Happy to share our newest paper. It all started when Chao was still in the lab. He took the project with him to China and finished it off. Here, we show that cell wall pectins are continuously secreted to the symbiosome space. As they have antimicrobial activity, the are constantly cleared by symbiosis-specific polygalacturonases during active symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Have a look:Gao Y, Chen L, Yang W, Yue T, Li Q, Chen K, Yuan J, Li X, Ott T*, Su C* (2025)Symbiosome functionality in Medicago truncatula nodules requires continuous clearing of pectins from the symbiosome spaceNature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67404-1

In this study, led by Jesús Montiel and Jens Stougaard, we demonstrate that the expansin EXPA1 contributes to intra- as well as intercellular infection in Lotus japonicus and localizes to infection sites including the transcellular passage cleft. The corresponding mutants show severe defects in infection thread formation.Congratulations to all authors involved including Beatrice Lace from our team and thanks for allowing us to contribute to this nice piece of work. Original publication: Montiel J, Garcia-Soto I, Monroy-Morales E, Lace B, Robledo-Gamboa M, Vestergaard M, Sandal N, Ott T, Stougaard J (2025)The Lotus japonicus alpha Expansin EXPA1 is recruited during intracellular and intercellular rhizobial colonizationThe Plant Journal; 124, e70639pre-print: bioRxiv; https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.08.674960

Again, Marta Rodriguez Franco, head of our EM lab, is co-organizing the next EMBO practical course on “Quantitative Electron Microscopy for Cell Biology”, which will be held in Ceske Budejovice from 22 June to 02 July 2026. Save your spot by registering now!

We are happy that our collaborative work together with those of the CIBSS researchers Winfried Römer and Susanna Minguet has been highlighted in the online section “ZEIT für X” of the German wwekly newspaper DIE ZEIT. Read the article (in German): https://zeitfuerx.de/forschung/cibss-von-infektionen-symbiosen-und-tumorzellen

Happy to see that an image of an archaellum taken by first author Shamphavi Sivabalasarma from the Albers lab using our TEM made it onto the cover of the current issue of Nature Microbiology. Congratulations to all authors for this exciting paper. Original publication: Structure of a functional archaellum in Bacteria of the Chloroflexota phylumShamphavi Sivabalasarma, Najwa Taib, Clara L. Mollat, Marie Joest, Stefan Steimle, Simonetta Gribaldo & Sonja-Verena AlbersNature Microbiology volume 10, pages 2412–2424 (2025)

Congratulations to the team of Ralf Reski for their latest publication with contributions from our EM lab. In this work, the lead author Paul and his colleagues managed to produce and purify human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 virus-like particles in Physcomitrella. Original publication:Niederau PA, Weilguny MC, Chamas S, Turney CE, Parsons J, Rodríguez-Franco M, Hoernstein SNW, Decker EL, Simonsen HT, Reski R (2025) Production of human papillomavirus type 16 virus-like particles in Physcomitrella photobioreactors (2025). Plant Cell Reports; 44:216 (open access)

Guofeng Zhang successfully defended his doctoral thesis today. Congratulations and all the best for your future!

Happy to share good news. Thomas was awarded the teaching prize (winter term) of the students at the Faculty of Biology again this year. It means a lot to see that all the efforts are appreciated and motivates to carry on with that. Also congratulations to Chris van der Does from the Microbiology for the same award (summer term). Also good to see our colleague Jürgen Kleine-Vehn being exited about it 😉

Amazing news today at 5 PM when the DFG and the German Science and Humanities Council announced the 70 Clusters of Excellence that will receive generous funding for the next 7 years. We were all thrilled to learn that our cluster CIBSS was among the selected ones (again)! Congratulations to all who joined the efforts and special thanks to the speaker team!

Just finished the second take for a documentary on nitrogen in agriculture. After an exhausting day, the whole team was happy with what we have been able to record during this day. Special thanks to Casandra and Magda for all their efforts and time. Stay tuned.