Can CRISPR edits enable precise tuning of plant gene expression? We think: yes.

In our newest manuscript, we measured the effects of >30,000 CRISPR-like promoter mutations in sorghum protoplasts.

🚨 Positions available in Plant Science! Please share. We’re hiring:
1. Postdoc
2.PhD (UK applicants only)
Focus: root oxygen dynamics, developmental signalling. Come help us uncover how O2 shapes root development.
More info here-
sites.google.com/view/root-re...
#plantscijobs #plantscience

Designing and testing CRISPRi-based synthetic gene circuits in plants - Nature Protocols This protocol details the design principles and procedures for building programmable CRISPRi-based gene circuits, and for testing individual components and the assembled circuits in various plant spec...

Where is the #Arabidopsis community on @bsky.app? Any #Brassica fans? See our recent protocol covering design principles and considerations for building and testing programmable and reversible CRISPRi-based gene circuits in plants.
🧪 #plantscience @natprot.nature.com @ryanlister.bsky.social

ONE WEEK LEFT TO APPLY: We’re hiring 4 roles at UWA's Plant Synbio Innovation Centre: Facility Manager + 3 Postdocs (single-cell genomics/screening; molecular tools; construct prototyping) bit.ly/4qfoftG bit.ly/3MFgD59 bit.ly/4pFT6jf bit.ly/48VkgLw

Apply by Tuesday 27 Jan 2026 (11:55pm AWST)

Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.

Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9

Big update: My the first Lloyd Lab conceived and conducted study has been accepted and published:

Start Right to End Right: Authentic Open Reading Frame Selection Matters for Nonsense-Mediated Decay Target Identification

www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/16...

Now larger and better than the pre-print

CREation of an expanded plant memory gene circuit toolkit Genetic circuits rely on modular, well-characterized genetic parts to achieve predictable cellular behaviour. Despite their widespread adoption, biological parts are complex and when used in a new mol...

I am delighted to share our latest work on memory gene circuits for plants. This work was led by the phenomenal PhD student @patrickgong.bsky.social

A lot of debugging & highlights how even simple components in synthetic biology can have unexpected properties.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Just a few days left to apply! (closes Aug 25)

🎵 Every move you make, every telomere you shake, every strand you break, we’ll be watchin’ you...🎵 Advanced-imaging guru needed to keep a close eye on plant synthetic chromosomes in our ARIA research project at UWA in Perth & ‪@plants4space.bsky.social‬. Apply now: bit.ly/3GKSRSA

Repressive cytosine methylation is a marker of viral gene transfer across divergent eukaryotes Abstract. Cytosine DNA methylation patterns vary widely across eukaryotes, with its ancestral roles being understood to have included both transposable ele

Happy to see our latest work out in @molbioevol.bsky.social. We revisit the evolution of 5-methylcytosine across neglected eukaryotic supergroups, establishing an ancestral repressive role silencing genome invaders, both transposons and viral elements👾: academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-... 🧵 1/7

We're hiring! Need a microscopy wizard to help build the world’s first synthetic plant chromosome! Bring your lights, lasers, & lens-craft to characterise new artificial chromosomes. Join our ARIA-funded project at UWA in Perth & ‪@plants4space.bsky.social‬. Apply: bit.ly/3GKSRSA

Come join us at UWA & @plants4space.bsky.social on the @aria-research.bsky.social funded project to build the first synthetic chromosome for plants!

We are looking for specific expertise with microscopy to look at the synthetic chromosome we are building.

external.jobs.uwa.edu.au/cw/en/job/52...

We're hiring for 2 postdocs to work in our lab in London on the newly announced Wellcome Trust SynHG project. If you know people looking to work on big-scale ambitious science like this, please RT and share this with them. Apply by 7/20, interviews in Aug. imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...

Recombinases your thing? In the latest from my lab, Veronica Greco shows how @nanopore sequencing + automated liquid handling provides the perfect platform for characterising these systems at scale! Awesome collaboration with @jennbrophy.bsky.social @sarah-guiziou.bsky.social doi.org/10.1101/2025...

I got hit by some rather sudden and extreme financial hardship so if anyone is in need of remote wetlab contract research, strictly BSL1, do let me know. Currently scrambling for gigs.

Plant, Bacterial, Archaeal Non-model Bioeng
Custom Lab Hardware
Turn Key Genetic Design

Please repost for reach 💚

Diagram highlighting the principles of genetic circuits. Inputs include chemicals, light, ions, which are perceived by sensors, which work through integrators, leading to outputs such as metabolites or growth changes.

#PlantScience Research Weekly: April 11, 2025. plantae.org/plant-scienc... 150 years of Arabidopsis genetics; Rewiring plant traits with synthetic circuits; Expansion microscopy in protoplasts and intact roots; Carbonic anhydrase mutation uncouples WUE and photosynthesis (1/2)

CRISPRi-based circuits to control gene expression in plants - Nature Biotechnology Programmable and reversible CRISPRi-based genetic circuits function in a variety of plants.

Programmable and reversible CRISPRi-based genetic circuits function in a variety of plants go.nature.com/4bpCNQa
rdcu.be/egMmm

Thank you @aemonten.bsky.social !

This was the child of the great @adil-khan.bsky.social ! A huge effort of development and refinement

Engineering resistance with help from Liverworts, Mosses and Ferns | John Innes Centre Plant diversity and synthetic biology offer solutions to the global challenge of crop protection Non-flowering plants such as liverworts, mosses, and ferns belong to divergent lineages with ancient…

Engineering resistance with help from Liverworts, Mosses and Ferns

@Phil_Carella @JohnInnesCentre www.jic.ac.uk/research-imp...

The switch‐liker's guide to plant synthetic gene circuits Synthetic gene circuits have the potential to revolutionise how plants can be engineered by allowing highly customised gene expression patterns to be designed. Gene circuits can sense and integrate m....

Our new review in @theplantjournal.bsky.social on synthetic gene circuits is out! I am super proud of this. I hope that it acts as a useful resource for people new to gene circuits.

The switch-liker's guide to plant synthetic gene circuits

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

If you're struggling to assemble large DNA constructs, check out Chengsong's DASH system, which combines Golden Gate cloning, recombineering, and site-specific recombinases to build multigene constructs of ~100kb.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Engineering a New Generation of Gene Editors: Integrating Synthetic Biology and AI Innovations CRISPR-Cas technology has revolutionized biology by enabling precise DNA and RNA edits with ease. However, significant challenges remain for translating this technology into clinical applications. Tra...

Engineering a New Generation of Gene Editors: Integrating Synthetic Biology and AI Innovations
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Synthetic gene circuits in plants: recent advances and challenges | Quantitative Plant Biology | Cambridge Core Synthetic gene circuits in plants: recent advances and challenges - Volume 6

📜 Synthetic gene circuits in plants: recent advances and challenges

🧑‍🔬 @adil-khan.bsky.social, @ryanlister.bsky.social

📔 Quantitative Plant Biology

🔗 www.cambridge.org/core/product...

#️⃣ #PlantScience #PlantSynBio #PlantSynthBio #SynBio

Synthetic gene circuits in plants: recent advances and challenges | Quantitative Plant Biology | Cambridge Core Synthetic gene circuits in plants: recent advances and challenges - Volume 6

Happy to share our new review on plant synthetic circuits in Quantitative Plant Biology
We explore the latest advances & challenges in the field.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#synbio #plants

Thank you very much James!

Synthetic gene circuits in plants: recent advances and challenges | Quantitative Plant Biology | Cambridge Core Synthetic gene circuits in plants: recent advances and challenges - Volume 6

New review on plant synthetic gene circuits by their pioneer @adil-khan.bsky.social

Synthetic gene circuits in plants: recent advances and challenges

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

AI-directed gene fusing prolongs the evolutionary half-life of synthetic gene circuits
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Logo for the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, consisting of text and a green gingko leaf. The words ‘work with us’ are underneath.

We’re looking for 3 postdocs to join our lab and work on engineering plant gene expression, metabolism and growth. If you have enthusiasm & skills in synthetic biology or metabolic engineering, apply by Jan 31.
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49767/
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49773/
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49769/

🌱 Demirer Lab 🌱 @caltech.edu is looking for passionate graduate students to join us! Explore our exciting research for a sustainable future: demirerlab.com 🌏 🌱 🦠

📢 Apply here to CCE or BBE: t.co/cIv8Hbfy0Z and mention your interest in our lab in your statement.

🗓️ Application deadline: Dec 1

Mapping enhancer-gene regulatory interactions from single-cell data https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.23.624931v1 Mapping enhancers and their target genes in specific cell types is crucial for understanding gene re

Mapping enhancer-gene regulatory interactions from single-cell data www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11....