Team Thomma
@teamthomma.bsky.social
Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Evolutionary Microbiology
@UniCologne & @CEPLAS_1, studying how fungi interact with plants and their environment. He/him. 💛🖤
@UniCologne & @CEPLAS_1, studying how fungi interact with plants and their environment. He/him. 💛🖤
Pinned
Team Thomma
@teamthomma.bsky.social
· Oct 30
Undermining the cry for help: the phytopathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae secretes an antimicrobial effector protein to undermine host recruitment of antagonistic Pseudomonas bacteria
During pathogen attack, plants recruit beneficial microbes in a ‘cry for help’ to mitigate disease development. Simultaneously, pathogens secrete effectors to promote host colonisation through vario...
doi.org
📣 Now announcing the journal publication 📄 of our work in @newphyt.bsky.social on how Verticillium undermines the plant's 🌱 "cry for help": terrific work by @antonkraege.bsky.social & @wolki95.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/nph....
Reposted by Team Thomma
What enables a fungus to invade a mammal host? @marco-guerreiro.bsky.social unravels signatures of translation adaptation among pathogenic and non-pathogenic species of Trichosporonales. See more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Genomic and physiological signatures of adaptation in pathogenic fungi - Nature Communications
Emerging fungal pathogens have detrimental impacts on crops, animals, and humans, however little is known about their transition to a pathogenic lifestyle. This study demonstrates that the transition ...
www.nature.com
January 27, 2026 at 6:55 PM
What enables a fungus to invade a mammal host? @marco-guerreiro.bsky.social unravels signatures of translation adaptation among pathogenic and non-pathogenic species of Trichosporonales. See more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Team Thomma
Congratulations again @gabriellapetti.bsky.social and @teamthomma.bsky.social! It was indeed a fantastic defence and you did an incredible job in utilizing and mastering NMR, Gabriella (among all the other things you achieved in your PhD)!
January 27, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Congratulations again @gabriellapetti.bsky.social and @teamthomma.bsky.social! It was indeed a fantastic defence and you did an incredible job in utilizing and mastering NMR, Gabriella (among all the other things you achieved in your PhD)!
Reposted by Team Thomma
Check out this amazing paper on the Umbilicaria lichen and a black yeast fungus that appears to be its ever-present component!
January 22, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Check out this amazing paper on the Umbilicaria lichen and a black yeast fungus that appears to be its ever-present component!
🎉 Yesterday we enjoyed the glorious defence of @gabriellapetti.bsky.social of her @unicologne.bsky.social PhD thesis on "Homologous antimicrobial proteins in plants and fungi: conserved mechanisms shaping the plant microbiota" #proudPI #PhDone ..mind the crown modeled after the Ave1 NMR structure!😍
January 27, 2026 at 3:25 PM
🎉 Yesterday we enjoyed the glorious defence of @gabriellapetti.bsky.social of her @unicologne.bsky.social PhD thesis on "Homologous antimicrobial proteins in plants and fungi: conserved mechanisms shaping the plant microbiota" #proudPI #PhDone ..mind the crown modeled after the Ave1 NMR structure!😍
Reposted by Team Thomma
Thousands of scientists inflate their CVs with self-published studies that cost millions of dollars of public money
1 in 8 'special issues' is filled with articles written by the editor, particularly at the publisher MDPI
@manuelansede.bsky.social
english.elpais.com/science-tech...
1 in 8 'special issues' is filled with articles written by the editor, particularly at the publisher MDPI
@manuelansede.bsky.social
english.elpais.com/science-tech...
Thousands of scientists inflate their CVs with self-published studies that cost millions of dollars of public money
An analysis of 100,000 special issues of academic journals reveals that one in eight is filled with articles written by the editor, particularly at the publisher MDPI
english.elpais.com
January 25, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Thousands of scientists inflate their CVs with self-published studies that cost millions of dollars of public money
1 in 8 'special issues' is filled with articles written by the editor, particularly at the publisher MDPI
@manuelansede.bsky.social
english.elpais.com/science-tech...
1 in 8 'special issues' is filled with articles written by the editor, particularly at the publisher MDPI
@manuelansede.bsky.social
english.elpais.com/science-tech...
Reposted by Team Thomma
Dear #Root / #PlantScientists 🧪,
Do you know of any #ProgrammedCellDeath #PCD genes that are specific for #RootHairs only?
The 🌱 species does not matter. RP pls.
#PlantScience #PlantResearch 🧬👩🔬
Do you know of any #ProgrammedCellDeath #PCD genes that are specific for #RootHairs only?
The 🌱 species does not matter. RP pls.
#PlantScience #PlantResearch 🧬👩🔬
January 22, 2026 at 7:51 AM
Dear #Root / #PlantScientists 🧪,
Do you know of any #ProgrammedCellDeath #PCD genes that are specific for #RootHairs only?
The 🌱 species does not matter. RP pls.
#PlantScience #PlantResearch 🧬👩🔬
Do you know of any #ProgrammedCellDeath #PCD genes that are specific for #RootHairs only?
The 🌱 species does not matter. RP pls.
#PlantScience #PlantResearch 🧬👩🔬
Reposted by Team Thomma
📢 Three new #bioRxiv preprints from our team on holocentric chromosomes.
Together, they connect centromere repeat evolution, karyotype dynamics, and meiotic recombination outcomes, revealing how holocentric genomes evolve and function. 🧬👇
Together, they connect centromere repeat evolution, karyotype dynamics, and meiotic recombination outcomes, revealing how holocentric genomes evolve and function. 🧬👇
January 21, 2026 at 2:45 PM
📢 Three new #bioRxiv preprints from our team on holocentric chromosomes.
Together, they connect centromere repeat evolution, karyotype dynamics, and meiotic recombination outcomes, revealing how holocentric genomes evolve and function. 🧬👇
Together, they connect centromere repeat evolution, karyotype dynamics, and meiotic recombination outcomes, revealing how holocentric genomes evolve and function. 🧬👇
Reposted by Team Thomma
Almost lost amidst the cow excitement (cow-motion?) was that @currentbiology.bsky.social featured a brilliant paper on #lichen fungi in this week’s issue by Victoria Keller et al. including @veera-t-nogerius.bsky.social — what is not to lichen about this new double ascomycete living arrangement
January 21, 2026 at 6:11 PM
Almost lost amidst the cow excitement (cow-motion?) was that @currentbiology.bsky.social featured a brilliant paper on #lichen fungi in this week’s issue by Victoria Keller et al. including @veera-t-nogerius.bsky.social — what is not to lichen about this new double ascomycete living arrangement
Reposted by Team Thomma
Autophagy restricts symbiosis-associated cell death and regulates colonization by Serendipita indica in Arabidopsis (Patricia Zecua-Ramirez , Nick Dunken , et al) doi.org/10.1093/plph... #PlantScience @aspbofficial
January 21, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Autophagy restricts symbiosis-associated cell death and regulates colonization by Serendipita indica in Arabidopsis (Patricia Zecua-Ramirez , Nick Dunken , et al) doi.org/10.1093/plph... #PlantScience @aspbofficial
Reposted by Team Thomma
🦠
The impact of phenotypic heterogeneity on fungal pathogenicity and drug resistance
#fungi #mycology #DrugResistance #pathogens
academic.oup.com/femsre/artic...
The impact of phenotypic heterogeneity on fungal pathogenicity and drug resistance
#fungi #mycology #DrugResistance #pathogens
academic.oup.com/femsre/artic...
The impact of phenotypic heterogeneity on fungal pathogenicity and drug resistance
This review discusses the contribution of phenotypic heterogeneity in fungi to pathogenesis and antifungal drug resistance.
academic.oup.com
January 21, 2026 at 2:45 PM
🦠
The impact of phenotypic heterogeneity on fungal pathogenicity and drug resistance
#fungi #mycology #DrugResistance #pathogens
academic.oup.com/femsre/artic...
The impact of phenotypic heterogeneity on fungal pathogenicity and drug resistance
#fungi #mycology #DrugResistance #pathogens
academic.oup.com/femsre/artic...
Reposted by Team Thomma
PRESS RELEASE - Innovations in spatial imaging could unlock higher wheat yields
Researchers at the John Innes Centre and @earlhaminst.bsky.social are pioneering powerful single-cell visualisation techniques that could unlock higher yields of global wheat 🌾
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
Researchers at the John Innes Centre and @earlhaminst.bsky.social are pioneering powerful single-cell visualisation techniques that could unlock higher yields of global wheat 🌾
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
January 20, 2026 at 9:46 AM
PRESS RELEASE - Innovations in spatial imaging could unlock higher wheat yields
Researchers at the John Innes Centre and @earlhaminst.bsky.social are pioneering powerful single-cell visualisation techniques that could unlock higher yields of global wheat 🌾
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
Researchers at the John Innes Centre and @earlhaminst.bsky.social are pioneering powerful single-cell visualisation techniques that could unlock higher yields of global wheat 🌾
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
Reposted by Team Thomma
Sharing our lab’s first publication! Probing clinical isolates of Cryptococcus, a disease-causing fungus of the lungs and brain, we found multiple heat-mobile elements that ‘jump’ in the genome at body temperature (!) with the ability to drive adaptive changes. journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...
January 17, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Sharing our lab’s first publication! Probing clinical isolates of Cryptococcus, a disease-causing fungus of the lungs and brain, we found multiple heat-mobile elements that ‘jump’ in the genome at body temperature (!) with the ability to drive adaptive changes. journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...
Reposted by Team Thomma
The symbiont-harboring trypanosomatid Angomonas deanei is Parasite of the Month. 🙂
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
January 17, 2026 at 7:59 AM
The symbiont-harboring trypanosomatid Angomonas deanei is Parasite of the Month. 🙂
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
Reposted by Team Thomma
Ever wondered if diverse plant species respond similarly when infected by the same exact pathogen? Infect different asterids and rosids with the same Botrytis genotypes and teh short answer, quite differently.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@annajomu.bsky.social @ccaseys.bsky.social
(1/3)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@annajomu.bsky.social @ccaseys.bsky.social
(1/3)
A multi-plant transcriptomic atlas reveals conserved and lineage specific defense architectures in response to Botrytis cinerea
Generalist pathogens pose a challenge to plant immunity by infecting diverse hosts while harboring extensive intraspecific genetic variation. Whether evolutionary distant plant lineages rely on a shar...
www.biorxiv.org
January 15, 2026 at 10:52 PM
Ever wondered if diverse plant species respond similarly when infected by the same exact pathogen? Infect different asterids and rosids with the same Botrytis genotypes and teh short answer, quite differently.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@annajomu.bsky.social @ccaseys.bsky.social
(1/3)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@annajomu.bsky.social @ccaseys.bsky.social
(1/3)
Reposted by Team Thomma
In 2026, FEMS will introduce a number of important updates across its journals portfolio as part of a wider refresh.
We’ve shared more about what’s changing, and why, in our latest update: buff.ly/NU89NNk
We’ve shared more about what’s changing, and why, in our latest update: buff.ly/NU89NNk
January 16, 2026 at 10:07 AM
In 2026, FEMS will introduce a number of important updates across its journals portfolio as part of a wider refresh.
We’ve shared more about what’s changing, and why, in our latest update: buff.ly/NU89NNk
We’ve shared more about what’s changing, and why, in our latest update: buff.ly/NU89NNk
Reposted by Team Thomma
Happy to share our recent preprint:
"DNA-intercalating antiphage molecules trigger abortive infection through mutual destruction and synergize with bacterial immunity"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@spp2330.bsky.social, @mibinet.bsky.social, @dfg.de @hhu.de @fzj.bsky.social
"DNA-intercalating antiphage molecules trigger abortive infection through mutual destruction and synergize with bacterial immunity"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@spp2330.bsky.social, @mibinet.bsky.social, @dfg.de @hhu.de @fzj.bsky.social
January 14, 2026 at 8:57 AM
Happy to share our recent preprint:
"DNA-intercalating antiphage molecules trigger abortive infection through mutual destruction and synergize with bacterial immunity"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@spp2330.bsky.social, @mibinet.bsky.social, @dfg.de @hhu.de @fzj.bsky.social
"DNA-intercalating antiphage molecules trigger abortive infection through mutual destruction and synergize with bacterial immunity"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@spp2330.bsky.social, @mibinet.bsky.social, @dfg.de @hhu.de @fzj.bsky.social
Reposted by Team Thomma
Oh look, more evidence of MDPI and Frontiers being troublesome publishers that you should avoid.
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
January 13, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Oh look, more evidence of MDPI and Frontiers being troublesome publishers that you should avoid.
Reposted by Team Thomma
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
January 13, 2026 at 8:27 AM
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Team Thomma
If you're interested in #PlantScience R&D work at a plant breeding company: @kwsgroup.bsky.social is hosting its annual R&D TalentCampus here in Einbeck on May 29th.
More info here:
www.kws.com/corp/en/care...
More info here:
www.kws.com/corp/en/care...
January 13, 2026 at 9:35 AM
If you're interested in #PlantScience R&D work at a plant breeding company: @kwsgroup.bsky.social is hosting its annual R&D TalentCampus here in Einbeck on May 29th.
More info here:
www.kws.com/corp/en/care...
More info here:
www.kws.com/corp/en/care...
Reposted by Team Thomma
Latest preprint from the lab!
A novel pathosystem between Aeschynomene evenia and Aphanomyces euteiches reveals new immune components in quantitative legume root-rot resistance. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.11.698850v1
January 12, 2026 at 8:34 AM
Latest preprint from the lab!
Reposted by Team Thomma
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...
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...
January 12, 2026 at 3:27 PM
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...
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...
Reposted by Team Thomma
PhD position in Jena! Unique German-French collaboration to work on integrating phage genomic modules into VirJenDB.org - make sense of #phages, #big_data, #front_end, #back_end, #database. Please apply here 👇
jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/c...
jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/c...
PhD student bioinformatics: Phage genomic modules: data mining, visualisation, and databasing
jobs.uni-jena.de
January 12, 2026 at 11:41 AM
PhD position in Jena! Unique German-French collaboration to work on integrating phage genomic modules into VirJenDB.org - make sense of #phages, #big_data, #front_end, #back_end, #database. Please apply here 👇
jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/c...
jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/c...
Reposted by Team Thomma
⚡️Fully funded #PhD position in my lab at Stockholm University / SciLifeLab! If you’re interested in #lichens, #symbiosis, fungal biology, or meta-omics, please apply. Deadline Feb 1. Read more here: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
January 12, 2026 at 2:15 PM
⚡️Fully funded #PhD position in my lab at Stockholm University / SciLifeLab! If you’re interested in #lichens, #symbiosis, fungal biology, or meta-omics, please apply. Deadline Feb 1. Read more here: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
Reposted by Team Thomma
With the new year, is my time to say bye to @gmivienna.bsky.social as I move to @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social in Tuebingen. I will start my solo Group Leader career as a Emmy Norther fellow. Thanks to everyone that helped on the way. I will be advertising PhD and Postdoc positions soon, stay tuned!
January 11, 2026 at 1:04 PM
With the new year, is my time to say bye to @gmivienna.bsky.social as I move to @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social in Tuebingen. I will start my solo Group Leader career as a Emmy Norther fellow. Thanks to everyone that helped on the way. I will be advertising PhD and Postdoc positions soon, stay tuned!
Reposted by Team Thomma
A new twist on the apoplastic interactions taking place between Phytophthora infestans and tomato 🍅
Kudos Jie Huang @jieoxford et al. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Kudos Jie Huang @jieoxford et al. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
January 11, 2026 at 11:52 AM
A new twist on the apoplastic interactions taking place between Phytophthora infestans and tomato 🍅
Kudos Jie Huang @jieoxford et al. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Kudos Jie Huang @jieoxford et al. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...