A. Bialas

Disentangling the complex gene interaction networks between rice and the blast fungus identifies a new pathogen effector

Effector target-guided engineering of an integrated domain expands the disease resistance profile of a rice NLR immune receptor

The paper engineers rice NLR receptors to recognize new effector variants by incorporating effector targets, enhancing disease resistance against blast fungus.

Functional diversification gave rise to allelic specialization in a rice NLR immune receptor pair

The paper shows that allelic specialization in rice NLR receptor pairs confers resistance to fungal strains and reveals a single amino acid polymorphism driving preferential association between matching pairs.

Two NLR immune receptors acquired high-affinity binding to a fungal effector through convergent evolution of their integrated domain

The paper reconstructs the evolutionary history of rice NLR receptors Pik-1 and Pik-2, showing their HMA domain evolved convergent high-affinity binding to the fungal effector AVR-PikD.

The coming of age of EvoMPMI: evolutionary molecular plant-microbe interactions across multiple timescales

This paper reviews recent advances in EvoMPMI, highlighting new systems and findings that bridge mechanistic molecular research with evolutionary approaches in plant-microbe interactions.

Lessons in effector and NLR biology of plant-microbe systems

The paper examines three effectors from the rice blast fungus and their corresponding rice NLR immune receptors to highlight general concepts of plant-microbe interactions and identify 12 lessons in effector and NLR biology.