Xiaoen Huang

Long-Term Modulation of Electrical Synapses in the Mammalian Thalamus Electrical synapses are common between inhibitory neurons in the mammalian thalamus and neocortex. Synaptic modulation, which allows flexibility of communication between neurons, has been studied extensively at chemical synapses, but modulation of ...

Poxvirus attack of antiviral defense pathways unleashes an effector-triggered NF-κB response
@science.org

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Plant ETI re-discovered in animal cells.

An effector from the potato late blight pathogen bridges ENTH-domain protein TOL9a to an activated helper NLR to suppress immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.06.663370v1

Brief summary:

⚠️ Too much XA21 in flowers = reduced fertility
🔧 OsRBL3b = spikelet-specific protease that cleaves XA21 in spikelets
✅ Fertility restored, immunity intact.

My postdoc work is finally out in PNAS @pnas.org
Rhomboid-mediated cleavage of the immune receptor XA21 protects grain set and male fertility in rice
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Congratulations to all authors and co first author Satyam Vergish!