OMG this looks amazing! Can't wait to read 🤩

Final question - what kind of soil did you use in the video above?

I never would have thought to use an electric toothbrush - that's so clever!

After flowering do they self on their own pretty well? Or did you have to help out with hand pollination?

Ok this whole thread makes me feel better. Maybe someday I can try again with C. nictitans. It would be so cool to go back and do some of the experiments we originally planned

Wow - what an amazing sample!

Although we find high rates of molecular evolution across mutualist genomes, symbiosis genes do not show evidence of ongoing coevolution. We would be happy to hear your feedback and ideas on our work!

We observed the same pattern in bacteria genomes. Genome wide, nodulating bacteria had higher dN/dS ratios compared to non-symbiotic bacteria.

Interestingly, we found higher dN/dS values in mutualist plants genome wide (shown in figure) but not at symbiotic genes.

We sequenced transcriptomes of 6 mutualistic legumes and 6 non-mutualistic close relatives (labelled tips in the tree) and compared dN/dS ratios across the genome and at symbiotic genes. We also compared dN/dS ratios in sequenced nodulating and non-symbiotic bacteria genomes

New preprint on my molecular evolution work with @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social and @mfrederickson.bsky.social! Inspired by work in parasite literature, we looked for evidence of increased rates of molecular evolution in mutualistic interactions. What did we find?

The Kreiner and Carley Labs at @UChicago E&E are co-hiring a Lab Manager/Research Technician position in Plant Evolutionary Ecology & Genomics!

Please see the link for more details and instructions on how to apply: bit.ly/UChiPlantTec...

Surprisingly, we saw a decrease in diversity and increase in abundance of anaerobic taxa in treatments with high concentrations of organic de-icers. The drastic shift in the bacterial community suggests that organic de-icers may not be as “eco-friendly” as initially anticipated!

The impacts of traditional, inorganic, and organic de-icers were tested on lake water bacterial community assembly in a mesocosm experiment at QUBS. After 6 weeks, the 16S rRNA locus was sequenced in bacterial community samples.

Our team combines perspectives from molecular biologists, microbiologists, and ecologists including Troy Martin, Collin Juurakko, Shelley Arnott, and Virginia Walker

Do you use salt on your icy driveway in the winter? There are a lot of de-icer options currently available. Before you make your choice, check out this work which I had the opportunity to contribute to as part of a collaborative team at Queen’s U Bio www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/16...

One of my PhD projects with @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social and @mfrederickson.bsky.social is now published in Molecular Ecology! We uncovered a latitudinal diversity gradient in non-rhizobia microbes associated with C. nictitans plants but not in rhizobia. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I too am recruiting graduate students, postdocs, and a lab technician for my group at UChicago, starting fall 2024! We will be doing exciting work to uncover the limits of plant adaptation in changing environments.

Extrafloral nectary on a legume producing a nectar droplet

New paper from my lab, led by Pooja Nathan (not on this app yet). We found that extrafloral nectaries (ant-attracting glands on non-floral plant parts) have facilitated legume and ant invasions around the globe

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...