AmirAli Toghani

The paper identifies a conserved PPR gene cluster in Arabidopsis that generates siRNAs and contributes to plant immunity through sequence diversification.

The paper identifies conserved sensor-helper NLR interfaces in the NRC immune receptor network and validates their role in immune activation through structural and functional studies.

The paper introduces SNI, a framework to identify atypical protein assemblies, and applies it to NLRs, finding an undecameric assembly in NRC7 orthologs.

This study identifies NRG1 as a plant NLR receptor that targets chloroplasts to trigger immunity by channeling stromal calcium into the cytosol, revealing a novel mechanism for organelle-specific immune signaling.

The study shows that autoactive mutants of tomato NRC proteins still induce cell death in prf mutants and in lettuce, indicating a unidirectional dependency in the NRC immune network.

AlphaFold 3 oligomer models separate paired plant NLRs: helpers score higher pTM and form funnel-shaped resistosomes unlike sensors, including some rice pairs lacking integrated-domain annotations.

This paper identifies an effector from Phytophthora infestans that bridges NbTOL9a to an activated NLR to suppress immunity, revealing a novel structural and functional mechanism.

The paper identifies a root-specific NLR gene cluster in tomato that confers resistance to nematodes and evolved from an ancient NRC network.

The paper shows that NRC3 evolved to resist suppression by a nematode effector, revealing a new type of gene-for-gene interaction between pathogens and host immune receptors.

The paper analyzes NLR evolution in lettuce and related species, finding that sensor NLRs evolve faster than helper NLRs and that sensor diversification is linked to helper dependency.

This study determines the structure of sensor-activated NbNRC2 using cryo-EM, revealing a hexameric resistosome and highlighting structural changes during NLR activation.

This study shows how the helper NLR NRC2 converts from a homodimer to a higher-order oligomer upon activation by the sensor NLR Rx, revealing the molecular mechanism of plant immune activation.

The paper shows how functional divergence in NRC3 variants shapes the genetic architecture of the NLR network in solanaceous plants, leading to subfunctionalization and increased immune system complexity.