Publications

Authors marked ^* are corresponding authors. Lab members are bolded.

2026

A helper NLR channels organellar calcium to trigger plant immunity

Tarhan I, King FJ, Toghani A, Wang L, Saskia Jenkins, Yuen ELH, Wang H-Y, Vuolo C, Nick Eilmann, Adamkova V, Chia K-S, Castel B, Jones JDG, Carella P, Wu C-H, Jiorgos Kourelis^*, Kamoun S^*, Bozkurt TO^*

Science, 2026, 392:6797, 499-505. doi: 10.1126/science.aeb6690

bioRxiv Data PDF
NbRD21 protease controls receptor kinase homeostasis in Nicotiana benthamiana

Godson A, Eddie L, Schuster M, Zheng K, Toth R, Li Y, Li T, Huang J, Kaschani F, Jutras PV, Jiorgos Kourelis, Kaiser M, Bozkurt T, van der Hoorn RAL^*

bioRxiv, 2026. doi: 10.64898/2026.04.22.720176

bioRxiv
AI-guided discovery of atypical protein assemblies

Toghani A, Seager BA, Sugihara S, Roijen L-M, Azcue JM, Garro M, Sargolzaei M, Harant A, Gallop S, Jiorgos Kourelis, MacLean D, Contreras MP, Kamoun S^*, Lüdke D^*

bioRxiv, 2026. doi: 10.64898/2026.05.03.722499

bioRxiv
A broad-host-range Rhizobium rhizogenes strain enables transient expression across diverse crops and establishes functional assays in faba bean

King F, Lopez-Agudelo JC, Stephens C, Aung MH, Ibrahim T, Yuen ELH, Chen A, Nick Eilmann, Saskia Jenkins, Vuolo C, Swee Y-N, Liu W-J, Bruty S, Toghani A, Kuo C-H, Lai E-M, Jiorgos Kourelis, Derevnina L, Wu C-H^*, Bozkurt TO^*

bioRxiv, 2026. doi: 10.64898/2026.04.20.719558

bioRxiv Data
NLR immune receptors can exhibit tissue-specific expression patterns across legume species

Maravilha Marques R, Santos C, Pai H, Vaz Patto MC, Kamoun S, Jiorgos Kourelis^*

bioRxiv, 2026. doi: 10.64898/2026.01.25.701577

bioRxiv Data

2025

A root-specific NLR network confers resistance to plant parasitic nematodes

Lüdke D, Sakai T, Jiorgos Kourelis, Toghani A, Adachi H, Posbeyikian A, Frijters R, Pai H, Harant A, Ernst K, Ganal M, Verhage A, Wu C-H, Kamoun S^*

The Plant Cell, 2025, koaf145. doi: 10.1093/plcell/koaf145

bioRxiv
A hierarchical immune receptor network in lettuce reveals contrasting patterns of evolution in sensor and helper NLRs

Pai H, Sakai T, Posbeyikian A, Frijters R, Sugihara Y, Contreras MP, Jiorgos Kourelis, Adachi H, Kamoun S^*, Toghani A^*

bioRxiv, 2025. doi: 10.1101/2025.02.25.639832

bioRxiv
The Pik NLR pair accumulates at the plasma membrane as a hetero-oligomeric sensor-helper immune protein complex prior to activation

Pai H, Contreras MP, Salguero-Linares J, Lüdke D, Posbeyikian A, Jiorgos Kourelis, Kamoun S^*, Marchal C^*

bioRxiv, 2025. doi: 10.64898/2025.11.30.691369

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

Were V, Yan X, Foster A, Sklenar J, Langner T, Gentle A, Neha S, Bentham A, Zdrzałek R, Ryder L, Kaimenyi D, Gomez De La Cruz D, Petit-Houdenot Y, Eseola AB, Smoker M, Bautista MJ, Ma W, Jiorgos Kourelis, MacLean D, Banfield MJ, Kamoun S, Menke FLH, Moscou MJ, Talbot NJ^*

The Plant Cell, 2025, koaf116. doi: 10.1093/plcell/koaf116

bioRxiv PDF
Helper NLR immune protein NRC3 evolved to evade inhibition by a cyst nematode virulence effector

Sugihara Y, Jiorgos Kourelis, Contreras MP, Pai H, Selvaraj M, Toghani A, Martínez-Anaya C^*, Kamoun S^*

PLOS Genetics, 2025, 21:4, e1011653. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011653

bioRxiv PDF

2024

Bioengineering secreted proteases converts divergent Rcr3 orthologs and paralogs into extracellular immune co-receptors

Jiorgos Kourelis, Schuster M, Demir F, Mattinson O, Krauter S, Kahlon PS, O'Grady R, Royston S, Bravo-Cazar AL, Mooney BC, Huesgen PF, Kamoun S, van der Hoorn RAL^*

The Plant Cell, 2024, 36:9, 3260-3276. doi: 10.1093/plcell/koae183

bioRxiv PDF
Subfunctionalization of NRC3 altered the genetic structure of the Nicotiana NRC network

Huang C-Y, Huang Y-S, Sugihara Y, Wang H-Y, Huang L-T, Lopez-Agudelo JC, Chen Y-F, Lin K-Y, Chiang B-J, Toghani A, Jiorgos Kourelis, Wang C-H, Derevnina L, Wu C-H^*

PLOS Genetics, 2024, 20:9, e1011402. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011402

bioRxiv PDF
A disease resistance protein triggers oligomerization of its NLR helper into a hexameric resistosome to mediate innate immunity

Madhuprakash J, Toghani A, Contreras MP, Posbeyikian A, Richardson J, Jiorgos Kourelis, Bozkurt TO, Webster M^*, Kamoun S^*

Science Advances, 2024, 10, eadr2594. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adr2594

bioRxiv PDF
The N-terminal executioner domains of NLR immune receptors are functionally conserved across major plant lineages

Chia K-S, Jiorgos Kourelis, Vickers M, Sakai T, Kamoun S, Carella P^*

The Plant Cell, 2024, koae113. doi: 10.1093/plcell/koae113

bioRxiv Data PDF
Activation of plant immunity through conversion of a helper NLR homodimer into a resistosome

Selvaraj M, Toghani A, Pai H, Sugihara Y, Jiorgos Kourelis, Yuen ELH, Ibrahim T, Zhao H, Xie R, Maqbool A, De la Concepcion JC, Banfield MJ, Derevnina L, Petre B, Lawson DM, Bozkurt TO, Wu C-H, Kamoun S^*, Contreras MP^*

PLOS Biology, 2024, 22:10, e3002868. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002868

bioRxiv PDF

2023

NLR immune receptor–nanobody fusions confer plant disease resistance

Jiorgos Kourelis, Marchal C, Posbeyikian A, Harant A, Kamoun S^*

Science, 2023, 379:6635, 934-939. doi: 10.1126/science.abn4116

bioRxiv PDF
NLR immune receptors: structure and function in plant disease resistance

Förderer A^*, Jiorgos Kourelis^*

Biochemical Society Transactions, 2023, 51, 1473-1483. doi: 10.1042/BST20221087

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

Bentham AR, De la Concepcion JC, Benjumea JV, Jiorgos Kourelis, Jones S, Mendel M, Stubbs J, Stevenson CEM, Maidment JHR, Youles M, Zdrzałek R, Kamoun S, Banfield MJ^*

The Plant Cell, 2023, 35, 3809-3827. doi: 10.1093/plcell/koad204

bioRxiv PDF
Jurassic NLR: conserved and dynamic evolutionary features of the atypically ancient immune receptor ZAR1

Adachi H, Sakai T, Jiorgos Kourelis, Hernandez JLG, Maqbool A, Kamoun S^*

The Plant Cell, 2023, 35, 3662-3685. doi: 10.1093/plcell/koad175

bioRxiv Data PDF
Effector-dependent activation and oligomerization of plant NRC class helper NLRs by sensor NLR immune receptors Rpi-amr3 and Rpi-amr1

Ahn H-K, Lin X, Olave-Achury AC, Derevnina L, Contreras MP, Jiorgos Kourelis, Kamoun S, Jones JDG^*

The EMBO Journal, 2023, e111484. doi: 10.15252/embj.2022111484

bioRxiv PDF
Interplay between cell-surface receptor and intracellular NLR-mediated immune responses

Jiorgos Kourelis^*

New Phytologist, 2023, 240:6, 2218-2226. doi: 10.1111/nph.19212

PDF
Enhanced late blight resistance by engineering an EpiC2B-insensitive immune protease

Schuster M, Eisele S, Egas LA, Kessenbrock T, Jiorgos Kourelis, Kaiser M, van der Hoorn RAL^*

Plant Biotechnology Journal, 2023, 22, 284-286. doi: 10.1111/pbi.14209

bioRxiv PDF
Disentangling the complex gene interaction networks between rice and the blast fungus identifies a new pathogen effector

Sugihara Y, Abe Y, Takagi H, Abe A, Shimizu M, Ito K, Kanzaki E, Oikawa K, Jiorgos Kourelis, Langner T, Win J, Białas A, Lüdke D, Chuma I, Saitoh H, Kobayashi M, Zheng S, Tosa Y, Banfield MJ, Kamoun S^*, Terauchi R^*, Fujisaki K^*

PLOS Biology, 2023, 21:1, e3001945. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001945

bioRxiv PDF

2022

Emerging principles in the design of bioengineered made-to-order plant immune receptors

Marchal C, Pai H, Kamoun S^*, Jiorgos Kourelis^*

Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 2022, 70, 102311. doi: 10.1016/j.pbi.2022.102311

Data PDF
Activation and regulation of NLR immune receptor networks

Jiorgos Kourelis, Adachi H^*

Plant and Cell Physiology, 2022, pcac116. doi: 10.1093/pcp/pcac116

PDF
The helper NLR immune protein NRC3 mediates the hypersensitive cell death caused by the cell-surface receptor Cf-4

Jiorgos Kourelis, Contreras MP, Harant A, Pai H, Lüdke D, Adachi H, Derevnina L, Wu C-H^*, Kamoun S^*

PLOS Genetics, 2022, 18:9, e1010414. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010414

bioRxiv PDF
Purification of His-tagged proteases from the apoplast of agroinfiltrated N. benthamiana

Schuster M, Paulus JK, Jiorgos Kourelis, van der Hoorn RAL^*

Methods in Molecular Biology, 2022, 53-66. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2079-3_5

PDF
Sensor NLR immune proteins activate oligomerization of their NRC helpers in response to plant pathogens

Contreras MP, Pai H, Tumtas Y, Duggan C, Yuen ELH, Cruces AV, Jiorgos Kourelis, Ahn H-K, Wu C-H, Bozkurt TO, Derevnina L^*, Kamoun S^*

The EMBO Journal, 2022, e111519. doi: 10.15252/embj.2022111519

bioRxiv PDF

2021

RefPlantNLR is a comprehensive collection of experimentally validated plant disease resistance proteins from the NLR family

Jiorgos Kourelis, Sakai T, Adachi H, Kamoun S^*

PLOS Biology, 2021, 19, e3001124. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001124

bioRxiv Data PDF
Agromonas: a rapid disease assay for Pseudomonas syringae growth in agroinfiltrated leaves

Buscaill P, Sanguankiattichai N, Lee YJ, Jiorgos Kourelis, Preston G, van der Hoorn RAL^*

The Plant Journal, 2021, 105, 831-840. doi: 10.1111/tpj.15056

bioRxiv PDF

2020

Extracellular proteolytic cascade in tomato activates immune protease Rcr3

Paulus JK, Jiorgos Kourelis, Ramasubramanian S, Homma F, Godson A, Hörger AC, Hong TN, Krahn D, Carballo LO, Wang S, Win J, Smoker M, Kamoun S, Dong S, van der Hoorn RAL^*

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020, 117, 17409-17417. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1921101117

PDF
Evolution of a guarded decoy protease and its receptor in solanaceous plants

Jiorgos Kourelis, Malik S, Mattinson O, Krauter S, Kahlon PS, Paulus JK, van der Hoorn RAL^*

Nature Communications, 2020, 11, 4393. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18069-5

PDF
Discovering the RNA-binding proteome of plant leaves with an improved RNA interactome capture method

Bach-Pages M, Homma F, Jiorgos Kourelis, Kaschani F, Mohammed S, Kaiser M, van der Hoorn RAL, Castello A^*, Preston GM^*

Biomolecules, 2020, 10, 661. doi: 10.3390/biom10040661

PDF

2019

Triazine probes target ascorbate peroxidases in plants

Morimoto K, Cole KS, Jiorgos Kourelis, Witt CH, Brown D, Krahn D, Stegmann M, Kaschani F, Kaiser M, Burton J, Mohammed S, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Weerapana E, van der Hoorn RAL^*

Plant Physiology, 2019, 180, 1848-1859. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00481

PDF
A homology-guided, genome-based proteome for improved proteomics in the alloploid Nicotiana benthamiana

Jiorgos Kourelis, Kaschani F, Grosse-Holz FM, Homma F, Kaiser M, van der Hoorn RAL^*

BMC Genomics, 2019, 20, 722. doi: 10.1186/s12864-019-6058-6

bioRxiv PDF
Glycosidase and glycan polymorphism control hydrolytic release of immunogenic flagellin peptides

Buscaill P, Chandrasekar B, Sanguankiattichai N, Jiorgos Kourelis, Kaschani F, Thomas EL, Morimoto K, Kaiser M, Preston GM, Ichinose Y, van der Hoorn RAL^*

Science, 2019, 364, eaav0748. doi: 10.1126/science.aav0748

PDF
Optimized small-molecule pull-downs define MLBP1 as an acyl-lipid-binding protein

Sterlin Y, Pri-Tal O, Zimran G, Park S-Y, Ben-Ari J, Jiorgos Kourelis, Verstraeten I, Gal M, Cutler SR, Mosquna A^*

The Plant Journal, 2019, 98, 928-941. doi: 10.1111/tpj.14272

PDF

2018

Defended to the nines: 25 years of resistance gene cloning identifies nine mechanisms for R protein function

Jiorgos Kourelis, van der Hoorn RAL^*

The Plant Cell, 2018, 30, 285-299. doi: 10.1105/tpc.17.00579

PDF
Three unrelated protease inhibitors enhance accumulation of pharmaceutical recombinant proteins in Nicotiana benthamiana

Grosse-Holz F, Madeira L, Zahid MA, Songer M, Jiorgos Kourelis, Fesenko M, Ninck S, Kaschani F, Kaiser M, van der Hoorn RAL^*

Plant Biotechnology Journal, 2018, 16, 1797-1810. doi: 10.1111/pbi.12916

PDF

2017

Bodyguards: pathogen-derived decoys that protect virulence factors

Paulus JK, Jiorgos Kourelis, van der Hoorn RAL^*

Trends in Plant Science, 2017, 22, 355-357. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2017.03.004

PDF

2016

Decoy engineering: the next step in resistance breeding

Jiorgos Kourelis, van der Hoorn RAL^*, Sueldo DJ^*

Trends in Plant Science, 2016, 21, 371-373. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2016.04.001

PDF
Screen of non-annotated small secreted proteins of Pseudomonas syringae reveals a virulence factor that inhibits tomato immune proteases

Shindo T, Kaschani F, Yang F, Kovács J, Tian F, Jiorgos Kourelis, Hong TN, Colby T, Shabab M, Chawla R, Kumari S, Ilyas M, Hörger AC, Alfano JR, van der Hoorn RAL^*

PLOS Pathogens, 2016, 12, e1005874. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005874

PDF
Mitochondrial uncouplers inhibit clathrin-mediated endocytosis largely through cytoplasmic acidification

Dejonghe W, Kuenen S, Mylle E, Vasileva M, Keech O, Viotti C, Swerts J, Fendrych M, Ortiz-Morea FA, Mishev K, Delang S, Scholl S, Zarza X, Heilmann M, Jiorgos Kourelis, Kasprowicz J, Nguyen LSL, Drozdzecki A, van Houtte I, Szatmári A-M, Majda M, Baisa G, Bednarek SY, Robert S, Audenaert D, Testerink C, Munnik T, van Damme D, Heilmann I, Schumacher K, Winne J, Friml J, Verstreken P, Russinova E^*

Nature Communications, 2016, 7, 11710. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11710

PDF