Press Releases

Tracing evolution in Plants’ Transition to Land<br> 
A study from the group of Hirofumi Nagakami at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research has shown how a versatile protein family may have helped plants colonize land. We sat down with Dr. Nagakami to learn more about this study and the work of his group in general. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
  [more]
European potato genome decoded: small gene pool with large differences
Researchers from LMU and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research have reconstructed the genomes of ten historic potato cultivars and show that they already cover 85 percent of the total variability of modern European potatoes. [more]
A New Tool for Parsing the ‘Metabolic Dialogue’ Between Microorganisms
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research have developed an innovative system – called MetaFlowTrain – that allows the study of metabolic exchange and interactions within microbial communities under different environmental conditions. The study is now published in Nature Communications.
  [more]
Natural Gatekeeper: How plants use barriers to maintain healthy relationships
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, the University of Cologne, and the University of Copenhagen have uncovered a hidden talent of the Casparian strip—a root structure best known for acting like a plant’s security guard. It turns out this natural barrier also plays a key role in making sure legumes get the right amount of nitrogen from their bacterial partners. Their findings, now published in Science, could help researchers better understand how plants and microbes negotiate their underground business deals.
  [more]
Blocking plant immune responses gives colonizing bacteria a competitive advantage
A study led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne has shown that the ability to suppress plant immune responses is shared among many of the bacteria that live on healthy plant roots. This trait stabilizes bacterial communities, known as the root microbiota, against perturbations through the plant immune system [more]
A blueprint for making cereal crops more resistant to fungal disease
Scientists have decoded the structure of a barley protein that provides resistance against a devastating fungal disease. Such structures could inform efforts to protect crops from plant pathogens.
  [more]
Exquisite control of a plant immune pathway revealed
In a new study published in Nature, researchers working in the groups of Jijie Chai (Westlake University in Hangzhou, China) and Jane Parker (MPIPZ in Cologne, Germany) describe how Arabidopsis plants exert fine-control of a major immune signalling machinery rapid but restricted host cell death after pathogen recognition. [more]
Octoploid genome decoded

Octoploid genome decoded

January 17, 2025
MPIPZ research groups collaborate to produce a fully phased, chromosome-scale genome assembly of Cardamine chenopodiifolia [more]
An unusual suspect is responsible for susceptibility of barley to devastating fungal disease
A collaboration between US and German researchers has revealed the surprising identity of a plant factor responsible for susceptibility to fungal disease in the USA’s top barley-growing region. Their study is published in the journal New Phytologist.
  [more]
Hybrid crops with all the traits of their parents
Researchers of the MPIPZ have developed a technique that enables the breeding of genetically identical hybrid plants [more]
Buried treasure: a plant that makes flowers and fruits underground
Researchers describe the unusual trait of amphicarpy, where two types of fruit develop on the same plant: one above- and the other below-ground. [more]
Changes in the shape of the shoot apex are synchronized with floral transition in Arabidopsis
As plants initiate flowering, the shoot tip enlarges and undergoes genetic reprogramming. However, how these changes in shoot-tip shape are co-regulated with the floral transition is unknown. In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers from the group of George Coupland at the Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany, show that the reciprocal repression of two genes at the plant apex synchronises changes in meristem shape with the floral transition in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
  [more]
Switching leaf shapes

Switching leaf shapes

June 24, 2024
Researchers discover a genetic switch in plants that can turn simple spoon-shaped leaves into complex leaves with leaflets [more]
Finding the balance in the plant immune response
Publication in Nature describes novel regulatory mechanism that keeps plant immune responses in check. [more]
Salty soil sensitizes plants to an unconventional mode of bacterial toxicity
A collaborative study between researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology has shown how a single metabolite can render bacteria toxic to plants under high salt conditions. Their findings may have important implications for agriculture and plant health in changing climates.
  [more]
Show more
Go to Editor View