Specialized fungal pathogen populations infect rice varieties with contrasting immune systems co-cultivated in a traditional agro-system, indicating the relevance of crop diversity to restricting epidemics in the landscape.

Structure/function studies of a plant pathogen effector in complex with a host disease resistance protein domain reveal the molecular basis for recognition and underpin future engineering of immunity in crops.

Structure-led protein engineering can expand the effector recognition profile of plant intracellular NLR immune receptors, providing a proof-of-principle for the development of novel disease resistance mechanisms in plants.

Effector target-guided engineering has developed plant NLR immune receptors that bind and recognize stealthy pathogen effector proteins, demonstrating new disease resistance profiles in planta, and offering a promising approach to protect crops against plant pathogens.

Cooperation theory and a novel synthetic infection system provides a mechanistic understanding of why a seemingly successful disease management strategy can have devastating consequences for infected hosts.

A phosphorylation circuitry balancing among kinase, transcription factor, transcription repressor, and phosphatase in response against host immunity during M. oryzae–rice interaction.

An important rice reovirus hijacks exosomes to traverse the apical plasmalemma into saliva-stored cavities in the salivary glands of insect vectors, facilitating viral horizontal transmission into rice phloem.

Discovery of a rapidly spreading outbreak of bacterial blight in Tanzania caused by a Xanthomonas strain that originates from Asia and editing of Komboka rice lines resistant to the newly introduced strains and to other Asian and African strains.

The MADA motif is functionally conserved across NLRs from distantly related plants and has degenerated in sensor NLRs over evolutionary time.

The HMA domains of Pikp-1 and Pikm-1 NLR receptors have convergently evolved to bind AVR-PikD with high affinity through distinct evolutionary and biochemical paths.