Zarah Sorger

Please share!
PhD position (4 years) available in my group @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social. We look for candidates with solid aptitude in computer science to cross disciplines and use cutting edge imaging to understand host infection by destructive plant pathogens.
uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

Diversify and conquer: How effector diversity is shaped by host–microbe co-evolution

Thank you
@marioncmueller.bsky.social, @binebrumm.bsky.social, Eric Kemen, Yiheng Hu and Thomas Lahaye for this nice common effort on effector diversity.

Diversify and conquer: How effector diversity is shaped by host–microbe co-evolution
doi.org/10.1371/jour...

This week we will hear @federicalocci.bsky.social (from @parkergroup.bsky.social, @mpipz.bsky.social) talk about "How not to die", workings of TIR-networks in damage and systemic resistance.

📅 Jan 16 | 🕥 10:15 |📍KS 00.009
#PlantScience

If you want to know more, check out their review below. 👇🏼

Huge thanks to my amazing co-authors, to AG Saur and AG Döhlemann, and to all our collaborators for their fantastic contributions @Merle Bilstein-Schloemer@izzysaurlab.bsky.social @grandpahiro.bsky.social @sara-stolze.bsky.social@Gunther Döhlemann@Matthieu Pierre Platre ! 🙏

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)

Friends and foes in the obligate plant pathobiome

Friends and foes in the obligate plant pathobiome
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

‼️Please RT: The CEPLAS Graduate School call for 2026 is now open! Detailed info on our website: bit.ly/4q19JWk
@hhu.de @unicologne.bsky.social @mpipz.bsky.social @fz-juelich.de @leibnizipk.bsky.social @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social

TWO positions open in our group. 1 postdoc and 1 PhD position. Join us for some exciting evolutionary plant biology! #PlantSciJobs #PlantSciJob

How do plants fight disease? 🌱 #NASmember Jane Parker studies NLR proteins that help plants sense attackers and launch powerful immune defenses. She shares her latest findings on how these proteins signal plants to resist disease in a new @pnas.org QnAs: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Autophagy restricts symbiosis-associated cell death and regulates colonization by Serendipita indica in Arabidopsis Autophagy acts as a pro-survival mechanism in plant roots during beneficial fungal colonization by restricting fungal proliferation and immunometabolic cel

My former colleague Patricia Zecua, me and the Zuccaro group published a new story about how autophagy restricts cell death and regulates root colonization by beneficial fungi:

academic.oup.com/plphys/advan...

A Banner that shows the open call for the international PhD program on interdisciplinary Plant Biology in Cologne Germany between University of Cologne and Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. A button reads "apply now!".

We’re #hiring! Our #IMPRS @mpipz.bsky.social & @unicologne.bsky.social recruits 4 PhD students. We look for candidates with a keen interest in experimental & computational plant biology to join us in 2026!

Find details at www.mpipz.mpg.de/imprs/imprs-... and apply by Jan 5.

#PlantSciJobs

🌿 3 new PhD positions in the Ton lab @PPS_UoS. Part of the ERC project '#PlantMemo', exploring how plants remember & respond to stress.
🧬 PhD 1 (UK only)👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
🦠 PhD 2 (UK & EU)👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
🌱 PhD 3 (UK only)👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
#PhD

My new Emmy Noether Group is recruiting!

🔬 Two PhD positions in plant pathogen evolution

🧬 Start: April 2026 (flexible)

📍 Dept. of Phytopathology & Plant Protection @rstam.bsky.social @uni-kiel.de

⏰ Apply by 15 Dec 2025

🔗 More info: www.uni-kiel.de/personal/de/...

Do get in touch or share 😊

📢 Postdoc position: Biochemistry & Bacterial cell biology

in our group at Marburg University, Germany, funded by the ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH"

🔗More information at shorturl.at/OlvlL
📅Deadline: Nov 30, 2025

Please repost. #Postdoc

GH25 lysozyme mediates tripartite interkingdom interactions and microbial competition on the plant leaf surface | PNAS Microbial communities inhabiting plants have emerged as crucial factors in regulating plant health and defense against disease-causing pathogens. T...

🚨My very first (co-)first author paper got published in @pnas.org 🥳

We describe the tripartite interkingdom interaction between a yeast, the oomycete pathogen Albugo laibachii and a bacterium, mediated by a GH25 lysozyme 🦠

Thanks to everyone involved!

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Our PhD candidates are having a great time at the MadFungi transcriptomics workshop at the University of Kiel @uni-kiel.de. Special thanks to @estukenbrock.bsky.social and her team for the great organization!

Plant-associated fungi co-opt ancient antimicrobials for host manipulation Evolutionary histories of effector proteins secreted by fungal pathogens to mediate plant colonization remain largely elusive. While most functionally characterized effectors modulate plant immunity, ...

📣 NEW PREPRINT 📝

We identified evolutionary origins of many fungal effectors!
We show that fungi secrete lots of antimicrobial proteins, and that some of them were repurposed by plant pathogens for host immune suppression.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

cc @teamthomma.bsky.social

You have some messages 😊
#2025ISMPMI

Pseudomonas intra-genus competition determines the protective function of synthetic bacterial communities in Arabidopsis thaliana The plant microbiome can protect its host against detrimental bacterial strains. This study shows that competition among Pseudomonas bacteria in synthetic bacterial communities determines how well the...

Our paper on Pseudomonas intra-genus competition in SynComs on Arabidopsis roots is now out @plosbiology.org ! 🎉
If you want to chat about the story, visit poster 374 tomorrow, Thursday #2025ISMPMI

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Bring your #PlantScience publishing questions for our Editors!

Catch Holly on our stand at #2025ISMPMI with @hacquardst.bsky.social, Ralph Panstruga, Ari Sadanandom, @pietrospanu.bsky.social and Ertao Wang!

📅 TODAY
⏰ 13:00–14:00
🗺 New Phytologist Foundation stand, poster hall

#2025ISMPMI - 🌱🍄 Come by Thursday afternoon to see my poster (P-336) if you are curious how interkingdom microbial antagonism can be mediated by fungal glycoside hydrolases. Happy to discuss!

My poster is up at #2025ISMPMI. Come by P-372 Thursday afternoon if you are interested in fungal evolution, effectors and microbial competitions!

More research by @teamthomma.bsky.social at P-091, P-170, P-299, P-317, P-337 and P-388.

Here, we dissect the processing and release mechanism of the maize phytocytokine Zip1. Our results reveal a two-step mechanism of phytocytokine processing, translocation, activation and clearance.

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

Purine-Based Infochemicals and Immunometabolites: A Comparative Review of Emerging Signaling Pathways in Plants and Animals Abstract. Purine-based metabolites serve as essential mediators of signaling, immunity, and host-microbe interactions across biological kingdoms. This revi

Our new review in FEMS Microbiology by Nick Dunken and Tim Thomsen is online. Purine-Based Infochemicals and Immunometabolites: A Comparative Review of Emerging Signaling Pathways in Plants and Animals url: academic.oup.com/femsre/artic...

Sophie Sent - Blumeria hordei-Bipolaris sorokiniana coinfection breaks down host barley disease resistance #2025ISMPMI

On Saturday, we celebrated the 6th edition of Soapbox Science Rheinland in the heart of the city! Huge thank-you to our CEPLAS speakers Jana Peter, Ganiyat Akinade and Zarah Sorger @zarizarah.bsky.social for bringing plant science to the public and showing how exciting research can be!

alle mal herhören Wissenschaftlerinnen geben einblock in ihre Forschung Soapbox Science 28 June 2025, 1-4 pm

🗣️Forschung trifft Öffentlichkeit – an der Düsseldorfer Rheinpromenade
Am Samstag, 28. Juni, werden zwölf Wissenschaftlerinnen aus unterschiedlichen Fachrichtungen @ceplas.bsky.social @cecad.bsky.social #ML4Q in kurzweiligen Vorträgen ihre Forschung vorstellen.
➡️ www.hhu.de/news-einzela...
@hhu.de

GH25 lysozyme mediates tripartite interkingdom interactions and microbial competition on the plant leaf surface https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.04.647216v1

In diesem Land werden eher die „Omas gegen Rechts“ verboten als die AfD.