Saskia’s research interests focus on understanding the mechanisms that drive interactions between plants and insects and the role of microbes in these interactions.
She is particularly interested in aphids, whiteflies, leafhoppers and other sap-feeding insects of the order Hemiptera. The saliva of these insects contains virulence factors (effectors) that modulate plant responses and aid insect colonisation. The research focuses on the identification and functional analysis of these insect effectors and on finding their targets in the plant.
Hemipteran insects are efficient vectors of a diverse range of plant pathogens, predominantly viruses and bacteria. Leafhoppers transmit phytoplasmas, which induce dramatic changes in plant development, including proliferation of stems (witch’s brooms) and the reversion of flowers into leaf-like organs (phyllody).
Phytoplasma induce these phenotypes via the secretion of effectors that interact with and degrade conserved (plant) proteins, including TCP and MADS-box transcription factors. The plants also become very susceptible and attractive to phytoplasma insect vectors. Professor Hogenhout studies how phytoplasma effectors modulate plant defences to insects.
The work in her lab spans the fields of (functional) genomics, molecular genetics, entomology, plant pathology, virology and bacteriology, and more recently, also population biology and mechanistic modelling.
- BRIGIT – Vector-Borne Disease of Plants
- Phytoplasma – How plants become zombies
- Aphids – How plants sense aphid attack
- Whiteflies
Awards
2024 – Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). Elected, Royal Society, 12 July 2024.
2024 – Robert F. Whitcomb Award given in recognition of outstanding research achievements in the field of plant and insect mycoplasmology. International Organization of Mycoplasmology (IOM).
2023 – Elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).
2021 – APS Fellow, American Phytopathological Society (APS).
2017 – Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society of London.
2019 RKS Wood Award, British Society for Plant Pathology (BSPP).
2018 Alfred M. Boyce Lecture Award, Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, USA.
2013 Ross Beever Memorial Lecture Award, Australasian Plant Virology, Univ. Auckland, New Zealand.
2012 The Derrick Edward Award for outstanding research in (metazoan and plant) Mycoplasmology. International Organization of Mycoplasmology (IOM).
Selected Publications
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Liu Q, Neefjes ACM, Kobylinska R, Mugford ST, Marzo M, Canham J, Schuster M, Van der Hoorn RAL, Chen Y, Hogenhout S (2024)Aphid effectors suppress plant immunity via recruiting defence proteins to processing bodies
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Orlovskis Z, Singh A, Kliot A, Huang W, Hogenhout S (2025)The phytoplasma SAP54 effector acts as a molecular matchmaker for leafhopper vectors by targeting plant MADS-box factor SVP.eLifePublisher's version: 2050-084X
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Liu Q, Maqbool A, Mirkin FG, Singh Y, Stevenson CEM, Lawson DM, Kamoun S, Huang W, Hogenhout S (2023)Bimodular architecture of bacterial effector SAP05 that drives ubiquitin-independent targeted protein degradation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaPublisher's version: 0027-8424
Opportunities
Enquiries to join the group from interested postgraduate and postdoctoral scientists are always welcomed.
Fellowship and PhD studentship positions can potentially be funded by the BBSRC, EU or John Innes Centre.