Henry Berndt

Drought-induced changes in sex-specific floral chemistry reshape interactions with a nursery pollinator across life stages

This study shows that drought reduces floral nectar chemistry in male plants, alters moth oviposition preferences, and affects seed chemistry and larval growth in a nursery pollination system.

An effector protein that protects a fungal pathogen from the plant microbiota during host colonisation

This paper identifies AvrStb6 as a fungal effector that protects Zymoseptoria tritici from antagonistic wheat-associated bacteria by associating with the fungal cell wall.

An ancient lysozyme in placozoans participates in acidic extracellular digestion

This study identifies a functional lysozyme in placozoans, showing its role in acidic extracellular digestion and tracing its evolutionary origin to a bacterial horizontal gene transfer.

Aphid infestation induces plant-sex-specific changes in floral chemistry and pollinator behaviour in Silene latifolia

This study shows aphid infestation alters floral traits and pollinator behavior differently in male and female Silene latifolia plants, reducing female attractiveness more than male.

Placozoan microbiomes reveal evolutionary trajectories towards mutualism among the largely parasitic Rickettsiales

The paper studies Rickettsiales microbiomes in placozoans to reveal evolutionary shifts towards mutualism, finding some symbionts have lost parasitic traits.