Plant Macro- and Microbiomes – shaping new research frontiers

COS-EMBL Workshop

Explore with us the latest in plant biotic interactions research and its ecosystem impacts; tailored for young scientists seeking dialogue with other experts in the field.

Programme
Registration information
Organising Committee

Programme

The workshop focuses on interactions of plants with biotic friends or foes at the “Macro” (animals, other plants) and “Micro” (fungi, bacteria and viruses) scale, considering molecular and cellular interfaces. There will be four sessions, each hosting a keynote speaker, several early research scientists and addressing a critical aspect of plant biotic interactions.

	Tuesday 14 May 2024
13:00	Registration
13:30	Arrival and welcome – Detlev Arendt and Thomas Greb
14:00	Keynote speaker: Tom Bennett (University of Leeds, UK) Underground Whispers: Understanding how and why plants communicate in the rhizosphere
14:40	Valentina Bočaj (University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty) Differences in root-associated microbiome of two hyperaccumulating Noccaea species in Slovenia are more distinct for fungi than bacteria
15:00	Paula Bellés Sancho (University Zurich) Dual RNA-sequencing revealed a novel function of the key nitrogen-fixation activator NifA in beta-rhizobia: repression of bacterial auxin synthesis during symbiosis
15:20	Manuel Gonzalez Fuente (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) Effectors hijack plant P-bodies to modulate host translation upon bacterial infection
15:40	Carlos Voogdt (EMBL) Novel tools for making pooled and ordered transposon mutant libraries in intestinal Bacteriodales species
16:00	Coffee break
16:30	Keynote speaker: Rosa Lozano-Durán (Uni Tübingen, ZMBP, DE) The cell snatchers: co-option of plant processes by viruses.
17:10	Laura Medina Puche (Uni Tübingen, ZMBP) A viral peptide as a trigger for the relocalization of a viral effector
17:30	Erdrich Sebastian (HHU Düsseldorf) Impact of bacteriophages on plant-pathogen interactions in a tripartite system
17:50	Kim Bolli (University Zurich) Elucidation of Paraburkholderia sabiae plant-growth-promoting and biocontrol traits
18:10	Margot Raffeiner (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) DDI1 – A novel regulator of the 26S proteasome and immunity in plants
18:30	Roundtable discussion / Poster session
20:00	Dinner at Kulturbrauerei

	Wednesday 15 May 2024
08:30	Keynote speaker: Saskia Hogenhout (John Innes Centre, UK) Molecular Mechanisms Governing Plant Interactions with Insect-Transmitted Pathogens and Their Insect Vectors.
09:10	Maite Saura Sanchez (VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology) Profiling the early events during root-knot nematode feeding site establishment by single cell RNA sequencing
09:30	Florence Arsene-Ploetze (University of Strasbourg) Study of the molecular dialogues involved in plant-Streptomyces interactions
9:50	Gözde Merve Türksoy (University of Cologne & MPI for Plant Breeding Research) The Impact of Community Composition on Bacterial Volatile Organic Compounds Mediated Arabidopsis Growth Promotion
10:10	Haim Ashkenazy (Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen) Spatially resolved host-bacteria-fungi interactomes via spatial metatranscriptomics
10:30	Fantin Mesny (University of Cologne – Institute for Plant Sciences) Antimicrobial activity prediction sheds light on the evolution of fungal secreted effectors that manipulate plant host microbiota
10:50	Gabriella Petti (University of Cologne) The antimicrobial virulence factor Ave1 of the fungal plant pathogen Verticillium dahliae modulates the host microbiota by targeting bacterial membranes and cell walls
11:10	Sabrine Nasfi (Phytopathology institute of the Justus Liebig University) Functional validation of small RNAs and cross-kingdom communication in the mutualistic interaction of Arabidopsis thaliana and Serendipita indica
11:30	Finger food / Poster session
12:30	Meet the editor: William Teale (EMBO Journal)
12:50	Keynote speaker: Sophien Kamoun (The Sainsbury Laboratory, UK) Making sense of the NLR alphabet soup
13:30	Discussion and wrap-up
14:20	End of the workshop