Dr. Stefan Kusch

Since 2026: Scientific Project Manager, Jülich Supercomputing Center (JSC), ESAB, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany

2023-2026: Post-doc, Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG-4: Bioinformatics), Bioinformatics, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany

2018-2023: Post-doc, RWTH Aachen, Institute for Biology I, Germany

11/2019: Visiting post-doc, University of Southern Queensland, Centre for Crop Health, Australia

2017-2018: Post-doc, INRA Toulouse, LIPM, Auzeville, France

2013-2017: Doctoral student, RWTH Aachen, Institute for Biology I, Germany

2010-2012: M.Sc. in Microbiology and Biochemistry, Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany

2007-2010: B.Sc. in Biology, Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany

Preprints

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Peer-reviewed

Loos A, Doykova E, Qian J, Kümmel F, Ibrahim HMM, Kiss L, Panstruga R, Kusch S*. 2025. Saprotrophic Arachnopeziza species as new resources to study the obligate biotrophic lifestyle of powdery mildew fungi. Molecular Ecology Resources 25(8): e70045.

Qian J, Xue H, Ou S, Mann L, Storer J, Fürtauer L, Heitkam T, Wildermuth MC, Kusch S, Panstruga R. 2025. TEtrimmer: a tool to automate the manual curation of transposable elements. Nature Communications 16: 8429.

Kusch S, Frantzeskakis L, Lassen BD, Kümmel F, Pesch L, Barsoum M, Walden KD, Panstruga R. 2024. A fungal plant pathogen overcomes mlo-mediated broad-spectrum disease resistance by rapid gene loss. New Phytologist 244(3): 962-979.

Qian J, Ibrahim HMM, Erz M, Kümmel F, Panstruga R, Kusch S*. 2023. Long noncoding RNAs emerge from transposon-derived antisense sequences and may contribute to infection stage-specific transposon regulation in a fungal phytopathogen. Mobile DNA 14: 17.

Kusch S, Singh M, Thieron H, Spanu S, Panstruga R. 2023. Site-specific analysis reveals candidate cross-kingdom small RNAs, tRNA and rRNA fragments, and signs of fungal RNA phasing in the barley-powdery mildew interaction. Molecular Plant Pathology 24(6): 570-584.

Vaghefi N, Kusch S, Németh MZ, Seress D, Braun U, Takamatsu S, Panstruga R, Kiss L. 2022. Beyond nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences: Evolution, taxonomy, and closest known saprobic relatives of powdery mildew fungi (Erysiphaceae) inferred from their first comprehensive genome-scale phylogenetic analyses. Frontiers in Microbiology 13: 903024.

Kusch S*, Vaghefi N, Takamatsu S, Liu S‑Y, Németh MZ, Seress D, Frantzeskakis L, Chiu P‑E, Panstruga R, Kiss L. 2022. First draft genome assemblies of Pleochaeta shiraiana and Phyllactinia moricola, two tree-parasitic powdery mildew fungi with hemiendophytic mycelia. Phytopathology 112(4): 961-967.

Kusch S, Larrouy J, Ibrahim HMM, Mounichetty S, Gasset N, Navaud O, Mbengue M, Zanchetta C, Lopez-Roques C, Donnadieu C, Godiard L, Raffaele S. 2022. Transcriptional response to host chemical cues underpins the expansion of host range in a fungal plant pathogen lineage. ISME Journal 16: 138-148.

Lüdke D, Roth C, Kamrad SA, Messerschmidt J, Hartken D, Appel J, Hörnich BF, Yan Q, Kusch S, Klenke M, Gunkel A, Wirthmueller L, Wiermer M. 2021. Functional requirement of the Arabidopsis importin-α nuclear transport receptor family in autoimmunity mediated by the NLR protein SNC1. The Plant Journal 105(4): 994-1009.

Ibrahim HMM, Kusch S, Didelon M, Raffaele S. 2021. Genome-wide alternative splicing profiling in the fungal plant pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum during the colonization of diverse host families. Molecular Plant Pathology 22(1): 31-47.

Barsoum M, Kusch S, Frantzeskakis L, Schaffrath U, Panstruga R. 2020. Ultraviolet mutagenesis coupled with next-generation sequencing as a method for functional interrogation of powdery mildew genomes. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 33(8): 1008-1021.

Kusch S*, Ibrahim HMM, Zanchetta C, Lopez-Roques C, Donnadieu C, Raffaele S. 2020. A chromosome-scale genome assembly resource for Myriosclerotinia sulcatula infecting sedge grass (Carex sp.). Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 33(7): 880-883.

Kusch S, Németh MZ, Vaghefi N, Ibrahim HMM, Panstruga R, Kiss L. 2020. A short-read genome assembly resource for Leveillula taurica causing powdery mildew disease of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum). Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 33(6): 782-786.

Frantzeskakis L, Németh MZ, Barsoum M, Kusch S, Kiss L, Takamatsu S, Panstruga R. 2019. The Parauncinula polyspora draft genome provides insights into patterns of gene erosion and genome expansion in powdery mildew fungi. mBio 10(5): e01692-19.

Kusch S, Thiery S, Reinstädler A, Gruner K, Zienkiewicz K, Feussner I, Panstruga R. 2019. Arabidopsis mlo3 mutant plants exhibit spontaneous callose deposition and signs of early leaf senescence. Plant Molecular Biology 101: 21-40.

Kusch S*, Frantzeskakis L, Thieron H, Panstruga R. 2018. Small RNAs from cereal powdery mildew pathogens may target host plant genes. Fungal Biology 122: 1050-1063.

Frantzeskakis L, Kracher B, Kusch S, Yoshikawa-Maekawa M, Bauer S, Pedersen C, et al. 2018. Signatures of host specialization and a recent transposable element burst in the dynamic one-speed genome of the fungal barley powdery mildew pathogen. BMC Genomics 19: 381.

Acevedo-Garcia J, Gruner K, Reinstädler A, Kemen A, Kemen E, Cao L, Takken FLW, Reitz MU, Schäfer P, O'Connell RJ, Kusch S, Kuhn H, Panstruga R. 2017. The powdery mildew-resistant Arabidopsis mlo2 mlo6 mlo12 triple mutant displays altered infection phenotypes with diverse types of phytopathogens. Scientific Reports 7: 9319.

Kusch S, Pesch L, Panstruga R. 2016. Comprehensive phylogenetic analysis sheds light on the diversity and origin of the MLO family of integral membrane proteins. Genome Biology and Evolution 8: 878-895.

Budhagatapalli N, Schedel S, Gurushidze M, Pencs S, Hiekel S, Rutten T, Kusch S, Morbitzer R, Lahaye T, Panstruga R, Kumlehn J, Hensel G. 2016. A simple test for the cleavage activity of customized endonucleases in plants. Plant Methods 12: 18.

Kusch S, Ahmadinejad N, Panstruga R, Kuhn, H. 2014. In silico analysis of the core signaling proteome from the barley powdery mildew pathogen (Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei). BMC Genomics 15: 843.

Reviews and opinions

Kusch S, Qian J, Loos A, Kümmel F, Spanu PD, Panstruga R. 2024. Long-term and rapid evolution in the powdery mildew fungi. Molecular Ecology 33(10): e16909.

Kusch S, Vaghefi N, Kiss L. 2023. Letter to the Editor: The Good, The Bad, and The Misleading: How to improve the quality of ‘Genome Announcements’? Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (in press). doi: 10.1094/MPMI-01-23-0009-LE

Frantzeskakis L, Kusch S, Panstruga R. 2019. The need for speed: Compartmentalized genome evolution in filamentous phytopathogens. Molecular Plant Pathology 20: 3-7.

Kusch S, Panstruga R. 2017. mlo-based resistance: An apparently universal “weapon” to defeat powdery mildew disease. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 30: 179-189.

Acevedo-Garcia J, Kusch S, Panstruga R. 2014. Magical mystery tour: MLO proteins in plant immunity and beyond. New Phytologist 204: 273-281.

Book chapters

Kuhn H, Kwaaitaal M, Kusch S, Acevedo-Garcia J, Wu H, Panstruga R. 2016. Biotrophy at its best - novel insights and unsolved mysteries of the powdery mildew-Arabidopsis pathosystem. The Arabidopsis Book 14: e0184.