Kai Heimel

Want good Bioinformatics resources for Phytopathogens?
Plant pathology community at @bspp.bsky.social and @britmycolsoc.org.uk please take the time to complete the Phytopathogen Genomics Resources Survey:-
🔗 zurl.co/gKjC1
Your input is important for FungiDB/@veupathdb.org
& Ensembl @ebi.embl.org.

Please RT:
We have an opening for a junior group leader position in „Phage Biology & Biotechnology“.
www.fz-juelich.de/de/karriere/...

Interested candidates are encouraged to contact me via email for further details.

@spp2330.bsky.social; @mibinet.bsky.social

We proudly present a new preprint by Leon Pierdzig et al: Wall teichoic acids, glycopolymers specific to Gram-positive bacteria, trigger defense and cell death in Arabidopsis. Cysteine-rich RLKs act as key components in their perception. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

he Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis is seeking applications for a fulltime, tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Mycology, with a focus on plant pathogenic, symbiotic, or mycotoxigenic fungi and fungal-like organisms (e.g., oomycetes). We are looking for a highly motivated and creative scientist with a strong background in mycology and/or the biology of fungi and fungal-like organisms that interact with plants. The successful candidate will be expected to develop a world-class, externally funded research program that integrates both fundamental and applied aspects of fungal biology within the context of plant pathology. We welcome applicants pursuing a wide range of research topics related to plant-associated fungi, including but not limited to mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis or symbiosis with plants, population genomics and evolution of fungal plant pathogens, plant-associated fungal microbiomes and plant-microbe interactions, and/or one health approaches to fungal diseases and antifungal resistance. Applicants working in other relevant research areas involving pathogenic, symbiotic, or mycotoxigenic fungi or fungal-like organisms that affect plant health are also encouraged to apply. The successful candidate will have significant opportunities for collaboration with faculty in plant pathology, microbiology, genomics, and agricultural sciences, and to contribute to addressing issues of importance to California’s agricultural and natural ecosystems. The appointee primary teaching responsibilities will be teaching Introductory Mycology, an upperdivision lab class, and SAS 30, Mushroom, Molds & Society, a general education class for non-majors. Additional graduate and undergraduate teaching responsibilities may be assigned based on departmental needs and the candidate’s expertise. The department offers modern instructional facilities, including a newly renovated teaching laboratory.

Please repost -- The Univ. California Davis dept of Plant Pathology is hiring a Fungal biologist / Mycologist

Applications due Dec 1

Application portal: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07339

Screenshot shows part of the job posting (with alt-text of the same text)

Illustration depicting the ways in which fungi can exchange genetic material with each other. Starship mediated HGT is confirmed experimentally in this preprint.

We did it! We caught Starship #transposons moving between #fungal species in the lab, including between species separated by ~100my. We think Starships are a mediator of HGT in fungi, akin to conjugative elements in bacteria. Check out the preprint. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Only a couple of weeks till the @eseb2025.bsky.social conference!

I’m so honored to be one of the keynote speakers, and incredibly excited about the amazing scientific program and the opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones!

#eseb2025

#2025ISMPMI Corinna Thurow reveals their exiting findings that transdifferentiation induced by Verticillium dahliae is achieved by the TRADE effector targeting Varicose host scaffold protein.

A person giving a scientific talk showing a slide with varicose mutant plants and a workflow for mass spec from a TRADE pulldown

Corinna Thurow is the last talk today before the free afternoon.

Verticillium effector (TRADE) interacts with host varicose protein (VCS). Used a forward screen to figure out insensitive mutants and identified a WIND1 transcription factor.
#2025ISMPMI

When you believe you have seen it all.....
These fungi distribute their 16 or 18 chromosomes into deifferent nuclei within the same cell....how weird and cool

Distribution of haploid chromosomes into separate nuclei in two pathogenic fungi Nuclei define eukaryotes, enabling macromolecular compartmentalization and cellular regulation. Each nucleus is believed to contain one or more haploid sets of chromosomes (1N). However, we discovered...

Wonderful new story from our friends and collaborators @UBC Vancouver @ubcbotany.bsky.social @irtgprotect.bsky.social, bringing unanticipated insights into the biology of highly researched fungal pathogens (Botrytis cinerea and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum)

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

I had some absolutely incredible papers come online this week, and I need to take a minute to post about each of them. First, let me tell you about the CarboTag probes for imaging plant cell walls! From the Sprakel lab (a short thread) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New post doc opportunity in our team at Kiel University in the north of Germany. We are looking for a motivated molecular biologists to unravel plant-microbe interactions in grasses. Please see: www.uni-kiel.de/personal/de/...

More to our research and group here: www.environmental-genomics.de

Please check out our Commentary on the recent PNAS paper from the @charlesmelnyk.bsky.social lab about systemic signals in Phtheirospermum japonicum:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Michael Feldbrugge introducing Rrm4-endosome-mediated transport of mRNA for spatial regulation of translation, vital for morphogenetic proteins such as septins for deployment in specific sub-cellular domains #ECFG17

Next, @kaiheimel.bsky.social on pathogenicity of Ustilago. MAT-locus signalling and the pheromone pathway is involved in orchestrating appressoria formation and effector production. Very cool!
#ecfg17

Great opportunity! PhD position in @mfeldbruegge.bsky.social lab #PhD #RNA

Dissecting the RNA binding capacity of the multi-RRM protein Rrm4 essential for endosomal mRNA transport RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) utilize multiple RNA-binding domains (RBDs) to engage with extensive mRNA networks. Understanding the intricate interplay of modular RBDs is essential for uncovering RBP fu...

Why do RBPs need multiple RNA-binding domains? We show transcriptome-wide that the endosomal mRNA transporter Rrm4 uses its three RRMs to differentiate functional binding sites from accessory ones. Great collaboration with @koenig-lab.bsky.social and Zarnack lab
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Hi Michael,
great you are here.
See you on Sunday.
Look who is here @zombieantdoc.bsky.social

Hello Bluesky Community,
I am new to bluesky and trying out my first steps.
Looking forward for nice interactions

Such a great opportunity to present our research at #CMINorwich2025 in front of a room filled with microbiologists with such diverse and exciting research interests.

Very excited to be part of this great work spearheaded by Nick Wierckx and his team @fz-juelich.de, @hhu.de enabling microbial upcycling of nylon published in Nature Microbiology!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@mibinet.bsky.social

Das Aulagebäude der Universität Göttingen Foto: Frank Stefan Kimmel

Unser Senat hat sich heute dafür ausgesprochen, dass Axel Schölmerich übergangsweise mit der Wahrnehmung der Aufgaben eines Präsidenten beauftragt werden soll. Der ehemalige Rektor der @ruhr-uni-bochum.de war in verschiedenen Rollen in der akademischen Selbstverwaltung tätig. Mehr: s.gwdg.de/ZnoURD

In the original article, we explored how #KillerYeast protect themselves from self-intoxication. For the ionophore toxin #K2, Rianne found that its immunity is encoded within its secretion signal peptide.
doi.org/10.1016/j.celr…

Had a great trip to @irtgprotect.bsky.social Göttingen. Heard about exciting science and was amazed by the amount of plant pathologists there! Thanks Daniela Nordzieke for the invitation and @volkerlipka.bsky.social @kaiheimel.bsky.social @thomas-spallek.bsky.social @ifeussner.bsky.social

Fungal phylogeny highlighting genome size changes

Summary of genome size variation among groups

@tbadet.bsky.social and I have a preprint out on transposon silencing in fungi!

Genome size evolution is fascinating and showcases the dynamic nature of transposon activation.

What we understand less are the dynamics of transposon defense systems encoded by the genomes.

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Molecular basis of human nuclear and mitochondrial tRNA 3′ processing - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Bhatta et al. use biochemistry and cryogenic electron microscopy to elucidate the mechanism of human tRNA 3′ processing. Their results show how mitochondria-specific subunits of RNase Z compensate for...

Our story on the mechanism of mitochondrial and nuclear tRNA 3' processing is finally out in NSMB. 😇

We discover how a unique problem caused by high mutation rates in mitochondria of bilaterian animals is solved by a compensatory evolutionary innovation.

doi.org/10.1038/s41594-024-01445-w

Identification of INOSITOL PHOSPHORYLCERAMIDE SYNTHASE 2 (IPCS2) as a new rate-limiting component in Arabidopsis pathogen entry control INOSITOL PHOSPHORYLCERAMIDE SYNTHASE 2 (IPCS2) is involved in the biosynthesis of complex sphingolipids at the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Here, we demonstrate a role of IPCS2 in penetration resistance...

To all colleagues who share an interest in sphingolipids, endomembrane trafficking & membrane domain formation, pathogen-induced cell polarization and entry control, here is another potentially interesting preprint: biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

We show that TRADE triggers sustained phosphorylation of VARICOSE via co-option of ABA-independent SNF1-Related Protein Kinases 2, which are known to control rapid and transient intracellular signaling for adaptation to osmotic stress and root development. (4/5)

A single pathogen-secreted protein reprograms plants for drought resilience Climate change-enforced drought stress conditions and diseases caused by pathogens often co-occur and represent one of the greatest challenges in plant science. Wilt pathogens that colonize water-cond...

Here is a preprint with potential interest to those fascinated by host-microbe interactions, abiotic stress adaptation, xylogenesis, P bodies & mRNA turnover, and extended phenotypes induced by microbial effectors: biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... (1/5)