Dear IS-MPMI Colleagues,​

Please join me in supporting our early-career members by giving to the Michael Mishkind Travel Fund. This fund honors the memory of Michael Mishkind, who was a long-time program director at the U.S. National Science Foundation and a strong supporter of research on plant biotic interactions. Indeed, we have Michael to thank for supporting travel grants for Early Career Researchers to attend IS-MPMI congresses for most of our past congresses. Unfortunately, in 2025, that long track record of support from NSF (and the U.S. Department of Agriculture) was interrupted, forcing IS-MPMI to dig deep into its reserves to support travel awards for the 2025 congress in Cologne, Germany. This meant depleting the funds raised in our first round of fund-raising for the Mishkind fund. In preparation for our 2027 meeting in JeJu, South Korea, and to support interim programming such as webinars and early-career forums, our goal is to raise $40,000 to replenish the Mishkind fund. If you are financially able, please consider a generous gift to support the attendance of early-career researchers to our 2027 conference and benefit from our online events. If just 80 of us can donate $500, we would achieve our goal! But, every little bit helps. As an added incentive, an anonymous donor has committed to giving $2,500 once we hit the halfway mark of our target. Just click on Donate.

Thank you in advance for your support of molecular plant–microbe interactions Research!

Roger Innes

Co-founder, Michael Mishkind Travel Fund

Distinguished Professor, Indiana University

Have you been spreading the word about molecular plant–microbe interactions? Whether you’re making an impact through classrooms, community gardens, science fairs, or in other ways, we’d love to celebrate your molecular plant–microbe interactions outreach. Contact Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi to share your story in an upcoming issue of Interactions.​

Explore recordings and posters from sessions on microbial infection strategies, effector interference, and local/inter-organ signaling in plant immunity and mutualistic interactions available in IS-MPMI Rewind. Access is free for attendees, or for purchase by those who couldn’t attend (US$49 for IS-MPMI members and US$79 for non-members). Catch up today!

Connect and collaborate with other members in our new IS-MPMI Member Online Community on LinkedIn. Join to​day.

Follow IS-MPMI and MPMI on Bluesky at @ismpmi.bsky.social to keep up on IS-MPMI events and news, and stay up to date on the latest research with @mpmijournal.bsky.social.​​

Cynthia Ebube Abonyi
Lukman Aderemi Abdulroheem
Kareem Subomi Adesope
Aramide Rodiat Aremu
Gokulan CG
Soumya Moonjely

Researchers have uncovered novel immune mechanisms in Aegilops cylindrica that could revolutionize strategies for developing disease-resistant wheat.

A new study published in Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (MPMI) has identified A. cylindrica, a wild grass closely related to wheat, as a powerful genetic reservoir for resistance against the devastating fungal pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici—the cause of Septoria tritici blotch (STB). These findings open the door to breeding more resilient wheat varieties and reducing the global dependence on chemical fungicides.

The research team—led by Eva Stukenbrock from the Botanical Institute in Kiel, Germany, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany—discovered that A. cylindrica possesses unique defense mechanisms not found in cultivated wheat. By combining genetic and microscopic analyses, researchers revealed that resistance to Z. tritici in this wild species is established at an early stage of infection—right at the leaf’s stomatal openings, where the fungus would normally gain entry. Moreover, transcriptome profiling exposed how virulent fungal isolates suppress key immune-related genes in A. cylindrica, whereas A. cylindrica maintains its expression when infected with avirulent and wheat-specialized isolates to block infection.

“What excites us most,” Stukenbrock noted, “is that Aegilops cylindrica provides entirely new insights into plant immunity against Zymoseptoria tritici that were previously unknown in wheat. This discovery offers breeders new targets for enhancing resistance and developing more sustainable control strategies.”

This is the first study to generate a transcriptome assembly for A. cylindrica, a species with a simpler genome yet strong parallels to wheat’s pathogen interactions. The findings not only highlight novel candidate resistance genes, but also shed light on how Z. tritici overcomes plant defenses by suppressing key immune responses—a process Stukenbrock refers to as “molecular sabotage.”

Beyond its implications for wheat improvement, this work advances our understanding across plant pathology, genetics, and sustainable agriculture. It underscores the value of conserving wild plant relatives as sources of hidden traits that can help secure global food supplies. “This research expands our view of plant–pathogen interactions and provides a roadmap for developing wheat varieties capable of resisting one of the world’s most damaging cereal diseases,” the team explained.

For additional details, read “Comparative Transcriptomic and Microscopic Analyses of a Wild Wheat Rel​ative Reveal Novel Mechanisms of Immune Suppression by the Pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici,” by Rune Hansen, Wagner C. Fagundes, and Eva H. Stukenbrock. Published open access in MPMI.

 Translocation of Effector Proteins into Plant Cells by the Flax Rust Pathogen Melampsora lini, by Xiaoxiao Zhang et al.
Read the Commentary by Assistant Feature Editors Ruby Tiwari and Jawahar Singh to learn more.

A Salivary Effector of the Pea Aphid Interacts with Pea Proteins and Enhances Its Performance on the Host Plant, by Po-Yuan Shih et al.
Read the Commentary by Assistant Feature Editors Ved Prakash and Meenu Singla-Rastogi to learn more.​

On Thursday, February 20, and Thursday, February 26, half-day virtual events will highlight research on molecular plant-microbe interactions by early career scientists around the globe. In addition, this showcase aims to welcome new researchers to our community and create a platform for networking and sharing ideas. Registration for the showcase is free for members and $39 for nonmembers! Learn m​ore.​