Wangsheng Zhu's Avatar

Wangsheng Zhu

@wangshengzhu

Plant-microbe interaction | Genetics of disease resistance in maize, CAU-Beijing. http://www.labxing.com/zhulab. Former PostDoc in WeigelWorld, MPI_Bio

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20.02.2025
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Latest posts by Wangsheng Zhu @wangshengzhu

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Opinion | I Just Returned From China. We Are Not Winning.

I wouldn’t put it this way for research, as science isn’t about winning. But I also returned last week from China with similar sentiments about Chinese prowess.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/o...

22.02.2026 20:45 👍 28 🔁 12 💬 1 📌 0
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Happy to share a cartoon-based illustration of our recent findings of disease resistance gene ZmRRS1/ZmMDH7 in maize (doi.org/10.1002/advs...). The pictures can tell the story, I hope.

07.01.2026 05:23 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Lab to field: Challenges and opportunities for plant biology Plant-microbe research offers many choices of model and strain and whether a field-first or lab-first approach is best. However, differences between l…

1/2 What's best: a field-first or lab-first approach? No easy answers but differences between lab and field should not be seen as failure but motivate further inquiry and allow complementary discovery. Read our thoughts on this here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

14.08.2025 15:44 👍 42 🔁 24 💬 2 📌 0

Recommended 10/10! Thanvi is everything you’re looking for in an advisor!

15.12.2025 21:50 👍 12 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Pan-family pollen signals control an interspecific stigma barrier across Brassicaceae species Pre-zygotic interspecific incompatibility prevents hybridization between species limiting interbreeding strategies for crop improvement using wild relatives. The Brassica rapa female self-incompatibil...

Out First Release in @science.org
A pollen ligand, SIPS, binds to the female receptor, SRK. SIPS binds to a conserved region of SRK, for interspecific incompatibility, unlike the self-incompatibility factor, which binds to a different, variable region
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#PlantScience

24.11.2025 14:45 👍 36 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 0
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Next generation of 1001 Genomes Plus browser and data download Please indicate all features you would like to see in a browser that displays features of completely sequenced Arabidopsis thaliana genomes

We (Nordborg & Weigel labs) need input on the next generation of genome browsers & data download modes for the #Arabidopsis #1001GenomesPlus project. We have now a curated collection of over 500 long read genomes.

Please help us by filling out this questionnaire: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

24.11.2025 14:49 👍 66 🔁 70 💬 2 📌 2
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Allelic Variation in Maize Malate Dehydrogenase 7 Shapes Promoter Methylation and Banded Leaf and Sheath Blight Resistance In this study maize chloroplastic malate dehydrogenase7 (ZmMDH7), is identified as a Rhizoctonia solani resistance gene in maize. ZmMDH7 is regulated by transcription factor ZmWRKY44 via pathogens ch...

We established a simple protocol for reliable, high-throughput infection with R. solani in the field. This helps us identify maize malate dehydrogenase as a new resistance gene by enhancing mtROS accumulation. Newly published in
@AdvancedScience
: doi.org/10.1002/advs....

22.11.2025 02:52 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Thanvi has great enthusiasm and motivation for Science. Congratulations, Thanvi~

09.10.2025 07:27 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Congratulations, Thanvi~

09.10.2025 07:20 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Now with a Research Briefing: "Glycosylation disruption is a new virulence strategy for a plant fungal pathogen" rdcu.be/eHeag

Fusarium secretes an apoplastic effector that disrupts N-glycosylation of the immune receptor ZmLecRK1, leading to its degradation.

19.09.2025 13:11 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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New Letter: "An apoplastic fungal effector disrupts N-glycosylation of ZmLecRK1, inducing its degradation to suppress disease resistance in maize" rdcu.be/eGD4E

A fungal effector promotes a cell-surface receptor autophagy-mediated degradation to dampen plant immunity.

16.09.2025 09:46 👍 13 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
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Glycosylation disruption is a new virulence strategy for a plant fungal pathogen - Nature Plants We found that the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum secretes an apoplastic effector that disrupts N-glycosylation of the maize immune receptor ZmLecRK1, leading to its degradation by selective auto...

Research Briefing in @natplants.nature.com
"Glycosylation disruption is a new virulence strategy for a plant fungal pathogen": highlight of our recent findings published in Nature Plants doi.org/10.1038/s414....

19.09.2025 13:02 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Out in @NaturePlants. We discover that the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum secretes an apoplastic effector that disrupts the N-glycosylation of a maize immune receptor, thereby inducing its degradation via selective autophagy. Very proud of the team~ doi.org/10.1038/s414...

12.09.2025 09:22 👍 23 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
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Out after peer review, collaborative study from Nordborg & Weigel labs with help from many others. Not the largest collection of new Arabidopsis thaliana genomes, but we hopefully put forward some good ideas for how to think about pangenomes and their analysis!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

20.08.2025 06:23 👍 146 🔁 73 💬 1 📌 0
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A major trade-off between growth and defense in Arabidopsis thaliana can vanish in field conditions In controlled greenhouse conditions, Arabidopsis thaliana plants with a hyperactive allele of the ACD6 gene have stronger pathogen defenses but are smaller and make fewer seeds, in a classic fitness t...

This work started nearly 10 years ago and was once my main postdoctoral project at @plantevolution.bsky.social before I slowed work on it to a trickle because it became confusing. But it always remained extremely interesting.

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

15.07.2025 10:10 👍 81 🔁 41 💬 4 📌 1

Super excited to share our new preprint! 🎉 This project has been an incredible learning experience, thanks to the amazing lab and wonderful people I get to work with. Huge thanks to my supervisor! @plantevolution.bsky.social

04.08.2025 07:41 👍 26 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 0