The phytohormone auxin is a conserved inhibitor of shoot branching in plants. While directional, carrier-mediated transport is necessary for the proce…

After gene and genome duplications, expression divergence across cell types is not random, and it can be explained by a combination of gene age, gene funct

Hee-Kyung Ahn lab website

Applications for Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology Now Open on Simons Foundation

Welcome to the lab website of Professor Daniel Gibbs @ University of Birmingham

Land plants include angiosperms, gymnosperms, bryophytes, lycophytes, and ferns, each of which may deploy distinct strategies to resist pathogens. Here, we investigate fern-pathogen interactions by characterizing novel pathosystems and analyzing the diversity of fern immune receptors. A collection of fern species was inoculated with a diverse set of filamentous microbes, and disease symptoms were assessed. We further leveraged published genome mining tools to analyse the diversity of receptor-like kinases, receptor-like proteins (RLKs/RLPs) and nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich repeats (NLRs), along with key immune signalling components, in ferns. Our results reveal that ferns exhibit a range of responses to pathogens, including putative non-host resistance and more specific resistance mechanisms. Among ten ferns tested, Pteris vittata displays the broadest spectrum of pathogen compatibility. Genome mining indicates that ferns encode a diverse repertoire of putative immune receptors, antimicrobial peptides, and mediators of systemic acquired resistance. Ferns possess numerous RLKs/RLPs, resembling those required for cell-surface immunity in angiosperms. They also encode diverse NLRs, including sub-families lost in flowering plants. These findings provide insights into disease resistance evolution and open promising perspectives for crop protection strategies.

Salicylic acid (SA) is a key phytohormone that orchestrates immune responses against pathogens, including Pseudomonas syringae bacteria. The timing and extent of SA accumulation are tightly controlled...

Prestigious studentships, for entry in October 2022, this multi-disciplinary PhD programme includes; plant science, microbiology, biological chemistry, applied mathematics…

Microtubule severing is essential for proper eukaryotic cell elongation and division. Here we show that the microtubule severing protein, KATANIN, is encoded by two genes in Zea mays (maize) called Di...

Plants face constant microbial threats and have evolved highly effective inducible immune systems, culminating in systemic acquired resistance. Plant systemic acquired resistance and mammalian trained immunity share striking similarities, which are explored in this Review.

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Protein synthesis can contribute to plant cell signaling at multiple regulatory levels. Recent studies have expanded the conditions that are directly …

Join us in investigating the role of maize root barriers in soil stresses!