Josie Maidment

📣 Our latest story just dropped on bioRxiv:: A structurally unique effector shared between Verticillium dahliae and Fusarium oxysporum is involved in cotton defoliation and virulence on other hosts www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵

Discover and share the CBS Montpellier starter pack, to follow current and formers members of the Centre de Biologie Structurale on Bluesky.

go.bsky.app/G682pvP
@cnrs.fr
@inserm.fr
@umontpellier.bsky.social

Multiple protein structure alignment at scale with FoldMason Protein structure is conserved beyond sequence, making multiple structural alignment (MSTA) essential for analyzing distantly related proteins. Computational prediction methods have vastly extended ou...

FoldMason is out now in @science.org. It generates accurate multiple structure alignments for thousands of protein structures in seconds. Great work by Cameron L. M. Gilchrist and @milot.bsky.social.
📄 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🌐 search.foldseek.com/foldmason
💾 github.com/steineggerla...

#JJC2026 @fmartin54.bsky.social gives us an amazing evening talk about his 45-year career on forest ecosystems, ectomycorrhizae, fungal genomics and mycobiome research

Bruno Le Cam @irhs-angers.bsky.social is kicking off the #JJC2026 conference on #Mycology and #Phytopathology. 4 days of science in the scenic mountains of #Aussois!

Delighted to be attending (and sharing our latest results!) at the Journées Jean Chevaugeon (@sfp-france.bsky.social) #JJC2026 this week 🌱

Looking forward to the great science and connecting with fellow researchers over the coming days - all in this wonderful location!

Congratulations @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social! All the best for the move!

Targeting of the barley cell-surface receptor SRF3 by the Blumeria hordei effector AVRA13 overlaps with AVRA13 recognition by MLA and the induction of NLR-mediated cell death. Pathogens secrete effector proteins to promote virulence. Despite their recognition by barley Mla resistance genes, the structurally-related Blumeria hordei ( Bh ) AVRA effectors are maintained in the...

Wei Shi @wshisky.bsky.social & Merle‘s work is online. Wei really pushed this work from scratch and Merle linked it to MLA diversification…3rd (co-)first author paper in her PhD. Very proud PI!
And only possible through collaboration with G. Döhlemann, @grandpahiro.bsky.social &, Matt Platre. (1/x)

Schematic showing the function of Sgt1 in yeast.

Our latest work is now out in @cp-molcell.bsky.social !
We have looked at Sgt1, an essential Hsp90 co-chaperone in yeast. We determined its interaction with Hs90 and showed that it stabilises the chaperone-client complex and prevents its dissociation by Aha1.

www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Pik pairs as resources for determining optimal ‘chassis’ for engineering recognition.

Mismatch screening in Nicotiana benthamiana to explore Pik-1/Pik-2 paired NLR platforms for receptor engineering

Yuxuan Xi (席玉轩) and Mark J. Banfield

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#PlantScience

A guide to designing cell-surface receptors in plants Cell-surface receptors perceive environmental cues and trigger appropriate responses. In plants, these receptors comprise ectodomain, juxta-membrane, …

We wrote a review on the mᴏdular properties of plant cell-surface receptors, and how this knowledge can be used to reprogram and engineer them:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Ancient MAX Effector Variants of a Fungal Pathogen Evade Apoplastic Immunity in Apple Venturia inaequalis is an Ascomycota fungus responsible for apple scab, the main disease in apple orchards. During infection, the pathogen colonizes the subcuticular space and secretes hundreds of eff...

🧬 New preprint on fungal effector 🍄🍎

We identify AvrRvi6, the first AVR from Venturia inaequalis.

AvrRvi6 is a MAX effector with apoplastic activity, expanding the functional landscape of this major effector family.

📄 bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Ancient MAX Effector Variants of a Fungal Pathogen Evade Apoplastic Immunity in Apple https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.25.695362v1

Seeing Red: A UC San Diego Invention is Transforming the Way Scientists Track Genes UC San Diego biologists have created a transformative new way to monitor genes. The game-changing tool known as RUBY is an inexpensive, easy-to-use technology that allows researchers to visualize gene...

Profile of @plantphys.bsky.social EIC Yunde Zhao & RUBY reporter his lab developed; free for use in academic labs & classrooms. “RUBY is making a difference in so many ways because we opened it up to all of science".
"Fundamental research is crucial because it can lead to unexpected discoveries.”

'An extraordinary legacy': Tributes after chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall dies age 91 The primatologist was a

Deeply saddened by this news. A truly incredible woman who has done so much for so many.

"Find your reasons for hope and let them guide you onward." Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope 🌱

www.bbc.com/news/live/c9...

Congrats, great to see it out!

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...

An activated wheat CCG10-NLR immune receptor forms an octameric resistosome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.26.672026v1

A great group of young scientists.

A whole bunch of Assistants Features Editors from @theplantcell.bsky.social and @plantphys.bsky.social getting to know each other 💚
#PlantBio2025

The Plant Cell is accepting applications for Assistant Features Editors | Plant Science Today Are you an early career researcher passionate about plants and science communication? The Plant Cell is accepting applications for new Assistant Features Editors (AFEs) to begin in 2026 and 2027.

#PlantBio2025. Be sure to stop by the ASPB booth in the exhibition hall to learn about the AFE program. We have more than 20 AFEs at the conference!
👉 The Plant Cell is accepting applications for Assistant Features Editors share.google/wqUgOmxQYW4u...
Apply by September 15 #PlantBio

And I'll be presenting poster #400-31 tomorrow (Sunday 27 July) from 17:30-19:00 on heavy metal associated-domain containing proteins in rice 🌾

Excited to be in Milwaukee for the @plantphys.bsky.social editorial board meeting and Plant Biology conference #PlantBio25 🌿

Very grateful to the Plant Phys AFE program for this opportunity and looking forward to great discussions over the coming days!

Aphid effectors suppress plant immunity via recruiting defense proteins to processing bodies Aphids hijack plant immunity via p-bodies, but plants fight back with a heat shock protein in an unexpected twist on defense.

Our paper is now online in Science Advances! Congrats @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social @johninnescentre.bsky.social and all coauthors!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I am looking for a (bio)chemist to join the lab and help us making affinity-based probes for proteases! The project is truly interdisciplinary with a strong computational chemistry component, peptide synthesis and plant biochemistry!
Text me if interested and please spread the word!

🎉 Exciting news during #2025ISMPMI
Our AlphaFold sensor vs helper NLR paper is now published in @newphyt.bsky.social‬!

Big thanks to the reviewers for their constructive feedback 🙏

📖 Check out the peer-reviewed version here 👇
🔗 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

bsky.app/profile/yusu...

After great talks at #2025ISMPMI on de novo design of pathogen protein binders for receptor engineering - perfect timing for this preprint from colleagues at the Centre de Biologie Structurale!

mamp-ml: A deep learning approach to epitope immunogenicity in plants Eukaryotes detect biomolecules through surface-localized receptors, key signaling components. A subset of receptors survey for pathogens, induce immunity, and restrict pathogen growth. Comparative gen...

#2025ISMPMI 📣 In silico screening of PRR-epitope interactions is now possible!

Here, we developed mamp-ml to predict their immunogenic outcomes without structural context. Let's accelerate engineering plant receptors for robust resistance! 🚀🌱 Small 🧵

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

If you're at #2025ISMPMI, please come talk to me if you have comments/questions/feedback!

I'll be presenting some of this work in the poster session on Thursday (P-212) and in the concurrent session "Structure Informed Synthetic Biology: From Design to Function" on Thursday afternoon.

Very happy to share our preprint on heavy metal associated (HMA) domain-containing rice proteins bound by the rice blast MAX effector AVR-Pia! 🌾

Such a great evening with past and present members of the CIME team! #2025ISMPMI @phimresearch.bsky.social