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​​​​Concurrent Sessions​

Organized by: Yansong Miao, Yangnan Gu, and Andres Ortiz Morea
Description: Plant-Microbe interactions stimulate a diverse array of biotic signaling by triggering supramolecular complex assembly, which is subject to sophisticated regulatory mechanisms to achieve signaling specificity. Emerging evidence support that formation of diverse immune-induced membrane-bound or membrane-independent biomolecular condensates, spanning from nanometer-sized to mesoscale, play critical roles in coordinating plant immune signal activation and transduction. Investigation of the constituents, assembly patterns, physico-chemical properties and dynamics of these structures is a key step toward a comprehensive understanding of the plant immune signaling.

Invited Speakers:

Yangnan Gu, University of California-Berkeley

Shuai Huang, University of British Columbia

Sophien Kamoun, The Sainsbury Laboratory

Yansong Miao, Nanyang Technological University

Libo Shan, Texas A&M University

Organized by: Pascal Ratet and Benjamin Gourion
Description: Tissues colonized by endophytic microbes are remarkable exceptions to the rules saying that “Plants wear their gut outside”. Indeed, deep inside the plant tissues, some of these microorganisms contribute to the plant nutrition through providing reduced nitrogen fixed from the atmospheric stock. Hosting these endophytes requires bacterial and plant determinants to prevent detrimental defense reactions that would harm beneficial bacteria. The suppression of plant innate immunity in these situations raises questions about the molecular mechanisms involved as well as about the consequences on vulnerability against opportunistic and pathogenic organisms. The proposed session aims at discussing recent developments in our understanding of the molecular basis that prevent defense reactions that allow plant to host nitrogen fixing microbes as well as the positive and negative consequences of these mechanisms.

Invited Speakers:

Hongyan Zhu, University of Kentucky

Yangrong Cao, University of Wisconsin

Clare Gough, INRA CNRS LBMRPM

Benoit Alunni

Barbara Reinhold-Hurek, University of Bremen

Organized by: Natalia Requena and Naweed Naqvi
Description: "How plants distinguish between symbionts and pathogens?" is a key question that will be addressed within this session. It will then focus on unravelling the chemical communication involved in establishing biotrophic or necrotrophic interactions between plants and major pathogens (including bacteria, fungi and insect pests). Lastly, the pathogen-associated immunity suppression mechanisms involved in keeping the plant defense in check will be discussed too.​​​​

Organized by: Pingtao Ding and Amey Redkar​
Description: Plant-Microbe interactions have almost always begun at the single cellular level. Cell-autonomous immune responses are key to constraining the spread of different microbial diseases. However, pathogens are opportunistic and have their preference for infecting specific tissue or cell types. Emerging technologies such as single-cell and single-nuclei multiomics (RNA sequencing, ATAC-seq, etc), spatial transcriptomics and imaging technologies, have enable us to zoom into the single cellular level to investigate the plant-microbe interactions and host immune responses in a cell-type specific manner. These advancements provide us with novel insights into how pathogenesis works at a specific host site, and how plants defend themselves with cell-autonomous immunity.​​

Invited Speakers:

Jie Zhu, University of California-Davis

Bozeng Tang, The Sainsbury Laboratory

Tatsuya Nobori, Salk Institute

Organized by: Christian Danve Castroverde and Xiufang Xin
Description: This concurrent session will focus on how climate change-associated abiotic conditions (e.g. heat waves, drought, high humidity, etc.) mechanistically impact plant-pathogen and/or microbiome interactions. This session’s theme will be centred around the recently discovered organizing principles and emerging breakthroughs at the molecular level on how our changing environment intercepts plant immunity and/or symbiosis, plant defence-related metabolism, pathogen virulence mechanisms, and microbiota assembly (among others). The proposed concurrent session will be a combination of brief talks from a combination of experts around the world and a unique interactive panel discussion. This topic was ranked #2 among the Top 10 Unanswered Questions in MPMI 2019 (based on the survey conducted in the last Congress).​​

Invited Speakers:

Christian Danve Castroverde, Wilfrid Laurier University

Venkatesan Sundaresan, University of California-Davis

Yanjun Kou, China National Rice Research Institute

Organized by: Karima EL Mahboubi
Description: The scientific publishing system is a very important component, if not the most important, in the career of scientists. The number of publications and especially the name of the journals where scientists especially researchers publish dictate their career: obtaining a tenure track, promotion, grants and so on. Indeed, researchers are almost exclusively evaluated based on the impact (impact factor) of their publications. Nevertheless, more and more researchers do not find themselves in this system and start to embrace alternatives based on open science. These alternatives focus on two objectives: the need to rethink the publication process and the need to reconsider the impact of journals on researchers' careers.​​​

Invited Speakers:

Ksenia Krasileva, University of California-Berkeley

William Teale, EMBO (University of Freibourg)

Regina Mencia, ELife (Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral)

Jessica Polka, ASAPbio

Facundo Romani, University of Cambridge

Sophien Kamoun, The Sainsbury Laboratory

Organized by: Seomun "Woogie" Kwon​ and Lucía Borniego​
Description: RNA-mediated communication is an emerging topic in plant interactions with diverse microbes, parasites, and insect herbivores. The best characterized examples are sRNAs, exchanged in the cross-kingdom warfare between plants and pathogens. Other non-coding RNAs, such as tyRNAs, potentially coding circRNAs, and mRNAs, can be secreted by both plants and pathogens. Extracellular vesicle(EV)-dependent and EV-independent routes of RNA secretion and mechanisms of uptake, such as endocytosis, are currently being investigated. This session is intended to promote recent advances pertinent to RNA exchange between plants and microbes, and RNA-based crop protection strategies. The potential and challenges of investigating extracellular RNA and application of RNA-based biocontrols will be discussed.​​

Invited Speakers:

Lucía Borniego, Indiana University

Lorenz Oberkofler, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

Baoye He, University of California

Organized by: Sonali Roy and Liana Burghardt
Description: T​his session invites pairs of undergraduate student mentees and their early career mentors, such as postdocs or graduate students responsible for overseeing their research, to co-present research findings. We welcome talks on any area of molecular plant-microbe interaction, from disease to symbiosis, as well as interactions with bacteria or fungi. At least half of the talk content must be presented by the undergraduate researcher. Invited speaker pairs will participate in a 12-minute panel discussion at the end of the session, where they will answer audience questions about what worked well for them in facilitating positive research progress and relationships. This session will be followed by a 1-hour speed networking session, which will feature five invited guests. Guests will be stationed at tables with themes such as industry, policy, and government jobs, international Ph.D. programs, connecting with scientific societies; and graduate student or postdoc perspectives. All conference participants are welcome. ​

Invited Speakers:

Ellyn Evans

Mia Haugan

Caio Vinícius Cardoso Mendes

Organized by: Mahfuz Rahman and Tofazzal Islam
Description: Early and accurate detection and diagnosis of plant diseases are critical factors for the timely, rational, and targeted application of plant protection measures. Morphology-based diagnostics can be time-consuming and erroneous to discriminate closely related species or strains, especially at the quiescent stage. Thus, molecular detection has gained popularity as a precise identification tool for plant pathogens. While molecular diagnostics of plant pathogens started with PCR, and soon after, followed by more advanced, sophisticated tools such as real-time PCR, LAMP, nano-sensor-based and CRISPR-based point-of-care plant disease diagnostics. This session will discuss current developments in molecular plant pathogen diagnostics with applied potential for managing plant disease on the farm to reduce crop loss.​

Invited Speakers:

Frank Martin, USDA-ARS

Kabin Xie, Huazhong Agricultural University

James Woodhall, University of Idaho

Muhammad Shiddiky, Griffith University Nathan Campus

Houxiang Kang, Institute of Plant Protection (IPP);Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Yazmin Rivera, USDA-ARS

Organized by: Paulo Teixeira and Ronnie de Jonge
Description: The plant microbiome, made up by the billions of microbes that live on and in plant roots, stems, leaves and seeds, plays a crucial role in plant health and crop productivity. Technological advancements and new experimental systems have greatly accelerated our understanding of the function and assembly of the plant microbiome in recent years. In this session, we aim to showcase this current understanding and discuss the intricate interplay between plants and their associated microbes and explore how this relationship shapes the assembly of the plant microbiome, focusing on molecular and genetic mechanisms.​​

Invited Speakers:

Paulo Teixeira, University of São Paulo

Ronnie de Jonge, Utrecht University

Sarah Lebeis, University of Tennessee

Joseph Edwards, University of Texas

Organized by: Guo-Liang Wang
Description: Cellular organelles in plant cells play important roles in coordinating immune signaling and activation during plant-microbe interactions. Emerging evidence shows that pathogens use various strategies to either directly attack cellular organelles to disrupt their functions or indirectly influence their physiological status to inhibit immune responses. Recent advances in understanding the contributions of chloroplasts, mitochondria and peroxisomes to plant-microbe interactions and inter-organelle communications during innate immunity will be presented in the concurrent session.​​

Invited Speakers:

Guo-Liang Wang, Ohio State University

Tolga Bozkurt, Imperial College

Laura Medina-Puche, Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP) - University of Tübingen

Carmen Castresana, Centro Nac De Biotechnologia

Organized by: Anthony Garcia, Sonali Roy, and Lena M Muller
Description: Plants respond to a wide range of biotic stimuli while simultaneously regulating growth and development to compete favorably in variable environments. Extracellular peptides have emerged as critical signaling molecules during symbiosis and immunity. This concurrent session will highlight recent themes in the field of plant peptides, such as: concerted action of multiple peptide signals fine-tunes plant interactions with symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms; distinct peptide signaling pathways converge at common signaling hubs; crosstalk between classical hormones and peptide hormone signaling pathways determine plant-microbial interaction outcomes; plant hosts have evolved peptides with specialized roles during host-microbe interactions; and, microbial peptide mimics alter host physiology to enhance infection.​

Invited Speakers:

Maria Ercoli, University of California

Martin Stegmann, Technical University of Munich

Lena Muller, University of Miami

Organized by: Anil Madhusoodana Girija, Pritha Kundu, Danielle Marie Stevens, and Charis Ramsig
Description: Vascular pathogens and phloem-feeding insects thrive on the same niche and contribute to significant crop loss each year. Despite this shared niche, vascular pathogens and phloem-feeding insects vary vastly in their host ranges, transmission, and disease symptomology, posing unique challenges for researchers. For solutions such as genetic resistance to be found, a better understanding of vascular host responses and pathogen/pest biology is needed. The focus of this session will be on plant defense to vascular pests and pathogens as well as on vascular pathogen biology and infection strategies. This session will have talks from a diverse group of researchers as well as a panel discussion on identifying crucial roadblocks in research on vascular-based defense responses.​

Invited Speakers:

Edel Perez Lopez, Université Laval

Jonathan Jacobs, Ohio State University

Michelle Heck, Cornell University

Jyoti Shah, University of North Texas

Organized by: Kathrin Wippel and Mahdere Shimels
Description: In this session, each member of the audience can interactively participate via a free online quiz app for mobile devices. In 15-minute presentations, speakers will integrate a maximum of five multiple-choice questions. The audience is encouraged to (anonymously) answer the question within a few seconds by clicking on their answer and results will be shown in a bar chart in real-time in the presentation. The speaker reveals the answer and continues with the talk. Questions can be general to trigger discussions, or specific to the topic. A typical short Q&A part will follow at the end of each talk. The idea is to put interesting scientific details in an entertaining, interactive environment.​​

Invited Speakers:

Rahul Jain, University of Amsterdam

Akifumi Sugiyama, Kyoto University

Vlastimil Novak

Guy Polturak, John Innes Centre

Organized by: Thorsten Nuernberger and Vivianne G.A.A. Vleeshouwers
Description: Plant cell surface pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) cooperate with intracellular immune receptors to activate a robust immune response to a variety of pathogens. Recently discovered mechanistic links between signaling cascades initiated in different plant cell compartments correlate with accelerated rates of immune receptor evolution in the plant lineage. The identification of several novel plant PRRs and genome-wide analyses of receptor allele frequencies support the previously unexpected significant dynamics in PRR evolution. In this session, we will highlight new insights into PRR function, mechanistic links between cell surface PRRs and intracellular NLR receptors, and evolutionary trajectories for PRR genetic and functional diversification. Model systems such as Arabidopsis and Nicotiana as well as crop plants such as potato will be covered. A major focus will also be on PRR genetic diversity within host plant families and their (co-)evolution with various pathogens.​

Invited Speakers:

Lisha Zhang, Centre of Plant Molecular Biology, Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen

Adam Steinbrenner, University of Washington

Yan Wang, Nanjing Agricultural University

Yerisf Torres Ascurra, Wageningen University and Research

Bruno Ngou, RIKEN

Organized by: Roger​ Wise and S​hahid Mukhtar
Description: This interactive workshop is to outline strategies to interrogate plant-microbe interactions on a genome-wide scale, from models to crops. Panelists selected from IS-MPMI abstracts of students, postdocs, or early career researchers (ECR) will work with the organizers to present new data/ideas, followed by active discussion on experimental design, protein-protein interactions, single-cell sequencing, and what it means for the discovery of molecular mechanisms of pathogen effectors and their host targets. This in-depth panel-audience discussion of computational and functional approaches is to facilitate a new understanding of how plant cellular networks respond to and are re-wired by pathogens.​​

Organized by: Tessa Burch-Smith and​ Christine Faulkner
Description: This concurrent session will address communication between plant cells during interactions with microbes and will focus on local, cell-to-cell communication as well as long-distance signaling between distant parts of the plants. Many recent studies have illuminated the mechanisms, routes and molecular players involved in the non-cell-autonomous aspects of plant-microbe interactions representing pathogenic and beneficial interactions . Recent findings have called into question long-standing ideas about how signals are initiated and propagated, and there remain may open questions about how cells coordinate their responses to microbes in order to produce coherent outcomes that support plant health and survival. The goal of the session is to bring together scientists with diverse expertise and experience to identify the most important and urgent questions in the field of intercellular communication in MPMI. The format of the session will encourage both well established and early career scientists to share their most recent research findings and engage in open dialog about the caveats, limitations, questions that remain and strategies for addressing them​

Organized by: Josephine Maidment
Description: AlphaFold represents one of the most notable scientific advances of the century and has already enabled exciting new insights into molecular plant-microbe interactions. Significantly, the developers have made the code available on Github. Researchers can also access AlphaFold through a Google Colaboratory notebook (ColabFold), bypassing the requirement for institutional computing infrastructure. Furthermore, the open access EMBL-EBI database now contains 200 million proteins. The aim of this concurrent session would be to introduce the uses and limitations of AlphaFold models and to showcase some of the many ways that AlphaFold is already being used to answer biological questions in the field of molecular plant microbe interactions.​​