A Iyer-Pascuzzi.

📣 🍅 New paper alert: IGI's Brian Staskawicz teamed up with @gittacoaker.bsky.social at @ucdavis.bsky.social to reveal how tomatoes fine-tune the production of reactive oxygen species to fight pathogens. Read here: ow.ly/AQJr50WN3iu

In response to the dismantling of the CDC, California, Oregon, and Washington have launched the West Coast Health Alliance, which will make their own science-based vaccine guidelines, and make sure vaccines are accessible to everyone.

Six years ago, I started at the MPIPZ with a head full of ideas. What a journey. I’m thrilled to share that, from Jan 2026, I will be moving to Zurich as a chaired associate professor at the University of Zurich. A new chapter, and plenty of roots still to grow. Can’t wait for the adventure ahead!

octameric resistosome, cool www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Protein language model hits undruggable targets, no structure required #NBTintheNews www.genengnews.com/topics/artif...

Nothing to see here…. New C.D.C. Director Resists Ouster as Other Officials Resign www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/h...

Exciting to see our protein binder design pipeline BindCraft published in its final form in @Nature ! This has been an amazing collaborative effort with Lennart, Christian, @sokrypton.org, Bruno and many other amazing lab members and collaborators. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy to see this out! @jiaxuwu.bsky.social, @sohambio.bsky.social & I tackle the growing confusion in clubroot resistance gene naming. We call for a common nomenclature and a shared database to speed up durable resistance 🧬 🥦 Thank you @cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social for a great editorial process!

Unraveling the antagonistic roles of helper NLRs in plant immunity #plantscience

Really excited to join Stanford ChemE this September! We'll engineer proteins in plant immune and hormone pathways, combining high-throughput directed evolution with ML. Our goal is to enhance climate stress resilience and disease resistance in crops: rim.stanford.edu

Registrations are rolling in for the 2025 Stromlo Plant Pathology meeting in Canberra (Nov 27–28)! Secure your spot! Speakers: @yasukadota.bsky.social, Cecille Segonzac, @thamlab.bsky.social, @yichangsung.bsky.social, Tek Tay & @danielsyu.bsky.social. Register at tinyurl.com/3e3tx9j2 #strompath25

We have made all datasets browsable with our web resource arabidopsisdevatlas.salk.edu that empowers anyone to ask where their favorite gene is expressed at single-cell resolution without the need for computational resources or bioinformatic background. 5/n

Sometimes the most useful insights come from what doesn’t work. We tested a dual PRR stack: LORE blocked Ralstonia, while FLS2xl could sense Ca. Liberibacter flg22 but didn’t stop infection. Congrats to @jerrytli.bsky.social and all co-authors! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Happy to share that the last piece of my thesis is finally out! Here, we designed and delivered a dual PRR stack in potato to control vector-borne and soil-borne bacterial pathogens, Ca. Liberibacter solanacearum and Ralstonia solanacearum. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Hearst castle pool on the California coast with my oldest kid- I think he looks like me here. 😍

👏 👏 www.calonews.com/featured-top...

(finally recovered my password--- coming back here updating exciting news in the Torii lab 😘🌱

Touché horoscope. “Dealing with institutions, government agencies and authority figures will be emotional and can lead to unexpected changes in where and how you live. 3 stars”

RFK Jr. backs down all the time when he gets push back, so if anyone wants to call, here's the HHS number 1-877-696-6775. I'd also call your senators/reps as well.

1/3 New preprint led by Shanshan Wang, in collaboration with the Timmermans lab. Several groups have presented sc/snRNA-seq analyses of Arabidopsis leaves after bacterial infection before. Is there anything left to discover? Turns out: Yes. #plantscience www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

BREAKING: The Trump administration has canceled $200 million in research grants to UCLA, citing allegations over antisemitism. The move came after Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said UCLA would pay a "heavy price" over its handling of last year's pro-Palestinian encampment www.latimes.com/california/s...

Here comes the final version. Congratulations Erika, Yasu, Ken, and all others involved! @yasukadota.bsky.social @shirasulab.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Exciting preprint! CryoEM structure of plant ROS & quinone receptor CARD1 (also known as HPCA1) reveals it is a copper dependent redox sensor (and cys residues not essential). CARD1 is a member of LRR-RLK clade VIII-1. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Nice! "we experimentally demonstrated that the gall-like structure was artificially generated using effector molecules, the CAP peptide, auxin, and cytokinin" CAP peptides artificially induce insect-gall-like growth in different plant species academic.oup.com/pcp/advance-...

Last session of #PlantBio2025 Cara Haney, Tatsuya Nobori, Gary Stacy, Meenu Singla-Rastogi

The first in a coming array of papers looking at the co-transcriptome of 72 Botrytis genotype in 10 different host plants is out. Summary is the pathogen uses a combination of general virulence and host specific plasticity (not new genes) to infect dicots. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🌱 From UC Davis: UC Davis scientists used AlphaFold to reengineer plant immune receptors, expanding bacterial detection and improving resistance to wilt pathogens. (Gitta Coaker) ▶️ www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/ho... #PlantScience #PlantBiology #PlantPathology

few outcomes, except for 99% of FDA-approved drugs, 174 recipients of 104 Nobel Prizes, training ~30K MDs and ~10K PhDs per year to enter the workforce, and a 34% reduction in age-adjusted cancer deaths since 1990 -- the largest decrease in history

Excited this paper is finally published! We focused on the inner concave surface of LRR RKs to expand bacterial flagellin perception in plants. Selection indicates expanded perception is more common than previously thought. Experiments led by @jerrytli.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#PlantBio2025 ASPB and JSPP are organizing the very first combined symposium. Thanks to Keiko and Tomo for organizing and inviting a group of Assistant Professors to share their research. I will share a cell division story today (room 203CD, 1:30 PM)

Excellent talk and question answers by Samantha Snodgrass. #PlantBio2025 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Walk up music has been adopted at #PlantBio2025