How many other people teaching Genetics go into how Mendelian genetics concepts do not need DNA to be true? Or how Mendelian genetics does not inherently make causal arguments? Or how polygenic traits follow Mendelian rules?

Enzyme/GO overlap note of the week. Plant Glutathione-S-transferases might have more biosynthetic functions than ROS detoxification functions. Also, CYP450s are listed as redox genes but are almost all biosynthetic. So if you see ROS/Redox terms, take a glance to make sure it isn't biosynthesis.

I wonder how Ross Douthat from @nytimes.com is thinking his oped on current foreign policy success is aging? After only a week.

In plant-pathogen or plant-microbe interactions what is the proper null. - there is specific coevolution of any pathogen/microbe such that it was at least partly adapted to the host isolated. -the host of isolation may have not effected the pathogen in the slightest.

Why can’t an American brewery understand how simple is super tasty. No need for bourbon barrels, peanut butter, imperial, espresso, etc. just a solid brown/dark beer. Perfect fall yardwork break. Admittedly the Maui coconut porter is a guilty exception.

It is official, I am fully my maternal grandmother. The African violet is supposedly a cutting from hers.

So theoretical question, if one can shift a trait from oligo to polygenic simply by removing a large effect allele from the population, is there a real difference or is it just human desire to define?

Waiting for Ross Douthat at @nytimes.com to write an article about how the pope is wrong and that unrepentant violence and aggression against anyone is perfectly appropriate for a Catholic to support. While being pedantic about and around everything.

MPMI Terminology question - What simple phrasing would you use differentiate a plant response that happens to all members of a pathogen species versus the same plants response that is limited to one or a few pathogen genotypes in the species.

I'm thinking I should make this a weekly post - Does anyone have good literature on a anthocyanin biosynthetic mutant having a stress sensitivity phenotype in the wild beyond UV-B?

@planteditors.bsky.social, any good suggestions on how to erase writing from ones head? I'm teaching a couple of writing classes and realizing I can't erase the previous document from my head efficiently enough to pay full attention to the next. PS - Yes, I should not be teaching writing classes.

What makes me really happy is that someone as experienced as yourself continues to see the value of professional editors in helping improve the writing :)

Half of this years squash crop. All volunteer due to megafauna dispersal.

After having @planteditors.bsky.social look through a paper and only suggest a single wording change within the main text. Only took 24 years to get there. (Gotta love that caveat)

Host-pathogen cotranscriptome papers are really intricate to write as you have genes that are host influenced, pathogen influenced and interaction influenced in both the host and the pathogen.

Our article "Guns in Rosettes: The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal" is finally published @plantphys.bsky.social! You can download the #OpenAccess PDF here: doi.org/10.1093/plph... But real connoisseurs of #AntimicrobialCompounds will want to get the vinyl boxset: #PlantScience #PlantImmunity

Thinking of the standard senntence saying “because plants are sessile they …”. Is the direction arrow correct? Or is sessile not a cause but a consequence? I.e. because plants are autotrophic, they are sessile.

If you were the predicting sort, how much of a plants metabolism would be in the following four categories? Primary Anabolism Primary Catabolism Specialized Anabolism Specialized Catabolism Feel free to define "how much" by gene #, enzyme #, flux fraction, etc. And your own 1 v 2 defn. #secmet

Breakfast in bed with new season butternut. A happy Mastiff

An interesting part of Brassica/Glucosinolate. There is so much myrosinase that the glucosinolates 1/2 life in herbivory is on the order of seconds. For any receptor signal to matter it has to cause significant effects in less time than seconds onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/.... #secmet

Anyone have any literature on how yeast or other fungi detect plant phytohormones? I know they respond to them but am struggling with the search terms to find the genes that allow fungi to respond to plant compounds.

Fantastic PhD opportunity to join myself, Nicola Patron and @lichmanlab.bsky.social in uncovering the biosynthesis and function of lettuce sesquiterpene lactones. 4-year fully-funded combining molecular & engineering biology, & plant pathology. Deadline Nov 25th www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Just an outrageous amount of structural variation in pennycress. While not yet reproductively isolated, its likely these shredded pericentromeres contribute to some reproductive incompatibilities.

New — with @joannarifkin.bsky.social, @jotlovell.bsky.social, @spicybotrytis.bsky.social, and many more — we created seven new high-quality genomes and explored pangenomic variation in the emerging oilseed crop pennycress (Thlaspi arvense). 1/

Having a 17 hand Gelding who likes to lean on fences means weekends are a bit of exercise.

NSF GRFP solicitation is out. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo... • Have completed less than one academic year in a graduate degree program (according to the institution’s academic calendar; non-degree coursework must be clearly identified in the transcript and does not count toward this limit).

Colt; Why are we up so early? I had another hour of sleeping. Me; have genetics to teach at 8AM Colt; ha ha ha, who did you irritate? Me; eat your alfalfa. Colt; ha ha ha, munch munch munch

Fun review of Arabidopsis anti-pathogen metabolism with @somssich.bsky.social and @tonnigrubeandersen.bsky.social. Started to make a complete catalogue and had to focus. Even with all this knowledge, we still haven't studied most Arabidopsis enzymes or metabolites doi.org/10.1093/plph...

Stage - the three month old colt has a 1.5 Acre pasture surrounded by five foot fencing. Act - go outside and say “that is sweet, the German shepherd and the colt are playing. Waaaiiiitt, the colt is not in the pasture!!!!” Finding - at three months he can cleanly jump five feet. Feeling

Sunset

Batch number 5 for the year. This pot represents about 30 Lbs of paste tomatoes. Crazily that is one plant this year.

a genetics major built by early biochemical geneticists taught us that single alleles were likely to be simultaneously recessive, dominant and additive. Just depends on what you measure. A fxnl enzyme is dominant over the non functional for product, recessive for substrate and additive for protein.

Is it too late for a first day of school picture? He refused to wear the backpack or carry the lunch bale.

Thought ? on translatability/generalizability; If a #secmet has independently evolved dozens of times from ferns to angiosperms (e.g. cyanogenic glucosides). Even by different chemistry. What do we expect to translate from one independent event to another? And why do we or do we not expect that?

Here is Andrew’s obituary, where you can share a tribute or plant a tree in his memory as a way to honor his life 🕊️ www.forestmeadowsfh.com/obituaries/A...

12 weeks old. Growing way too fast as pics are about four weeks apart. Makes me think I need to lift weights to keep up with him. Too ripped for a baby.

We are deeply saddened by the news that Andrew D. Hanson (@adhansonlab.bsky.social) is no longer with us. He was an exceptional scientist, mentor, and leader in multiple fields. He constantly reminded us that over-promising would backfire. Rest in peace, Andrew.

Non functional exons. You mean transposons? Non-functional for who?

Community opinion needed on a debate; Is the following a AI hallucination or the truth? - Plant genomes are well known to have nonfunctional exons hang around intact for millions of years.

Had to look up an old paper to get the doi. It still completely boggles my mind that TWO Nobel prizes have been given for small RNAs and this work wasn't recognized by either. Abstract is literally like "yeah, we found these tiny antisense RNAs and think they're probably causing gene silencing"

Six years ago, I started at the MPIPZ with a head full of ideas. What a journey. I’m thrilled to share that, from Jan 2026, I will be moving to Zurich as a chaired associate professor at the University of Zurich. A new chapter, and plenty of roots still to grow. Can’t wait for the adventure ahead!

New in #GENETICS: @lensinkmariele.bsky.social, @grey-monroe.bsky.social, @spicybotrytis.bsky.social identify an important role of trans-acting loci for transcriptomic plasticity in response to salicylic acid, thereby describing plant adaptation mechanisms to environmental changes. buff.ly/fIAn1eg

Orthogroup analysis shows that very few genes are truly conserved across all plants, vascular or not. So are the important genes really the ones that are conserved? Or are they simply the minimal backbone on which all the important genes function?

15 pounds of tomatoes, 8 pounds of eggplant and a pound of peppers.

I feel like such a baddie there’s a waitlist for my Bayesian Stats grad seminar. Honestly thought it was just going to just be my grad students that I forced to take it.

Finally cooled down enough for Mom and Baby to sleep after a long hot day.

I feel like all the David Brooks and Ross Douthat columns @nytimes.com are basically coalescing around the idea the people are inherently vile at their core unless they have a structure like religion to save them. We can’t expect people to rise above. Talk about nihilist.

Legal game theory; Over past decade +, corporate lawyers started urging settlements rather than trials to minimize the risk of large losses. However, this appears to have taught other lawyers/people that suing, even without basis, has a greater potential for payout. The risk now is in not suing.

We met as science editors for @theplantcell.bsky.social and founded our company to provide science editing for plant biologists, and by plant biologists!

In the final talk, @nancyrhof.bsky.social from @planteditors.bsky.social gave a great talk about effective writing in science—here she is giving the Plant Editors origin story!