Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
yichangsung.bsky.social
Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
@yichangsung.bsky.social
Postdoc scientist at UC Davis. Working on molecular plant microbe interaction.
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
“It's unhelpful to draw a sharp line between applied and basic research”

Cristobal Uauy @cristobaluauy.bsky.social Director of the John Innes Centre @johninnescentre.bsky.social

#PPATH2026 #BSPP26
September 9, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
This work shows that experimental context shapes Arabidopsis immune responses, with implications for how we interpret PRR signaling assays. Heavy lifting by @alba-mp.bsky.social and undergrad researcher Hanxu Sha (who will now pursue her PhD in a plant biology lab at Stanford).
Excited to share our new preprint! We explore how experimental context influences immune responses triggered by elf18 and flg22 in Arabidopsis.
Huge thanks to @gittacoaker.bsky.social for her guidance and support, and to Hanxu Sha for her help on this project.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Experimental Context Shapes PRR-Mediated Immune Output Sensitivity in Arabidopsis
Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) mediate plant immune responses by detecting extracellular immunogenic patterns, including microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). PRR signaling is commonly assessed using assays such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) bursts, cytosolic calcium influx, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation, and seedling growth inhibition (SGI), which are performed in distinct experimental systems, including seedlings grown on artificial media and soil-grown rosettes. Here, we systematically compare receptor kinase immune outputs triggered by the bacterial MAMPs elf18 and flg22 in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and rosettes across a range of concentrations. Rosettes exhibited greater sensitivity than seedlings in ROS assays, whereas cytosolic calcium responses measured using the Aeqcyt/pMAQ2 reporter were stronger in seedlings, correlating with reduced reporter transcript accumulation in rosette tissue. MAPK activation was consistently stronger in rosettes, whereas SGI assays revealed higher sensitivity to elf18 than flg22 in seedlings despite flg22 inducing stronger early signaling outputs. Together, these results demonstrate that canonical PRR-mediated immune outputs are differentially sensitive to experimental context and should not be interpreted as interchangeable measures of immune activation. These findings highlight the importance of considering experimental conditions when comparing immune responses across assays and developmental stages. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Institutes of Health, https://ror.org/01cwqze88, R35GM136402 Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero, https://ror.org/02897ye82
www.biorxiv.org
May 6, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
Excited to share our new preprint! We explore how experimental context influences immune responses triggered by elf18 and flg22 in Arabidopsis.
Huge thanks to @gittacoaker.bsky.social for her guidance and support, and to Hanxu Sha for her help on this project.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Experimental Context Shapes PRR-Mediated Immune Output Sensitivity in Arabidopsis
Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) mediate plant immune responses by detecting extracellular immunogenic patterns, including microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). PRR signaling is commonly assessed using assays such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) bursts, cytosolic calcium influx, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation, and seedling growth inhibition (SGI), which are performed in distinct experimental systems, including seedlings grown on artificial media and soil-grown rosettes. Here, we systematically compare receptor kinase immune outputs triggered by the bacterial MAMPs elf18 and flg22 in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and rosettes across a range of concentrations. Rosettes exhibited greater sensitivity than seedlings in ROS assays, whereas cytosolic calcium responses measured using the Aeqcyt/pMAQ2 reporter were stronger in seedlings, correlating with reduced reporter transcript accumulation in rosette tissue. MAPK activation was consistently stronger in rosettes, whereas SGI assays revealed higher sensitivity to elf18 than flg22 in seedlings despite flg22 inducing stronger early signaling outputs. Together, these results demonstrate that canonical PRR-mediated immune outputs are differentially sensitive to experimental context and should not be interpreted as interchangeable measures of immune activation. These findings highlight the importance of considering experimental conditions when comparing immune responses across assays and developmental stages. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Institutes of Health, https://ror.org/01cwqze88, R35GM136402 Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero, https://ror.org/02897ye82
www.biorxiv.org
May 5, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Excited to share that I’ve completed my postdoc at UC Davis and started a new role as Scientist with PI AgSciences R&D team in Seattle.

It's been a true privilege to work with @gittacoaker.bsky.social and her brilliant team, investigating how plant tandem kinase proteins recognize pathogens.
May 5, 2026 at 2:44 AM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
Some reflections on #Fungal26 This was a great meeting as always but set against some turbulent times of course, which meant many regular attendees were not present. This thread is mainly for them. However, the proportion of first-time attendees was very high and very international. #Fungal26 1/15
March 22, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
Yi-Chang Sung @yichangsung.bsky.social examines the role of TKP in plant immunity using a rice 🌾 🍚 model

#fungal26
March 19, 2026 at 5:20 PM
It was a great honor to give a Chairs’ Choice Plenary Talk at the Fungal Genetics Conference #fungal26 !
I truly appreciated the opportunity to share our research on tandem kinases and the rice blast system for TKP studies.
Great science, great community, and beautiful Asilomar sunshine.
March 20, 2026 at 5:11 AM
Happy to share my postdoc project at the UCD plant pathology seminar!
@yichangsung.bsky.social gave a great talk on tandem kinases for the UC Davis Plant Path seminar.
February 3, 2026 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
@yichangsung.bsky.social gave a great talk on tandem kinases for the UC Davis Plant Path seminar.
February 2, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
@charisramsing.bsky.social gave a great seminar on Clavibacter for UC Davis’ Plant Pathology Department today. New insights into tomato colonization and effector recognition. #MPMI
December 1, 2025 at 6:44 PM
1st time being a plenary speaker! Thanks for the invitation from @plantpathpete.bsky.social and @williamsanu.bsky.social to the Stromolo Conference 2025, sharing my recent findings on plant tandem kinases! Good to visit Canberra again after my PhD!
And next up we have @yichangsung.bsky.social from @gittacoaker.bsky.social lab talking about tandem kinases … #strompath25
November 27, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
Registrations for the Stromlo Plant Pathogen Conference #StromPath25 are rolling in fast and the program is now full!
Exciting lineup from Japan, Korea, USA, UK, NZ + strong local crew. Join us in Canberra — rego open until Nov 13.
Program available here tinyurl.com/3e3tx9j2
10th Stromlo Plant Pathology Conference | wheatbiosecurity
tinyurl.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Our review on disease resistance gene diversity in Triticeae is finally online 🌾🌾! Gained so many insights writing it with Yinghui Li & Liubov Govta and from the guidance of gittacoaker.bsky.social & Tzion Fahima. Fascinated by plant resistance gene diversity—excited to share!
September 17, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
Registrations are rolling in for the 2025 Stromlo Plant Pathology meeting in Canberra (Nov 27–28)! Secure your spot! Speakers: @yasukadota.bsky.social, Cecille Segonzac, @thamlab.bsky.social, @yichangsung.bsky.social, Tek Tay & @danielsyu.bsky.social. Register at tinyurl.com/3e3tx9j2
#strompath25
10th Stromlo Plant Pathology Conference | wheatbiosecurity
tinyurl.com
August 20, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Submitted my first NIH grant proposal ! 🤞🤞🤞
June 14, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
Excited this MS is out! Here, we genome edited Pire in tomato, a conserved E3 ligase controlling NADPH oxidase accumulation in Arabidopsis. Edited lines exhibited enhanced resistance to foliar bacterial pathogens, but not two root colonizing pathogens. #PlantImmunity
academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...
Gene editing of the E3 ligase PIRE1 fine-tunes reactive oxygen species production for enhanced bacterial disease resistance in tomato
An E3 ligase helps control plant immune responses and regulates reactive oxygen species production, offering a strategy to boost disease resistance in leav
academic.oup.com
June 3, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
👀 EFR-mediated PTI restricts transient transformation and genome editing, but not T-DNA integration.
This study combines floral stage targeting 🌷, immune evasion 🛡️, and Agrobacterium engineering 🔧 to boost plant genome editing efficiency.
#Agrobacterium
#GenomeEditing
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Floral Stage Optimization and Immune Evasion Enhance Agrobacterium-Mediated Genome Editing in Arabidopsis
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation via floral inoculation (AMT-FI) enables genetic engineering without tissue culture. It is widely used in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, yet its efficiency ...
www.biorxiv.org
May 9, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
Paper submitted! One of the last in @jerrytli.bsky.social’s stellar PhD.
May 9, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
Phoebe Sinner and @yichangsung.bsky.social presented their work on vector borne effectors and Tandem Kinase Proteins @ucdavis.bsky.social host microbe interactions meeting. Great job by both!!
May 9, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Our Research Briefing on the tandem kinase proteins paper is online now!
Curious about the story behind our TKP paper?
📄 Research Briefing: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
📄 Research article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A plant dual-kinase protein traps a pathogen effector to trigger immunity - Nature Genetics
Tandem kinase proteins (TKPs) are key regulators of plant immunity. We found that RWT4, a wheat TKP, confers resistance to the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae by directly recognizing the effector A...
www.nature.com
April 25, 2025 at 6:30 PM
🌾 Excited to share our research on plant tandem kinase proteins (TKPs)! It’s been fascinating to explore how TKPs interplay effectors to activate plant immunity. Big thanks to my supervisor @gittacoaker.bsky.social, my undergrad student Suji Baik, and our collaborators—it's truly a team effort!
Wheat tandem kinase RWT4 directly binds a fungal effector to activate defense - Nature Genetics
This study shows that RWT4, a wheat tandem kinase, confers resistance to the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae by directly binding to the pathogen effector AvrPWT4 and activating host defense.
www.nature.com
April 15, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Reposted by Yi-Chang Sung (宋宜璋)
I'm very excited our most recent work on plant tandem kinases (TKPs) has finally been published! TKPs are a fascinating protein family conferring disease resistance to fungi. Originally in bioRxiv. Many thanks to @yichangsung.bsky.social for leading this work. 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Wheat tandem kinase RWT4 directly binds a fungal effector to activate defense - Nature Genetics
This study shows that RWT4, a wheat tandem kinase, confers resistance to the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae by directly binding to the pathogen effector AvrPWT4 and activating host defense.
www.nature.com
April 15, 2025 at 4:36 AM
First post on Bluesky is to Stand up for Science!
March 9, 2025 at 1:18 AM