How plants recognise bacteria

Who we are

We study how plants sense bacteria, and how bacteria live with plants. The group belongs to the Department of Biology at the University of Fribourg and is led by Stefanie Ranf, Full Professor of Plant Sciences.

What we work on

Plants lack wandering immune cells and antibodies. They identify a microbe via its molecules, using receptors positioned on the surface of almost every plant cell. We work on one such receptor, the receptor kinase LORE, which detects medium chain 3-hydroxy fatty acids from the outer membrane of Gram negative bacteria. We want to know how that recognition works at the molecular level, what the plant does with the signal, and how a bacterium adapts to living on a host that can see it.

More about our research

Latest publications

• Shu L-J, Nicoli A, Yu F-Y, Thiry O O A, Deslandes-Hérold G, Luethi T, Di Pizio A, Ranf S (2026)

  The plant immune receptor LORE binds agonistic and antagonistic 3-hydroxy fatty acid ligands via a dynamic loop in its G-type lectin domain

  bioRxiv DOI: 10.64898/2026.06.08.730953 (preprint)

• Shu L-J, Schönberger L, Ziffermayer L, Yu F-Y, Deslandes-Hérold G, Schmid C, Gigl M, Schäffer M, Dawid C, Ranf S (2026)

  Diversification of ligand preference in conserved Brassicaceae LORE immune receptors matches proteobacterial 3-hydroxy fatty acid profiles

  bioRxiv DOI: 10.64898/2026.05.15.725355 (preprint)

• Gilliard G, Pršić J, Crowet J-M, Chemotti C, Ahmed J, Lorent J, Jolivet M-D, Egli S, Egée S, Bouyer G, Race G, van Buren L, Van Den Berghe A, Argüelles-Arias A, Mathelié-Guinlet M, Ibrahim H, Genva M, Fouillen L, Mirande-Bret C, Razin O, Vue B, Župunski M, Luzuriaga-Loaiza W P, Deboever E, Nasir M N, Lins L, Van Der Smissen P, Boubsi F, Eschrig S, Germain V, Höfte M, Zipfel C, Dufrêne Y F, Tyteca D, Koutsioubas A, Brocca P, Grossmann G, Ranf S, Dorey S, De Coninck B, Nürnberger T, Mongrand S, Gronnier J, Rondelli V, Deleu M, Ongena M (2026)

  Membrane remodelling mediates lipopeptide-induced immunity in Arabidopsis

  Nat Plants 12: 1034-1050

• Shu L-J, Yu F-Y, Ranf S (2026)

  Plant-Based Ligand-Depletion Binding Assay for Assessing Pattern Recognition Receptor-Ligand Interactions

  Methods Mol Biol 3012: 35-56

All publications and conference contributions

Join our team!

Do you have an interest in plant science and microbial biology? We are always glad to hear from motivated PhD and postdoc candidates, and we are happy to work with you on an application for external funding. Our job opportunities page says what is open at the moment.