Papers & preprints

Computational design of de novo integrated domains enables rational control of pathogen effector recognition in plant NLR immune receptors

Xi, Y., Bucknell, A.H., Watson, J.L., Maqbool, A., Bennett, J.W., Goreshnik, I., Vafeados, D., Garcia Sanchez, M., Knight, G., Zdrzałek, R., Rodney, C.A., Saado, I., Stone, C.E., Turley, E.K., Yu, D.S., Gentle, A., Ryder, L.S., Yan, X., Were, V., Heddle, J., Baker, D., Emmrich, P.M.F., Talbot, N.J., Banfield, M.J., Bentham, A.R. · bioRxiv, 2026

De novo designed binders (RFdiffusion, ProteinMPNN) integrated into the Pikm-1 NLR chassis, with X-ray crystal structures confirming side-chain accuracy. Reports that binding and signal relay are separable properties of an integrated domain.

How to frustrate a plant pathogen

Knight, G., Heddle, J., Bentham, A.R. · The Plant Journal, 2026

A review of SUSS effector families and surface frustration as a route to identifying broad-spectrum resistance targets.

A potato late blight pathogen effector interacts with ENTH-domain protein TOL9a and an activated helper NLR to suppress immunity

Madhuprakash, J., Toghani, A., Pai, H., Harvey, M., Bentham, A.R., Seager, B.A., Yuen, E.L.H., De la Concepción, J.C., Lawson, D.M., Stevenson, C.E.M., Vergara-Cruces, A., Derevnina, L., Bozkurt, T.O., Banfield, M.J., Kamoun, S., Contreras, M.P. · Science Advances, 2026

Getting started with ChimeraX

Bentham, A.R. · Zenodo, 2026

An introductory tutorial to UCSF ChimeraX for researchers new to structural biology, covering model manipulation, visualising contacts and interfaces, and interpreting AlphaFold predictions.

Sanctuary: a Starship transposon facilitating the movement of the virulence factor ToxA in fungal wheat pathogens

Bucknell, A., Wilson, H.M., Gonçalves dos Santos, K.C., Simpfendorfer, S., Milgate, A., Germain, H., Solomon, P.S., Bentham, A., McDonald, M.C. · mBio, 2025

The Magnaporthe oryzae effector Pwl2 alters HIPP43 localization to suppress host immunity

Were, V.M., Yan, X., Foster, A.J., Sklenar, J., Langner, T., Gentle, A., Sahu, N., Bentham, A., Zdrzałek, R., Ryder, L.S., Kaimenyi, D.K., Gómez De La Cruz, D., Petit-Houdenot, Y., Eseola, A.B., Smoker, M., Bautista, M.J., Ma, W., Kourelis, J., Maclean, D., Banfield, M.J., Kamoun, S., Menke, F.L.H., Moscou, M.J., Talbot, N.J. · The Plant Cell, 2025

Complexity of the lichen symbiosis revealed by metagenome and transcriptome analysis of Xanthoria parietina

Tagirdzhanova, G., Scharnagl, K., Sahu, N., Yan, X., Bucknell, A., Bentham, A.R., Jégousse, C., Ament-Velásquez, S.L., Onuţ-Brännström, I., Johannesson, H., MacLean, D., Talbot, N.J. · Current Biology, 2025

CATION AMINO ACID TRANSPORTER1 encodes an arginine transporter whose expression is influenced by daylength and Photoperiod-1

Pasquariello, M., Qu, Y., Gauley, A., Bentham, A., Dixon, L.E., Boden, S.A. · Annals of Botany, 2025

Bioengineering a plant NLR immune receptor with a robust binding interface toward a conserved fungal pathogen effector

Zdrzałek, R., Xi, Y., Langner, T., Bentham, A.R., Petit-Houdenot, Y., De la Concepcion, J.C., Harant, A., Shimizu, M., Were, V., Talbot, N.J., Terauchi, R., Kamoun, S., Banfield, M.J. · PNAS, 2024

The WY domain of an RxLR effector drives interactions with a host target phosphatase to mimic host regulatory proteins and promote Phytophthora infestans infection

Bentham, A.R., Wang, W., Trusch, F., Varden, F.A., Birch, P.R.J., Banfield, M.J. · Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 2024

Allelic compatibility in plant immune receptors facilitates engineering of new effector recognition specificities

Bentham, A.R., De la Concepcion, J.C., Vega Benjumea, J., Kourelis, J., Jones, S., Mendel, M., Stubbs, J., Stevenson, C.E.M., Maidment, J.H.R., Youles, M., Zdrzałek, R., Kamoun, S., Banfield, M.J. · The Plant Cell, 2023

Pathways to engineering plant intracellular NLR immune receptors

Zdrzałek, R., Stone, C., De la Concepcion, J.C., Banfield, M.J., Bentham, A.R. · Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 2023

Effector target-guided engineering of an integrated domain expands the disease resistance profile of a rice NLR immune receptor

Maidment, J.H.R., Shimizu, M., Bentham, A.R., Vera, S., Franceschetti, M., Longya, A., Stevenson, C.E.M., De la Concepcion, J.C., Białas, A., Kamoun, S., Terauchi, R., Banfield, M.J. · eLife, 2023

A blast fungus zinc-finger fold effector binds to a hydrophobic pocket in host Exo70 proteins to modulate immune recognition in rice

De la Concepcion, J.C., Fujisaki, K., Bentham, A.R., Cruz Mireles, N., Sanchez de Medina Hernandez, V., Shimizu, M., Lawson, D.M., Kamoun, S., Terauchi, R., Banfield, M.J. · PNAS, 2022

A single amino acid polymorphism in a conserved effector of the multihost blast fungus pathogen expands host-target binding spectrum

Bentham, A.R., Petit-Houdenot, Y., Win, J., Chuma, I., Terauchi, R., Banfield, M.J., Kamoun, S., Langner, T. · PLOS Pathogens, 2021

Perception of structurally distinct effectors by the integrated WRKY domain of a plant immune receptor

Mukhi, N., Brown, H., Gorenkin, D., Ding, P., Bentham, A.R., Stevenson, C.E.M., Jones, J.D.G., Banfield, M.J. · PNAS, 2021

pOPIN-GG: a resource for modular assembly in protein expression vectors

Bentham, A.R., Youles, M., Mendel, M.N., Varden, F.A., De la Concepcion, J.C., Banfield, M.J. · bioRxiv, 2021

Plant NLRs get by with a little help from their friends

Feehan, J.M., Castel, B., Bentham, A.R., Jones, J.D.G. · Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 2020

A molecular roadmap to the plant immune system

Bentham, A.R., De la Concepcion, J.C., Mukhi, N., Zdrzałek, R., Draeger, M., Gorenkin, D., Hughes, R.K., Banfield, M.J. · Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2020