Archive Press Releases

A bacterial toolkit for colonizing plants

December 13, 2023

Using a novel experimental approach, Max Planck researchers have discovered a core set of genes required by commensal bacteria to colonize their plant hosts. The findings may have broad relevance for understanding how bacteria establish successful host–commensal relationships.

Unravelling the basis of the dual role of TFL1 in reproductive development

December 07, 2023

Reproductive development in plants involves a transition from the vegetative phase during which leaves are continuously produced at the shoot apex, to the reproductive phase marked by the production of inflorescence branches and flowers. Scientists at the Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne have used morphological characterization coupled with protein expression patterns and gene expression profiling to investigate how a regulatory protein called TERMINAL FLOWER 1 carries out two distinct functions at the shoot apex during flowering in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana.

Immune defense as key for plants conquering land

August 23, 2023

A new study, led by Hirofumi Nakagami at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany, demonstrates that one of the two branches of plant immunity was likely to have evolved early during the establishment of plants on dry land. This insight into prehistoric plant immunity may have implications for breeding more resistant plant species.

Structural insights illuminate the arms race between crop plants and fungal pathogens

July 31, 2023

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research shed light on how harmful fungi evade recognition by their plant hosts and aid infection.

A guide through the genome

May 19, 2023

Plants show enormous variety in traits relevant to breeding, such as plant height, yield and resistance to pests. One of the greatest challenges in modern plant research is to identify the differences in genetic information that are responsible for this variation. A research team led by the "Crop Yield" working group at the Institute for Molecular Physiology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and at Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne (MPIPZ), together with the Carnegie Institution of Science at Stanford, has now developed a method to identify precisely these special differences in genetic information. Using the example of maize, they demonstrate the great potential of their method in the journal Genome Biology and present regions in the maize genome that may help to increase yields and resistance to pests during breeding.

Keeping competitors away drives colonization success in the plant microbiota

April 03, 2023

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, in Cologne, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, have identified natural chemical strategies that bacteria use to keep competitors at bay and successfully proliferate on plants. The study is now published in the journal PNAS.

Scientists provide evidence for new theory of genetic recombination

October 12, 2022

New findings from researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany, suggest an explanation for the century-old mystery of how chromosome recombination is regulated during sexual reproduction. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Structure of wheat immune protein resolved – important tool in the battle for food security

September 26, 2022

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and the University of Cologne in Germany together with colleagues from China have unravelled how wheat protects itself from a deadly pathogen. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, could be harnessed to make important crop species more resistant to disease.

Resolving target-gene specificity via protein–protein interactions

August 15, 2022

A fundamental topic in plant development is how proteins function together in regulatory networks to coregulate the activity of specific target genes. A collaboration between researchers in the groups of George Coupland and Jijie Chai from the Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and the University of Cologne has elucidated an elegant mechanism for how a particular protein–protein interaction cooperatively targets genes in Arabidopsis by affecting DNA conformation. The findings, published in Nature Plants, has wider implications for how transcription factors can achieve regulatory specificity in other developmental contexts.

Speeding up evolution at genome-level by alternative chromosome configuration

August 04, 2022

A research team led by André Marques at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany, has uncovered the profound effects of an atypical mode of chromosome arrangement on genome organization and evolution. Their findings are published in the journal Cell.

Molecules boosting plant immunity identified

July 07, 2022

Two studies published in the journal Science by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany in collaboration with colleagues in China have discovered natural cellular molecules that drive critical plant immune responses. These compounds have all the hallmarks of being small messengers tailored by plants to turn on key defense-control hubs. Harnessing these insights may allow scientists and plant breeders to design molecules that make plants, including many important crop species, more resistant to disease.

Copper makes seed pods explode

June 07, 2022

Researchers identify the genes controlling the mechanical structure of exploding seed pods

Function follows form in plant immunity

May 20, 2022

A two-step adaptive walk in the wild

May 18, 2022

New research in plants that colonized the base of an active stratovolcano reveals that two simple molecular steps rewired nutrient transport, enabling adaptation.

Roots stiffen up to stop growth

March 30, 2022

The plant hormone cytokinin inhibits root cell growth

The independence of pollen grains – a matter of energy

March 22, 2022

The study, published in Current Biology, shows a direct link of auxin to pollen fertility.

An island model - uncovering adaption

March 18, 2022

Wild populations of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana from the Cape Verde Islands reveal the mechanisms of adaptation after abrupt environmental change.

Potato genome decoded

March 03, 2022

The complete sequencing of the genetic material facilitates the breeding of new varieties

Differentiating friends from foes in the fungal root microbiome

December 10, 2021

A collaborative project between researchers has shed light on the fungal genetic determinants that explain why some fungi from the root microbiome can colonize roots and cause disease more efficiently than others.

Host and resident bacteria join forces to control fungi in plant roots

December 02, 2021

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) have discovered that diverse root-colonizing fungi can benefit plants, but only when they are kept in check by the host innate immune system and the bacteria residing in roots.

Flowering of annual and perennial plants is delayed by changes in the position and number of MADS-box genes

September 22, 2021

New study highlights the value of using genetic crosses and genomic comparisons between closely-related plant species.

An Arabidopsis regulatory module controlling pathogen resistance triggered by cell-surface and intracellular receptors

September 08, 2021

Accurate method for determining active genes

August 12, 2021

The total DNA of an organism is significantly more extensive than the actual genome used. A consortium of German and U.S. researchers involving the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne (MPIPZ) and the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) developed a method in order to determine all regions of the active genome in a single analysis. They present their results using the crop plant maize in the current issue of the journal PLoS Genetics.

Of oil, wine and friends, the oldest is the best: root-associated bacteria preferentially colonize their native host-plant roots

July 26, 2021

An international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and the University of Åarhus in Denmark have discovered that bacteria from the plant microbiota are adapted to their host species. In a newly published study, they show how root-associated bacteria have a competitive advantage when colonizing their native host, which allows them to invade an already established microbiota.

Belowground microbial solutions to aboveground plant problems

July 05, 2021

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) have discovered that signalling occurring from the response of plant leaves to light, and plant roots to microbes, is integrated along a microbiota-root-shoot axis to boost plant growth when light conditions are suboptimal.

Identity of an induced protein complex linking pathogen-activated immune receptors to rapid mobilization of immunity

June 07, 2021

Scientists from MPIPZ in collaboration with the Sainsbury Laboratory (UK) find a long sought after complex between two conserved plant-specific protein families that connect pathogen-activated immune complexes to defence outputs.

Plant-microbe homeostasis: a delicate balancing act

May 24, 2021

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have shown that the presence of both immune-suppressive and non-suppressive bacteria in the plant root microbiota is crucial to strike a balance between plant growth and plant defence, and maintain plant-microbe homeostasis.

The synaptonemal complex limits meiotic crossover and imposes crossover interference

March 15, 2021

A team in the department of Chromosome Biology at MPIPZ in collaboration with INRAE of Versailles France, explored the function of the synaptonemal complex.

MICRORNA genes that promote flowering of Arabidopsis

February 05, 2021

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne have shown how individual members of the MIR172 gene family promote flowering.

Plant homeodomain proteins promote synthesis of the hormone auxin to help leaves grow wide

December 21, 2020

Recent findings presented by Dr. Zhongjuan Zhang, Dr. Miltos Tsiantis and their colleagues offer important advances in our understanding of morphological diversity using plant leaves as an example

A plant immune receptor: it takes four to tango

December 03, 2020

A collaborative study on a plant intracellular immune receptor from researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) also reveals some common operational principles with immunity proteins from humans.

For plant and animal immune systems the similarities go beyond sensing

October 13, 2020

Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) and University of Cologne researcher Takaki Maekawa and colleagues have discovered that plants have independently evolved a family of immune proteins that are strikingly similar to animals.

Hungry plants rely on their associated bacteria to mobilise unavailable iron

October 06, 2020

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research have found that, faced with limiting iron, plants direct their microbiota to mobilise this essential nutrient for optimal growth.

Unpacking the two layers of bacterial gene regulation during plant infection

June 15, 2020

By analysing the different layers of bacterial gene expression during pathogen infection of a plant host, Kenichi Tsuda and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany and Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China have revealed new insights into bacterial gene regulation as well as the strategies employed by plants to target key bacterial processes.

Plants from diverse European habitats associate with the same small group of highly abundant microorganisms

December 23, 2019

A continental-scale census and analysis of root-inhabiting microorganisms reveals that plants across Europe consistently harbour a small group of unexpectedly abundant ‘core’ microorganisms, irrespective of soil conditions and climate.

Self-restrained genes enable evolutionary novelty

November 21, 2019

Evolution can promote novelty by keeping gene expression in check

New leaf shapes for thale cress

May 23, 2019

Max Planck researchers equip the plant with pinnate leaves

Ready, Steady, Go

April 05, 2019

Cryo-electron microscopy reveals the molecular steps in plant immune receptor activation

New paper on the phylogeny of the Brassicaceae

March 13, 2019

A recent study from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, published in the New Phytologist, helps resolve these issues by reporting new insights into the relationships among Brassicaceae species.

Shedding light on a shadow: two transcriptional enhancers control florigen’s response to photoperiod

March 05, 2019

In many plant species, flowering is controlled by day length through the transcriptional regulation of a key gene called FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) in the model plant Thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). The Turck group at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (Cologne, Germany) has used an epigenetic approach to systematically probe regions surrounding the FT locus for a regulatory role in FT expression. As they now report in Nature Plants (doi 10.1038/s41477-019-0375-2), FT’s response to long days requires the presence of both, a previously characterized distal enhancer located in the promoter and the support of its “shadow” enhancer located downstream of the gene.

Plants can skip the middlemen to directly recognize disease-causing fungi

February 19, 2019

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne have revealed that direct physical associations between plant immune proteins and fungal molecules are widespread during attempted infection.

Linking sensing to signaling during plant immunity

February 15, 2019

A new study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) in Cologne has revealed that a previously unappreciated structural feature underlies the ability of the plant immune molecule EDS1 to provide a timely defense boost against pathogens.

Old plants flower in winter cold

January 24, 2019

Researchers reveal how the age of a plant determines its sensitivity to winter cold

Leaf age determines the division of labor in plant stress responses

January 21, 2019

A new study from researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research published in the journal PNAS shows that the crosstalk between plant responses to physical and biological stresses varies between young and old leaves to enable optimal plant performance when the two kinds of stress are encountered simultaneously.

Genome-wide association with structural variants

November 19, 2018

Genome-wide association is a powerful tool to identify the molecular causes of trait diversity within species. In most association studies, genotyping single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) is regarded as sufficient.

With a little help from their friends: plants rely on their resident bacteria to protect them from harmful microbes

November 01, 2018

Conclusions of a study published in the journal CELL that was led by Stephane Hacquard and Paul Schulze-Lefert at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany.

Large cells for tiny leaves

October 26, 2018

Scientists identify mechanism that controls leaf growth and shape

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria and their plant hosts: old friends that go way back

July 11, 2018

The relationship between so-called rhizobia, nitrogen-fixing bacteria that are mostly from the order Rhizobiales, and leguminous plants is one of the best-characterized beneficial plant-microbe interactions in all of nature.

A genetic barcode for the epigenetic repression of the floral program

April 26, 2018

Plant cells silence their flowering genes with the help of a small DNA-binding protein family which also stabilizes telomeres and promotes the expression of photosynthetic genes. A genetic barcodes shows this family what has to be done. These proteins are thus important mediators of epigenetic imprinting and determine cell fate in plants (Nature Genetics, doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0109-9).

Revealing the intricacy of plant-bacteria interactions

March 13, 2018

A team of researchers from Germany and the US led by Kenichi Tsuda at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) in Cologne have now developed a method that can be used to probe the complexity of plant-bacteria interactions.

A jigsaw puzzle of plant cells

February 28, 2018

The epidermal cells of many plant organs resemble the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle helping them withstand the high pressure in their interior

Soil resident microbes are resilient to long-term fertilizer application

January 26, 2018

New work from a team of scientists headed by Paul Schulze-Lefert at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne

Enhancing leaf shape diversity

November 16, 2016

A small piece of DNA with a large effect on leaf shape

Not without my microbiome

November 14, 2016

Legume-rhizobia symbiosis influences bacterial community in plant roots

Bittercress genome

October 31, 2016

A high-quality genome sequence helps pinpoint the genetic basis for trait diversity.

Exploding myths about seed dispersal

June 02, 2016

Scientists discover how a common garden weed expels its seeds at record speeds.

Flowering at the right time

May 30, 2016

The success of plant and animal species depends on producing as many offspring as possible.

When foes become friends

May 06, 2016

A few modifications in the genome turn a fungal plant pathogen into a potentially beneficial organism

The Art of Being Connected in the Microbial World

January 21, 2016

Similar to the skin of humans millions of microbes are living on the surface of a leaf influencing the health and fitness of the plant.

Make Peace not War

December 18, 2015

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend”. Abraham Lincoln’s political wisdom can also be transferred to evolution as illustrated by many examples of mutually beneficial interactions or even symbioses between species that started out as deadly adversaries.

Toolkit for microbiota research

December 02, 2015

Researchers cultivate the majority of bacteria in the laboratory that colonize Arabidopsis plants in nature

New insight into leaf shape diversity

November 23, 2015

Pleiotropy influences the genes shaping leaf diversity

Tomato domestication decelerated the circadian clock

November 20, 2015

Wild and domesticated varieties of tomato have a different circadian rhythm

Timing is everything – for plants too

August 18, 2015

Variation in leaf shapes within a plant species is caused by differences in how fast plants develop

Direct capture of a potent bacterial virulence activity by a plant immune receptor pair

May 21, 2015

In this article published in Cell, Le Roux et al. (2015), describe an exquisite recognition mechanism in the model plant species Arabidopsis.

Exploring the maintenance and diversity of plant immunity genes in nature

December 11, 2014

A study published by Alcazar et al in PLoS Genetics provides some important leads to the evolution of the immune system in European populations of Arabidopsis thaliana and mechanisms underlying the maintenance of particular immunity-related genes or allelic forms in nature.