Small RNAs of distantly related plant pathogens, such as fungi and oomycetes, hijack the plant RNA-induced silencing complex to favor host infection.

Hybridization and introgression blur species boundaries and broaden genetic diversity available for adaptation; and widespread introgression underpins the evolution of races of the generalist pathogen Albugo candida that specialise on different host plant species.

A basidiomycete yeast closely related to fungal smuts is an antagonistic microbe in the Arabidopsis leaf phyllosphere that inhibits infection by Albugo laibachii via a GH25 hydrolase with lysozyme activity.

Defense-related selective autophagy mediated by the antimicrobial autophagy cargo receptor NBR1/Joka2 is diverted to pathogen penetration sites to restrict plant colonization by the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans.

Plant autophagy contributes to antiviral defense against geminiviruses by targeting one or more viral proteins for degradation.

PsAvh52 modulates epigenetic modification to enhance the susceptibility of soybean to Phytophthora sojae infection.

An in silico reconstruction of a chloroplast that existed hundreds of millions of years ago casts new insights in the evolutionary processes, endosymbioses and chimerism events that shape the origin of plastids.

Research in molecular ecology and evolution is increasingly utilizing the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, placing a spotlight on its natural history.