A biology journal trialled paying their reviewers and found it led to faster first editorial decisions – and increased review quality. go.nature.com/446SaLu

In meiosis homologous chromosomes pair and exchange DNA non-randomly. How does reproductive gender and chromosome sequence shape recombination landscapes? To answer this we generated new wild tomato genomes and many reciprocal crosses with @usadellab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/ Excited to share our new bioRxiv preprint! "4D spatial transcriptomics reveals nodule identity emerges through stacked parallel developmental programs" 📄 doi.org/10.64898/202... Using Xenium, we generated a 4D (3D space + time) atlas of nodule development in Medicago truncatula.

I know it seems like a heretical idea, but one way to figure out if a preprint is really interesting (to you) is... to read the preprint. Then, in the spirit of sharing, send a note to authors: a simple kudos or a more detailed question. I do this a dozen times a year. It's awesome. Try it.

1/8 What if the genomic features we associate with fungal pathogens were also used by mutualists? We assembled 41 scale lichen genomes across 11 Peltigera species with 30 chromosome scale and 5 T2T revealing an unexpected genomic toolkit behind lichen symbiosis. doi.org/10.64898/202... #lichen

A chromosome-scale super-pangenome of the lichen genus Peltigera reveals genome architecture and expanded interaction repertoires shared across pathogenic and mutualistic fungi https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.16.732702v1

📣 We are hiring! In the collaborative research center 'Plant Ecological Genetics' @teamthomma.bsky.social searches a PhD candidate to study the role of plant-associated microbiota in plant density responses and inter-plant competition. See project A07: sl1nk.com/b7z0doc Deadline July 10!

A new documentary on scientific approaches to replace industrial nitrogen fertilizers is now online @artefr.bsky.social (only in DE/FR). Among them is our and @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social's work @ensa-research.bsky.social further supported by @cibss.bsky.social. www.arte.tv/de/videos/11...

Updated @theplantjournal.bsky.social guidelines: avoid the use of terms such as “basal”, “early diverging lineage”, “primitive”, “ancestral plant”, “lower and higher plants” [..] recommends the use of specific terms such as “bryophytes”, “vascular plants” [..] onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

Awesome! 👏 Finally, science has convinced sufficient politicians to approve the new NGT-rules to enable CRISPR-based plant breeding! Time to celebrate!🎉🎊🥂🧬✂️🌱 www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres...

just before he died, craig venter spoke to @sciam.bsky.social about the state of science in the US. it's a really eye-opening interview and part of our july/aug double issue celebrating #SciAmYoungScientists. check it out. www.scientificamerican.com/article/crai...

We have openings at the University of Cologne, come and join our consortium in Plant Ecological Genetics TRR341!Applications open soon for 10 PhD position. Description here: trr341.uni-koeln.de/join-us #TRR341 #PlantEcologicalGenetics

When a protist engulfed a cynaobacterium, Earth changed forever! @jandevries.bsky.social, @caeciliafkunz.bsky.social, @heche.bsky.social & colleagues review the origins and evolution of archaeoplastids, the lineage that arose from this event, including plants & co www.cell.com/current-biol...

Interested in how #fungi came about on this planet? If so, take a look at my new article that just came out in @annualreviews.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1146/annu...

New preprint out 🌱 We present a new T-DNA vector system for Arabidopsis that supports clean, genomically mapped, single-copy T-DNA insertion with predictable cell-type/conditional gene expression. @mokhalil.bsky.social + Gehring labs biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵1/16

Yesterday, Plantletics 🌿, the running group representing the Institute for Plant Sciences @unicologne.bsky.social, took part in the #UniLauf, and we had a fantastic time‼️

Our paper "Gene ancestries reveal diverse microbial associations during eukaryogenesis.” is finally out in Nature. Eukaryogenesis was likely a gradual process shaped by multiple microbial partners and virus-mediated gene transfer, rather than a single binary symbiosis. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Finally out in @Cellcellpress! Proteins with long IDRs are prone to misfolding during protein synthesis. This is prevented by mRNA 3′UTRs that act as mRNA-based IDR chaperones. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Host killing by necrotrophs is really complex. Using a 29-gene knockout series in Botrytis cinerea, we show that removing nearly all known cell death-inducing proteins and major phytotoxins is not sufficient to prevent host necrosis. Check out the paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Hiring: Junior Group Leader (f) in Protein Science — CRC 1664 SNP2Prot, MLU Halle. Lead your own group + budget, funded PhD, world-class protein-structure facilities. 5 yrs, E14. Apply by 7 July 2026. snp2prot.uni-halle.de #ProteinScience #SNP2Prot #AcademicJobs

Please RT: Registration is ongoing for our International Symposium "Microbial Networking - from organelles to cross-kingdom communities" organized as highlight of the first funding period of CRC 1535 @mibinet.bsky.social www.sfb1535.hhu.de/internationa... @dfg.de, @hhu.de, @fz-juelich.de

Happy to share our work! 🍄🍇 Botrytis cinerea grapevine-specialized strains harbor a specific repertoire of transposons. While retrotransposon-derived small RNAs do not appear to play a significant role in virulence on grapevine, a new giant transposon—a #Starship— confers arsenic resistance.

Here we show that low intra-microbiota antagonism underlies stable, protective barley root microbiota. Microbiota function cannot be predicted from beneficial traits of individual strains alone, but depends on compatibility among community members. #Microbiome #Plant www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

📢 new preprint! How do commensal bacteria establish themselves on plant roots despite plant immunity? We identify Cpi1, a conserved membrane-anchored protease inhibitor in Pseudomonas that promotes early root colonization and modulates microbial community assembly. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

📣Last week another @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social dropped: "A fungal pathogen effector that shapes host plant microbiota kills bacteria through lipoteichoic acid binding and membrane disruption" a joint effort by @nicksnelders.bsky.social & @gabriellapetti.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

TL;DR: We've identified more than 100 cases of apparent manipulation in Thermo Fisher Scientific's antibody verification data. @sholtodavid.bsky.social @johanduchene.bsky.social reeserichardson.blog/2026/05/28/h...

Reluctant to post too much about this but I did want to share my favourite finding from the dozens of manipulated or duplicated ThermoFisher verification blots. This one has a giant square. Enjoy!

Congratulations to Prof. Eva Stukenbrock on her appointment to the Leopoldina. Her research on fungal pathogens helps us better understand evolution and protect crops. www.evolbio.mpg.de/3882989/eva-... #EvolutionaryBiology #Leopoldina

Another #PlantScience job opening here at @kwsgroup.bsky.social! We are looking for a #Phytopathology Scientist at our station in Murcia, Spain. As I have already written in one of last posts: Our vegetable division is expanding & it's a good time to get on board! #PlantSciJobs #PlantScienceJobs

Less Fertilizer Through Smart Alliances Working with researchers from the University of Bonn, we have discovered a molecular switch that signals for or against the maintenance of a mycorrhizal symbiosis. A study in Science Advances. More info here: www.ipb-halle.de/en/public-re...

We’re hiring for OrthoFinder! Great role for someone who enjoys scientific software development: Python, data analysis, workflows, Git, scalability, and making tools nicer to use. Comparative genomics or open-source bioinformatics experience would be a lovely bonus. my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Great piece and cover @science.org about how our field is uncovering the evolutionary and mechanistic connections between bacterial and eukaryotic immunity ! www.science.org/content/article/ancient-wars-between-microbes-gave-us-key-immune-defenses

Preprint Alert 🚨 @philcarella.bsky.social lab stepping into TIR-ritory!! Project started by me but finished by talented PhD student @ebkennedy.bsky.social (Please follow her), with contribution from Zhao He and @jonathandgjones.bsky.social We investigated EDS1-dependency of TIR domain. See thread👇

Good news for moss lovers! There will be a 2nd edition "Mosses of Europe". Pre-orders are possible from July 15 on. Mosses of Europe is one of the most comprehensive works ever made. It shows around 1250 moss taxa of Europe, illustrated by more than 10.000 photos. mossesofeurope.com

1/ Happy to share our latest work, now on bioRxiv! 🌱🍄 We explore how Serendipita indica effectors target root plastids and modulate plastidial metabolism through prion-like domains. bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #plastids #plantmicrobe #chloroplasts #plants

Very happy to share results from the first year of my PhD: we found that the model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii engages in a mutualistic interaction with Verticillium fungi. With @hroevenich.bsky.social and Urs. Graphical abstract: 🟢 + 🍄= 💚 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thrilled to see this finally out!! Our new work suggests #Starships helped #Colletotrichum acquire the genes needed to infect lupin. A glimpse into how fungal pathogens emerge through horizontal transfer and genome reshaping. biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Fungi #Genomics #Pathogenicity #evolution

It's out! 🥳 In situ architecture of #plasmodesmata - plant cytoplasmic bridges - by #cryoET. 📝 Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵 Thread: bsky.app/profile/madi... #teamtomo #proteomics #AlphaFold

Peer review crisis — this seems to make sense: A transparent universal credit system to incentivize peer review www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

We would especially welcome pitches from women and other historically excluded researchers. If a paper has inspired your science, we would like to hear from you. Format details: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

A comprehensive database for #Marchantia research Tanizawa et al. present the new improved MarpolBase #database - a central resource for M. polymorpha #genomics with near-telomere-to-telomere reference male Tak-1 and female Tak-2 genomes (ver. 7.1) 🆓 doi.org/10.1093/pcp/... #PlantScience

#Viewpoint: Status of mycorrhiza research in 2026 @alexdallaire.bsky.social & Hiromu Kameoka 👇 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #LatestIssue #PlantScience

Fungi deploy antimicrobial proteins (AMPs) to compete with microbes, including bacteria. But can bacteria fight back? We @teamthomma.bsky.social found that some AMP-sensitive bacteria can repress AMP deployment, suggesting an unrecognized bacterial–fungal arms race. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The common symbiosis pathway controls plant root microbiomes in a host-specific manner https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.08.723321v1

Carnivorous sundew plants know they’ve trapped their dinner thanks to glutathione, according to a new #ScienceAdvances study. https://scim.ag/4tlIN4X

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Thrilled to see the final chapter of my thesis now publish on Cell! It's been a long journey. @yvdp.bsky.social @almeidasilvaf.bsky.social @stevenmaere.bsky.social In this study, we try to tackle a "polyploid paradox".

📢 EffectorGeneP is finally here! Stop missing small, single-exon or orphan genes from your favourite pathogen genome. Current tools only annotate 15%-78% of effector genes, EffectorGeneP finds 95% - including the large AvrSr26 family in stem rust. #Bioinformatics 📖 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

It’s FINALLY out! We investigated the natural variations for endodermal suberin and identified SUBER GENE1 (SBG1)- Type One Protein Phosphatases (TOPPs) as a novel module that regulates endodermal suberization. @mariebarberon.bsky.social rdcu.be/fgU6g #PlantScience

I am looking for a postdoctoral fellow to join my team to work on the interplay between endocytosis and autophagy. The 3-year project runs in collaboration with the Dagdas lab @plantophagy.bsky.social and can start asap. Interested candidates can apply via the link below. jobs.vib.be/apply/134365