Using just one protein, NblA, this cyanophage triggers the host’s phycobilisome to be dismantled by its own proteases, freeing up amino acids that ultimately support faster viral replication. 👿What a bad guy — smart, but still a bad guy. 🥹RIP to my phycobilisome buddy www.nature.com/articles/s41...

CRISPR-Cas–mediated heritable chromosome fusions in Arabidopsis | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Very nice work from Holger Puchta & colleagues

How can a PhD blend science with art, and dessert with creativity? 🤔 I tried it by making a “night-sky cake“— colored with phycocyanin, the same vivid blue pigment 💙 found in the algae I study. My supervisor recognized the source of the color immediately — he’s incredibly sharp!

Our paper on the #genome of the Trebouxia #photobiont from Xanthoria is now out in @newphyt.bsky.social! Check below for a near-chromosome level assembly, secretome analysis, evidence of ancient HGT, and transcriptomic comparison of the alga in symbiosis and in pure culture doi.org/10.1111/nph.70728

Really enjoyed catching up with Alison over lunch today — such a fun and inspiring chat! 🌿 Also loved her talk on synthetic plastomes in Chlamydomonas — super cool work!

Weekend brain finally caught up 🫠✨Had such a great time at the Plant and People! Huge thanks to the amazing organizers for making it happen 🌵 Super happy to take home a poster prize 🎉 A lovely little boost for my tiny research journey — exactly what I needed to keep going

We are delighted to announce another PhD success at @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social‬! 🎉 Dr. Jinghan Liu has passed her PhD viva in the group of Reimo Zoschke. 🌱🔬 Huge congratulations on this achievement—wishing you all the best for what’s next! 🎓✨

🧪 After my third failed experiment, I told my PI: "Maybe this is nature’s way of telling us it doesn’t want to be edited." PI: 🥶 （created by AI）

Registration is now OPEN for the 7th Plants & People Conference (P&P’25)! Join us Sept 9–10 at MPI-MP for talks on plant science, AI, space research & more. Poster submissions are welcome! Sign up here: plants-and-people.mpg.de/form/registr... #PlantsandPeople #P&P’25

Huge congrats to @dunkelmann.bsky.social‬‬ who secured £9.1 million funding for project SyncSol to develop a universal chloroplast genome for plants of the nightshade family. If successful, SyncSol could revolutionize plant breeding.‬ 🌱🧬 More: www.mpimp-golm.mpg.de/2796756/news_publication_24809749

New research by @egonzalezduran.bsky.social shows that DSB repair suppresses gene transfer from chloroplasts to nucleus. With DSB repair impaired, transfer rates jump 20× — revealing how plants protect genome stability, with lessons beyond plant biology. Read: nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02005-w

Me in GPT's eyes.

Initiation of Translation in Bacteria and Chloroplasts www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Genome editing in the green alga Chlamydomonas: past, present practice and future prospects onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @theplantjournal.bsky.social

Looking for a #PhDposition in #PlantScience ? Our #IMPRS @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social and Uni Potsdam is currently recruiting! 📅 Apply by February 28, 2025 👉 www.mpimp-golm.mpg.de/IMPRS-PhD #PlantSciJobs #PhDjobs #PlantPhysiology #epigenetics #PlantMicrobe #compbio #PlantBiology #PlantSci #plantPhD