Supported by the Genetics Society, the Non-Seed Plant Sectional Interest Group brings together UK researchers studying all aspects of plant biology using species outside of seed-bearing plants…

Supported by the Genetics Society, the Non-Seed Plant Sectional Interest Group brings together UK researchers studying all aspects of plant biology using species outside of seed-bearing plants…

Common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) formed by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi interconnect neighbouring plants. New evidence from Zhang et al. demonstrates that CMNs transfer jasmonic acid from necrotroph...

Salicylic acid (SA) is best known as a central hormone orchestrating plant immune response, including the hypersensitive reaction and systemic acquired resistance. Beyond defense…

Prestigious studentships, for entry in October 2022, this multi-disciplinary PhD programme includes; plant science, microbiology, biological chemistry, applied mathematics…

The promoter of the METE gene in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum is repressed by nanomolar concentrations of vitamin B12. It can be used to tune the expression of genes for reporter proteins or ...

Welcome to the lab website of Professor Daniel Gibbs @ University of Birmingham

Land plants include angiosperms, gymnosperms, bryophytes, lycophytes, and ferns, each of which may deploy distinct strategies to resist pathogens. Here, we investigate fern-pathogen interactions by characterizing novel pathosystems and analyzing the diversity of fern immune receptors. A collection of fern species was inoculated with a diverse set of filamentous microbes, and disease symptoms were assessed. We further leveraged published genome mining tools to analyse the diversity of receptor-like kinases, receptor-like proteins (RLKs/RLPs) and nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich repeats (NLRs), along with key immune signalling components, in ferns. Our results reveal that ferns exhibit a range of responses to pathogens, including putative non-host resistance and more specific resistance mechanisms. Among ten ferns tested, Pteris vittata displays the broadest spectrum of pathogen compatibility. Genome mining indicates that ferns encode a diverse repertoire of putative immune receptors, antimicrobial peptides, and mediators of systemic acquired resistance. Ferns possess numerous RLKs/RLPs, resembling those required for cell-surface immunity in angiosperms. They also encode diverse NLRs, including sub-families lost in flowering plants. These findings provide insights into disease resistance evolution and open promising perspectives for crop protection strategies.

Join us in exploring the hidden functions of ancient immune proteins in bacteria. Bacteria, like plants and animals, have evolved sophisticated systems to detect and respond to threats.