Great talk by @delphinem-p.bsky.social from @geminiteamlab.bsky.social yesterday: “Hijacking the Plant #Spliceosome” on how alternative splicing drives #viral infection and #tomato fruit development 🍅 Thanks to our host @incavirus.bsky.social for organizing this insightful seminar! 👏

An amazing article. Highly recommended!

Medieval agricultural and trade practices in southwestern Germany boosted plant diversity for centuries, with biodiversity peaking around 1000 CE and declining only when human activity contracted during the Black Death. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/Q6ca50XxIvC

1/5 🚨🚨 preprint alert! 🚨🚨 I wish to introduce CARDIB, not the singer, but the protein. CARDIB=CARD Inhibitory Binding protein. In our new work we discover this antiviral protein that is found in all Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals 🪸) but not in other animals. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Protein domains have no single definition, so why stick to one segmentation? 🧩 Instead of forcing structures into rigid classifications, we built AFragmenter. It uses AlphaFold PAE networks for a tuneable approach to domain parsing. You control the granularity. 👇 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/bioi...

Some news 🎉 After five incredible years in Tübingen, it’s time to say goodbye. Starting February, the Mutualisms Lab will relocate to the John Innes Centre, right next door to @berasymbionts.bsky.social and her group at The Sainsbury Laboratory 🪲🦠

PRESS RELEASE – Dr Hassan Salem to lead independent research group on plant-insect interactions Following an international search, we are delighted to announce that Dr Hassan Salem @hassansalem.bsky.social will be joining us in early 2026: www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

The Vienna BioCenter Summer School 2026 call is now open for talented undergrads, it's a great opportunity for students who are interested in graduate study in the life sciences. Georg Busslinger from CeMM is recruiting! Please share https://training.vbc.ac.at/summer-school/

Plant Science Research Weekly -- Cracking the oat code: a comprehensive pangenome and pantranscriptome resource (Nature) @howarthoats.bsky.social (Summary by Ching Chan) buff.ly/tJW1bEw #PlantaePSRW

🪱 Selfish genes are everywhere and drive some of biology’s biggest innovations (CRISPR, antibody recombination, epigenetics). Yet almost no one asks the obvious question: how does a selfish gene begin? Our new manuscript uncovers how selfishness can emerge directly from the host genome.

📣NEWS: We are delighted to share that Dr Aileen Berasategui @berasymbionts.bsky.social will join us as a new group leader next year. “Aileen is an exceptionally talented scientist and brings new expertise to TSL in plant-insect-fungal interactions” says @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social buff.ly/kRs4ASU

Getting ready for our #PlantGenomics courses! 🌱🔬 The course is almost full, so check out the details soon if you want to join and learn about the power of long-read sequencing and cloud-based data analysis. Feel free to spread the word! 👉 www.izmb.uni-bonn.de/en/pbb/news#... @puckerlab.bsky.social

Our new preprint is online! Viruses, bacteria and parasites use effector proteins to evade immunity and rewire host cell pathways. Together with @AlexanderStark8, we wondered if we could systematically map what these effectors, regardless of their origin, do in human cells. 1/8

"I was (...) surprised to learn about the #childcare #grants available through EMBO. Not many other institutions provide these opportunities (...)” says Sheila Roitman, EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow at Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: https://www.embo.org/people/a-resilient-journey-through-science/#childcare🧪 #funding

Very proud of Catarina Lino for facilitating the first ever sequencing of a plant genome on Zimbabwean soil, together with local organiser and collaborator Prince Marowa. With thanks to the Max Planck Society ARTEMIS Bridging Minds and the University of Zimbabwe! www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-pat...

We’re #hiring! Our #IMPRS @mpipz.bsky.social & @unicologne.bsky.social recruits 4 PhD students. We look for candidates with a keen interest in experimental & computational plant biology to join us in 2026! Find details at www.mpipz.mpg.de/imprs/imprs-... and apply by Jan 5. #PlantSciJobs

periodic reminder of the existence of Atkinson Hyperlegible, a free font available from the Braille Institute designed to improve readability for people with low vision I use it in talks because it's pretty and also because, as an audience member, I am perpetually squinting at people's slides

NEW pub in @science.org 🥳 Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life? For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided. We provide new evidence suggesting that... 🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Congratulations to Sorek lab alumnus Nitzan Tal, who won the prestigious 2025 Science & SciLifeLab prize for the best PhD thesis in Systems Biology! 💫 Read her Prize Assay, published in the journal Science today www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @nitzantal.bsky.social

Thanks so much for the invitation and hospitality @somssich.bsky.social and Viktor! Super impressed by the work you do at @kwsgroup.bsky.social! I have now a whole new appreciation for sugar beet 🫜🧬🤯

Brasó-Vives et al. publish a new Perspective in GBE, highlighting underexplored dimensions of genomic variation that contribute to phenotypic diversity beyond the DNA sequence, contributing to our understanding of genome evolution. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf204 #genome #evolution

Interested in #sustainability? 🧪 Read the interview "Science for a Sustainable Future" with Ron Milo, Professor and Dean of Education at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and EMBO Member: https://www.embo.org/people/science-for-a-sustainable-future-ron-milo-on-biology-and-scientific-storytelling/

This is a remarkable study describing a new fungal species in a 407 million year old plant - Rugososporomyces lavoisierae Strullu-Derrien and Schornack sp. nov - using some amazing technology. Worth a read 👇

Happy to see this paper from my time with @spicybotrytis.bsky.social out in @theplantcell.bsky.social! Amanda, a fantastic PhD student with Dan, led this "phylo-functional" work & uncovered complex duplication & loss of a glucosinolate gene across the Brassicaceae affecting enantiomeric specificity

📖Latest from the lab: Evo. characterization #antiviral #SAMD9/9L across #kingdoms🚶‍♀️🦍🦠🧫🖥️: ancient #convergence + #adaptations @natecoevo.nature.com Led by amazing Alexandre Legrand +major contributions by Rémi Demeure & Amandine Chantharath @ciri-lyon.bsky.social 1/n www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Now online in its final version. Plz surf to doi.org/10.1111/tpj....

The Pea Aphid's Secret Weapon Uncovered! 🤫 Our Commentary highlights the discovery of aphid effector Ap4—a single salivary protein—that manipulates the plant's defense system to boost pest's reproductive success. apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/... @msr20.bsky.social @mpmijournal.bsky.social

There's still time to RSVP and receive the Zoom link for the Philip N. Benfey Arabidopsis Community Lifetime Achievement Awards webinar featuring Detlef Weigel, Mark Estelle, and Maarten Koornneef! RSVP---> bit.ly/naascawards @plantevolution.bsky.social

Prophage induction drives soybean rhizobacterial community differentiation and nutrient cycling benefiting root development -in #ISMEComms with @bedutilh.bsky.social academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...

I recently moved my lab to Purdue University and am looking for graduate students. We are working at the interface of population genomics, quantitative genetics and functional genomics to understand how plants adapt to extreme environments. Reach out if you would like to discuss potential projects.

@sheilaroitman.bsky.social from Detlef Weigel's lab @plantevolution.bsky.social presents a cool and innovative talk on the uncharacterized members of the plant microbiome: phages!! So many bacterial 16S studies but very few people study the plant phagome #PMS2025

New Pre-print! Pseudomonas virulence factor SaxA detoxifies plant glucosinolate hydrolysis products, rescuing a commensal that suppresses virulence gene expression doi.org/10.1101/2025... Driven by Kerstin Unger, we find that a "virulence factor" has cool roles in microbe-microbe interactions

Friday Flower 009: Nigella arvensis ✨ Nigella’s flowers form a morphologically complex display with ornate bracts and blue sepals. The true petals have diverse patterning with intricate, nectar-bearing structures that look alien.

Magnus Nordborg of the GMI from the @oeaw.bsky.social has received a Synergy Grant from the @erc.europa.eu. With Richard Durbin and @felipekteixeira.bsky.social, they will investigate how transposable elements shape genome evolution in eukaryotes. Read more: www.oeaw.ac.at/gmi/news-eve...

Bacteria can sense when a virus starts shredding their genome — by detecting methylated mononucleotides. Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

@asaflevylab.bsky.social on The function of plant microbiota against herbivore insects #PMS2025

Nicolas Rojas Preciado, The Sugar Beet Leaf Microbiome Harbors Aphid-Killing Bacteria Whose Composition Shifts in Response to Aphid Infestation #PMS2025

📢 Open Call! The Max Perutz Labs invite applications for a Tenure-Track Professorship in Genome Biology. We are particularly interested in researchers investigating the molecular and biophysical mechanisms underlying genome function and regulation. More details ➡️ tinyurl.com/3t7vvdct

Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era. ✍️ Rachel Ehrenberg knowmag.org/4hImL8e

1/ It is my pleasure to share the latest preprint of the team: "Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants" doi.org/10.1101/2025... Here, we identified and functionally validated a novel master regulator of intracellular symbioses! A thread ... #PlantScience

Can plants actively recruit specific microbes with beneficial functions? @harrobouwmeester.bsky.social tries to answer this question with “YES!” #PMS2025

My new Emmy Noether Group is recruiting! 🔬 Two PhD positions in plant pathogen evolution 🧬 Start: April 2026 (flexible) 📍 Dept. of Phytopathology & Plant Protection @rstam.bsky.social @uni-kiel.de ⏰ Apply by 15 Dec 2025 🔗 More info: www.uni-kiel.de/personal/de/... Do get in touch or share 😊

A wheat NLR conferring broad-spectrum resistance against powdery mildew by recognizing two structurally diverse AVR effectors. Interested? Check out our newest preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Just tried q.e.d. by @odedrechavi.bsky.social et al. with a few papers including by myself & others where I knew a claim within was flawed based on a misunderstanding of the signal. 1) it was impressive. I see what the hype is about. 2) it hallucinated. www.qedscience.com Overly long #SciPub🧵 1/n

Postdoc position in my lab in Cologne starting early next year or latest in spring to get this exciting project started. jobportal.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...

Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n #ProtistsOnSky tinyurl.com/2zxaund7

Excited to introduce Auxenochlorella as a new algal reference organism for fundamental plant science and bioengineering. A paper in two parts: a genetic toolkit for site-specific genomic manipulation, paired with the most unusual genome I’ve ever worked on academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...

Registration is open to take part in the Molecular Biology of Plants (#MBP2026), which especially invites early career scientists to present their molecular #plantsci research www.pflanzen-molekularbiologie.de/en/conferenc...

This Halloween, we have a spooky evolutionary story for you. The brainchild of @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social, Nick Irwin and our fantastic collaborators is now out in @natplants.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41... Here’s why I love this work — and why I think you’ll enjoy it too. 👇