Kenichi Tsuda

Drought-driven microbiome shifts may arise from host physiology and intra-microbial competition, not just a plant “cry for help.”
Suppression of immunity and iron uptake enables Streptomyces enrichment, which doesn’t necessarily guarantee plant benefit.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Nanodomain-localized formin gates symbiotic microbial entry in legume and solanaceous plants Colonization of plant roots by symbionts requires substantial morphodynamic reorganization. Examples are actin-scaffolded microcompartments called infection pockets formed during root nodule symbiosis...

Happy to share our latest work in collaboration with the lab of @pengbo10.bsky.social. Here, we describe that a formin protein mediates the polarity switch from root hair to infection thread growth during symbiotic interactions.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

@ismpmi.bsky.social

Streptomyces enrichment in roots during drought is uncoupled from plant benefit and is driven by host suppression of iron uptake and immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.06.710171v1

PCP February Issue cover confocal image showing root colonization by the endophytic fungus Colletotrichum fructicola expressing GFP, with A. thaliana plasma membranes visualized using an mCherry-fused aquaporin (magenta). Photo credit: Shunsuke Miyashima, Ishikawa Prefectural University, Japan.

🔥Hot off the press....!🔥

⭐The February Issue of Plant & Cell Physiology is out now!⭐

🛋️ academic.oup.com/pcp/issue/67/2

@academic.oup.com
@jspp-news.bsky.social

#PlantScience 🌱

📸Photo credit: Shunsuke Miyashima, Ishikawa Prefectural University, Japan
📝Related paper: doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...

IS-MPMI News- From the President’s Desk Dear IS-MPMI members Since I became President in July 2025, I’ve been working hard to ensure that IS-MPMI has an enduring future and valuable programming for… |... IS-MPMI News- From the President’s Desk Dear IS-MPMI members Since I became President in July 2025, I’ve been working hard to ensure that IS-MPMI has an enduring future and valuable programming for ou...

#ISMPMI International Society for Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions members- read my letter about recent developments in the society- important changes to how we are managed. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

A dual role of Arabidopsis PAL nuclear localization in fine tuning flavonoid biosynthesis PAL’s dual localization links metabolism with transcription, revealing feedback that fine-tunes phenylpropanoid regulation.

Interesting paper: Metabolic enzyme PAL can go into the nucleus in response to high product build up and sequester an activating TF of the pathway, thus acting as a feedback inhibition loop.

From: www.science.org/doi/full/10....
#PlantScience

Miltos Tsiantis Interview with Miltos Tsiantis, who studies plant development and is a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne.

Q&A with Miltos Tsiantis, who studies plant development and is a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne. www.cell.com/current-biol...

🧪 This bacterial strain has been maintained in sterile water since 1994.

Possible carbon sources incl. “phthalic acid - a plastic degradation product likely leached from inoculation tubes“.

Genomic variations accumulated between 1994 and 2022 suggested adaptations to long-term nutrient deprivation

Immune activation suppresses reproductive growth in Arabidopsis through cytokinin signaling Johnston et al. report that defense hormones suppress cytokinin signaling, causing yield penalties. Restoring cytokinin in autoimmune plants relieves reproductive defects, confers broad pathogen resis...

Our beautiful work is out in Current Biology! @currentbiology.bsky.social

Immune activation suppresses reproductive growth in Arabidopsis through cytokinin signaling: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Please share with potentially interested colleagues :)
#Bioinformatics #Genomics #EvolutionaryBiology

Plant associated bacteria are a rich reservoir for multidrug efflux pumps https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.24.707749v1

Plant Coumarins Modulate Natural Product Biosynthesis in a Streptomyces Root Endophyte The plant microbiome plays a central role in regulating plant health and resilience, providing eco-friendly alternatives to agrochemicals. Plant-associated Streptomyces species are prolific producers of structurally diverse natural products with a demonstrated role in promoting plant growth. Coumarins are prevalent plant metabolites that shape the root microbiome, but their impact on microbial natural product biosynthesis is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the coumarins scopoletin and its glucoside scopolin remodel specialized metabolism in the Arabidopsis root endophyte Streptomyces sp. ATMOS53. Multiomics analyses revealed that the coumarins activate the biosynthesis of the pyrrolizidine alkaloids bohemamines and alter the balance in anthracycline biosynthesis, with reduced production of late-stage anthracycline congeners and accumulation of shunt metabolites earlier in the pathway. These metabolic shifts resulted in a marked reduction of the antimicrobial activity of ATMOS53 against plant-associated Bacillus and Paenibacillus species. Notably, coumarin-mediated repression of anthracycline production was also observed in the established producers Streptomyces peucetius and Streptomyces galilaeus, indicating that the regulatory effect on anthracycline biosynthesis is conserved in streptomycetes. Our findings highlight coumarins as modulators of specialized metabolism of Streptomyces and show the significance of plant-derived chemicals for the control of the biosynthetic capacity of plant-associated microbes.

Plant Coumarins Modulate Natural Product Biosynthesis in a Streptomyces Root Endophyte

Journal of Natural Products by Emtinan Diab, Chao Du, Wendalina Tigani, Somayah Elsayed and @gillesvanwezel.bsky.social #LeidenBiology

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

A regulatory network promotes apoplastic alkalinization to prime plant immunity in tissues distal to site of infection Pathogen-exposed plant cells communicate with neighboring cells through apoplastic alkalinization and phytocytokines, which jointly propagate from the pathogen-exposed local tissue to distal tissues, ...

A regulatory network promotes apoplastic alkalinization to prime plant immunity in tissues distal to site of infection

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Rewiring an E3 ligase enhances cold resilience and phosphate use in maize - Nature The E3 ubiquitin ligase NLA postively regulates cold tolerance and negatively regulates phosphate uptake in maize, and a genetically engineered variant of this enzyme leads to improved cold ...

@Nature: an E3 ligase, acting via the jasmonate pathway, is a common regulator of both cold stress & phosphate uptake. Guided by AI, the authors use genome editing to show the relevance of this finding for improving maize yield in multi-site field trials.
shorturl.at/KrKBo
& NV
shorturl.at/rwldu

When roots talk, bacteria respond: Comparative transcriptomics of three plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria growing on root exudates reveals plant-specific responses In the rhizosphere, plant roots release rhizodeposits, including a complex mixture of molecules known as root exudates. These compounds mediate the re…

When roots talk, bacteria respond: Comparative transcriptomics of three plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria growing on root exudates reveals plant-specific responses

-in Rhizospere

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

3-Methylpentanoic acid from Bacillus safensis suppresses wheat blast disease by targeting UDP-glucose 4-epimerase https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.23.707562v1

🌾 We have an open postdoc position in Plant Genomics in our group at HHU Düsseldorf!

If you enjoy computational biology, asking big questions, and the satisfaction of code working on the first try, check out schneebergerlab.org/career/

Apply by Mar. 31 | 3-year postdoc | German skills required

Biosynthetic gene clusters in Pseudomonas viridiflava have a fitness cost during Arabidopsis thaliana infection https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.17.706262v1

Evolutionary mechanisms underlying bacterial adaptation to the plant environment Abstract. Plants and bacteria have coevolved over hundreds of millions of years, forming complex associations ranging from mutualism to pathogenicity that

Evolutionary mechanisms underlying bacterial adaptation to the plant environment

in @femsjournals.bsky.social Microbiology Reviews by @zakisaati.bsky.social et al

academic.oup.com/femsre/advan...

We’re hiring!

Postdoctoral Researcher / Research Assistant @KamounLab

“Biology and Applications of Plant Immune Receptors” www.tsl.ac.uk/working-at-t...

Plants use cell-surface and intracellular receptors that collaborate to detect pathogens🦠. We discovered that a key #ubiquitin recognition event recruits both receptor types into an unexpected dual receptor complex that boost the translation of defence proteins and establishes robust #PlantImmunity👇🏾

Identification of Phosphorylation and Protein Interactions of Plant Pattern Recognition Receptors Through Immunoprecipitation Plasma membrane-localized pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) play a crucial role in detecting pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Among them, leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor-like kina...

We have published a methods paper describing how to identify cell surface receptor complexes by immunoprecipitation and map their phosphorylation sites.
We hope this protocol will be useful to the community. link.springer.com/protocol/10....

text summary of paper by Koskimaki et al and first author biography. Also included, two photos - one of a confocal microscopy image showing pine colonisation of an endophyte (GFP localisation in green) , and the other is a headshot of the first author.

A cunning colonizer...

Koskimäki et al. reveal the unique and rhizobia-like colonization strategies employed by the endosymbiont Methylorubrum extorquens DSM13060 to invade pine trees

#OpenAccess doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...

#PlantScience

Multi-omics analyses of mutants for Marchantia polymorpha FERONIA and MARIS reveal a link between cell wall integrity and abscisic acid responses Abstract. At the core of cell wall integrity (CWI) mechanisms that enable plant cells to coordinate their growth with their cell wall status, lies the tran

Multi-omics analyses of mutants for Marchantia polymorpha FERONIA and MARIS reveal a link between cell wall integrity and abscisic acid responses url: academic.oup.com/pcp/article/...

Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) of Sustainable Plant Nutrition The Department of Environmental Systems Science (www.usys.ethz.ch) at ETH Zurich invites applications for the above-mentioned position.

Job opportunity: Join ETH Zurich as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor in Sustainable Plant Nutrition.
Application deadline: 28th February 2026.
Explore more details at the link. #PlantSciJobs

ethz.ch/en/the-eth-z...

New OA Article: "Large-scale multi-omics unveils host–microbiome interactions driving root development and nitrogen acquisition" rdcu.be/e2g8f

In Brassica napus, identifying microbe-associated loci and a beneficial bacterium, Sphingopyxis, that promotes N uptake.

Extracellular vesicles in plants #GraphView #MolecularPlant cell.com/molecular-pl...

advice to early-career researchers
"Find a question that excites you, and make sure the field isn't overcrowded. Follow your passion, stay informed, and understand what others in the field are doing. Build strong networks and be open to collaboration. Science must be collaborative;"

Yes! Agree.

Full professor for plant ecology in Regensburg. #plantscience #plantscijobs

jobs.zeit.de/jobs/w3-prof...