Christina Steidele

In just two months, we’ll host our 4th yearly departmental symposium! We’re excited to welcome keynote speakers Malcolm Bennett (from @uniofnottingham.bsky.social) and Margot Smit (from @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social), alongside hands-on workshops, poster speed dating, and group talks.
👥🌱👥Can’t wait! 🎉

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.

HHU - Forschung im Fokus: Nutzung von molekularen Genscheren in Pflanzen – Potential und Anwendungen Molekulare Genscheren, auch unter CRISPR/Cas-Technologie bekannt, haben die Grundlagen und angewandte Forschung in Medizin und Pflanzenforschung stark beschleunigt. Sie ermöglichen die gezielte Änderu...

Dr. Götz Hensel erklärt im Rahmen der Bürgeruni im Haus der Universität die Grundlagen der Technologie, während die Nachwuchswissenschaftlerin Susanne Vollmer Einblicke in ihre aktuelle Forschung gibt.
Wann? 5. Februar 2026, 19 Uhr
Wo? Haus der Universität oder im Livestream: t1p.de/n1fnq
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Bluesky for Plant Science Researchers Part 1 Join the conversation

🌿 Bluesky for Plant Science Researchers Part 1 starter pack go.bsky.app/8Zfmwf7 ...

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...

Median time under review (time intervened from submission to acceptance) of articles indexed in PubMed with a female first author (n = 2,562,262), a male first author (n = 3,405,821), a female corresponding author (n = 975,010), a male corresponding author (n = 1,946,469), a female first author and a female corresponding author (n = 757,878), a male first author and a male corresponding author (n = 1,357,835), all-female authors (n = 650,280), and all-male authors (n = 2,146,799)

Female scientists have to wait longer for their articles to be reviewed than their male colleagues. An analysis of 36.5 million papers in the life sciences shows that for females it took 115 days to reach a decision, compared to 101 days for men journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... @plosbiology.org

Our new article is now online on @natplants.nature.com! ✨
We identified and characterised AvrPm4 and SvrPm4, a pair of powdery mildew effectors controlling avirulence on the wheat kinase fusion resistance protein Pm4 🌾 check it out ➡️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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)

Torte der Wahrheit von Katja Berlin: Was „eine Frau kann heute alles haben!“ beinhaltet. Verfügbar sind in der Legende drei Farben: schwarz für „Familie“, grau für „Karrierw“ und rot für „einfach mal ihre Ruhe“. Die Torte ist zu zwei Dritteln schwarz und zu einem Drittel grau.

@katjaberlin.bsky.social 😭 Danke, ich lasse mir Bettwäsche damit bedrucken.

Imputation integrates single-cell and spatial gene expression data to resolve transcriptional networks in barley shoot meristem development - Nature Plants Spatially resolved gene expression during barley development was done by integrating an scRNA-seq dataset from cells with unknown position with spatial transcriptomics. This dataset is publicly availa...

paper is out now in Nature Plants, here is a link: Imputation integrates single-cell and spatial gene expression data to resolve transcriptional networks in barley shoot meristem development. Nat. Plants (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Diverse bacterial pattern recognition receptors sense the conserved phage proteome Recognition of foreign molecules inside cells is critical for immunity in all domains of life. Proteins of the STAND NTPase superfamily, including eukaryotic nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain ...

NLR-like immunity in bacteria

A new study from the Alex Gao lab. The scope of this work is incredible!!!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Working model for class II Topless (TPL)-interacting protein effectors in maize shoot reprogramming.

Read the paper by Mamoona Khan, et al. 👇
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

How a Fungus Leads to Tissue Growths in Maize When a maize plant is attacked by the fungus Ustilago maydis, tumor-like tissue growths occur at the site of infection. How the pathogen causes this response in its host has long been unknown. But a…

A University of Bonn study shows how a maize pest hijacks the plant’s root-building function 🌽

www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/002-...

@unibonn.bsky.social @effectomics.bsky.social

#PlantScience

Transcriptional Response of Magnaporthe oryzae Towards Barley-Microbiome Derived Bacteria | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® The composition of the plant microbiome is shaped not only by the host plant and abiotic environmental factors, but also by inter-microbial cooperation and competition. Plant pathogens, therefore must...

CONGRATS to team @effectomics.bsky.social and @steidele.bsky.social . Transcriptional Response of Magnaporthe oryzae Towards Barley-Microbiome Derived Bacteria | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/...

Poster announcing the 3rd Early Career Plant Researchers Network Meeting, held 20–21 April 2026 in Halle (Saale), Germany. The event targets experienced PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in plant science and features scientific talks, career development and grant-writing workshops, and networking. Travel and accommodation are covered, and participants are registered for the 11th Leibniz Plant Biochemistry Symposium (22–24 April 2026). Application deadline: 23 January 2026. Website: plant-ecr-networking.eu.

Are you an experienced PhD student or postdoc in plant science looking to connect, present your work, and discuss career paths?
Join us at the 3rd Early Career Plant Researchers Network Meeting, Halle (Saale), 20–21 April 2026
Deadline: 23 January 2026
plant-ecr-networking.eu

Small Molecule Binding to EDS1/PAD4 in LRR-RP-Mediated Pattern-Triggered Immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.10.692544v1

Distribution and Shared Pathogenicity of Small-Spored Alternaria on Solanaceous Crops in Europe Small-spored Alternaria species such as A. alternata and A. arborescens are frequently isolated from diseased potato and tomato plants. However, their respective host ranges and pathogenic behaviours ...

New Preprint!
As part of a MSc thesis we went to Serbia (support @daadworldwide.bsky.social) to collect small-spored Alternaria from potato and tomato and compare their populations and virulence properties with those from Germany and Poland!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Congratulations @steidele.bsky.social 🥳 check out Tina’s new preprint for key transcription factors being involved in barley Fusarium head blight and/or drought responses.

Network Inference Reveals Distinct Transcriptional Regulation in Barley against Drought and Fusarium Head Blight We analyzed transcriptional networks in barley under single and combined Fusarium head blight (FHB) and drought stress. We applied complementary Weighted Gene Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA) to i...

My barley transcriptional network preprint is officially out!
Started as my Bachelor’s thesis — now it’s online:
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Huge thanks to @itisalist.bsky.social, @daisybio.de, @huckelhovenr.bsky.social , Felix Hoheneder & Johannes Kersting for all their help and support!

Network Inference Reveals Distinct Transcriptional Regulation in Barley against Drought and Fusarium Head Blight We analyzed transcriptional networks in barley under single and combined Fusarium head blight (FHB) and drought stress. We applied complementary Weighted Gene Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA) to identify stress-associated gene co-expression modules and GENIE3 to infer gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Integration of these frameworks revealed strong overlaps between co-expression modules and GRN clusters, highlighting robust regulatory patterns. Key transcription factors (TFs) were identified based on their weighted node degrees, reflecting their connectivity within the network. Independent analysis of paired transcription factor binding sites in promoter regions further supported predicted regulatory interactions. Notably, WRKY TFs emerged as central regulators of FHB response, consistent with their known roles in defense and secondary metabolite biosynthesis, but did not appear in drought-associated contexts. For bHLH or NAC TFs, individual family members steered FHB or drought responses but not both. Our findings demonstrate the power of combining network inference and motif enrichment to identify candidate TFs controlling stress responses, providing a solid foundation for targeted functional validation. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Congratulations to @steidele.bsky.social who unscrambled complex transcriptional networks in barley double stress responses. Thanks to @itisalist.bsky.social and @daisybio.de for the support: doi: doi.org/10.64898/202...

Here is an example of GFP-CARa localization at the extrahaustorial membrane that did not make it into the manuscript but still is nice.

Barley C2-Domain Abscisic Acid-Related protein CARa supports susceptibility to Blumeria hordei and localizes to the extrahaustorial membrane https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.04.692366v1

Two really cool PhD positions available with Christina Barragan on Plant Pathogen evolution!

Our dept. just moved to a brand new building with great facilities and we have an absolutely amazing team!

New preprint of the "BarFus"-group @tum.de from the Chair of Phytopathology @huckelhovenr.bsky.social

Co-option of transcription factors drives evolution of quantitative disease resistance against a necrotrophic pathogen Quantitative disease resistance in a wild tomato genotype evolved through species-specific regulatory network rewiring, with an ancient transcription facto

Did you ever wonder how #Solanum plants evolved quantitative disease resistance/ #QDR?
I am really excited to share our recently published manuscript, where we tried to contribute to addressing this question!

🌱https://tinyurl.com/2vz23ck6

1/ Preprint alert:

🌾 The developing leaf of the wild grass Brachypodium distachyon at single-cell resolution

👉 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
A 70k-cell single-cell RNA-seq atlas of the developing grass leaf—from the shoot meristem to mature leaf tissues. @cerealcell.bsky.social @lbmountain.bsky.social

How a humble weed became a superstar of biology Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.

Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.

✍️ Rachel Ehrenberg

knowmag.org/4hImL8e

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 😊

Spatiotemporal regulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis at cellular resolution https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.31.685811v1

Job posting. We look for a Full Professor (W3) of Stress Resilience of Plants at the RWTH Aachen.

We are looking for a colleague to join us at RWTH Aachen University:

🌱 Full Professor in Stress Resilience of Plants (W3 tenured)

📌What are we looking for? Someone working with us strategically at the interface of plant biology/ physiology/ resilience

#academicjobs #facultyjobs #PlantJobs

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