FocalPlane features… quantitative plant imaging across scales Thursday 30 April, 15:00 BST (UTC+1) Organised by Alex Johnson and Joe McKenna Image of Beatrice Lace (University of Freiburg) Multiplexing and Endogenous Fluorescence Discrimination Using FLIM in Plants Image of Simon Gilroy (University of Wisconsin–Madison) Do plants feel pain? How imaging has brought plant wound signaling into the human timescale. #FocalPlaneFeatures focalplane.biologists.com Image of a segmented root

We are excited to launch a new webinar series, Macro to micro: quantitative plant imaging across scales, organised by @ajcellbio.bsky.social and @joemckenna.bsky.social. Our first webinar will featured talks from @blace.bsky.social and Simon Gilroy.

focalplane.biologists.com/2026/03/30/n...

AMF paris type arbuscules that coexist with wheat roots

the arbuscules of AMF

Status of mycorrhiza research in 2026 Mycorrhizal symbiosis improves the nutrition of most land plants and plays key roles in nutrient cycling and ecosystem function. To understand and leverage the biology of mycorrhizal symbioses for su...

The first publication from the Dallaire and Kameoka labs is out! A forward-looking review on the status of mycorrhiza research in 2026, with emphasis on AM fungi doi.org/10.1111/nph.... @newphyt.bsky.social @ulaval.ca 🇨🇦

道端に生えているハルジオン（Erigeron philadelphicus）の根に共生するアーバスキュラー菌根菌。
アーバスキュラー菌根菌は特別な菌ではなく私たちの身近なところでも植物のパートナーとして存在する普遍的な存在。

At the bottom of the image above you can see the spore-like 'auxiliary cells'. It becomes clear where this fungus gets it name when you find a true spore!

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄
A visit from an artist yesterday was the perfect excuse to spend some time admiring this very beautiful arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus: 𝘎𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢 (pictured here colonising rice roots)
#mycosky #fungi #microscopy

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄
A tangentially-festive sample this week: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonising the root cells of Ivy 🌿🎄☃️
#mycosky #festive #fungi

The arbuscules of arbuscular mycorrhiza

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄
Motivated by a seminar from @tomthirkell.bsky.social, I've delved back into my image archives of mycorrhizal fungi in random plant species. This beautifully bunchy fungal arbuscule in a buttercup root needed sharing!🔬🏵️
#mycosky #fungi #microscopy #outreach

Defining the pre-symbiotic transcriptional landscape of rice roots Plants interact with a plethora of organisms in the rhizosphere, with outcomes that range from detrimental to beneficial. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is the most ubiquitous beneficial plant ...

It's been a busy time in the Paszkowski lab!

First, a pre-print on how rice distinguishes friend (AM fungi)🍄 from foe (pathogens)👾: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

And second, a review on single-cell omic approaches to understand the spatially and temporally complex AM symbiosis 🔬: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

A child in a pink jacket paints a colourful fungi-themed picture at a Fungi Field Day at Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Did you know that over 90% of fungi are still unknown to science? 🍄 Join us at Fungi Field Day 2025 to discover more fungi facts! 📅 Sat 4 Oct | 10am – 4pm
Talks, walks, crafts & more - free with normal Garden admission. To find out more: bit.ly/48ABVcS

Promotional poster for Fungi Field Day event on Saturday, 4 October from 10am to 4pm. Features illustrations of various types of mushrooms.

🍄 Fungi Field Day is almost here!
🍄 Save the date: Saturday 4 October
🍄 Come along from 10am to 4pm

Celebrate all things fungi with art, crafts, face painting, talks, forays and games - there's something for everyone!

We look forward to welcoming you! 🌿

#CUBG #FungiFieldDay #CambridgeEvents

🍄 One month until Fungi Field Day 2025!! 🍄

Held on UK Fungus Day (4th October) @cubotanicgarden.bsky.social, this event celebrates the fungal kingdom, featuring science, games, walks, talks, face-painting and much more for all ages. Please spread the word!

www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/fun...

Spent last week at the microscope 🔬✨, and seeing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi up close for the first time—hyphae, arbuscules, vesicles—was absolutely mind-blowing. Small but mighty partners of plant roots 🌿. Sharing a few of my favourite shots.
#Mycorrhiza #fungi

Who lives underground?

Find out now in our new paper published in @nature.com.

Key finding: 90% of predicted mycorrhizal biodiversity hotspots lie outside protected areas.

Read here: buff.ly/WmDqAP3 🧵

Beautiful microscopy of beautiful arbuscules

Fig. 1 Figure showing plant responses to arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation across four plant species.

What does colonisation tell us? Revisiting the functional outcomes of #root colonisation by arbuscular #mycorrhizal #fungi

A #Letter by @frewecologist.bsky.social 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue

A person giving a presentation on a conference stage with a PowerPoint slide showing plant cells with colors where fungi or certain transcripts are present

Uta Paszkowski expands on the arbuscular mycorrhizal theme with a cool spatial transcriptome method to better resolve dynamics during colonization of rice.

Can see key transporter transcripts accumulating in arbuscules.
#2025ISMPMI

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄
From a primary school workshop: a mystery arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus in mystery plant. Sometimes fun to have no information about what you are looking at 🚸
#outreach #mycosky #fungi

What else are people using for public engagement with mycorrhiza? Would be keen to hear other ideas 😁

What’s happening under our feet? A beautifully illustrated case study and associated teaching powerpoints from a collaborative project with the Crop Science Centre. We creatively explored the intersection of art and science through i...

Third: microscopes, microscopes, microscopes. But if you can't access outreach-appropriate microscopes, we we made teaching materials for primary school kids that show the process from root sampling to final micrographs -->

cambridgecandi.org.uk/index.php/re...

Second: our online game, the Adventures of a Friendly Fungus! Play your way through the challenging life of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus. Better for slightly older kids, often a hit with adults too 😅

scratch.mit.edu/projects/501...

Firstly: the Mycorrhiza Relay Race 🌻🍄
A two-player game, fungus and plant partners alternate turns, navigating a maze to find nutrients or growing leaves to catch sunshines, respectively. Fastest team wins!

Photo: Festival of Plants 2025, after 4hrs of relay races...

How to teach kids (+ parents) the concept of mycorrhizal symbiosis? Here's a thread of things that we use @paszkowskilab.bsky.social 🧵
#outreach #fungi #plant #science

Yes, I believe that is the case! And very understandable as it certainly resembles a very major fungal infection.

A great letter from @frewecologist.bsky.social- very important and timely. And spot on that live imaging + the AMSlide is providing plenty of insights into this! More soon...🔬

Thick fungal hyphae around a cells with an arbuscule inside the cell, false-coloured with 'fire' colours to depict 3D structure.

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄
Just a particularly pretty arbuscule in a rice root cell colonised by the mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis, with a cool view down an intercellular hypha. Stained with WGA-Alexafluor488, imaged by CLSM, false-coloured by depth in root 🔥

#microscopy #mycosci #fungi

Nearly time for the Festival of Plants 2025!!! We'll be in the Pop-up Plant Science tent with microscopes, crafts, games and much more mycorrhizal fun🔬🖍️🎨🧩

@paszkowskilab.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social @cropscicentre.bsky.social #mycosci #fungi #plants

The Increased Environmental Niche of Dual‐Mycorrhizal Woody Species Abiotic factors influence the global distribution of mycorrhizal host plants (ectomycorrhizal fungi and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi), raising the possibility that dual associations with both mycorrh...

New paper! The Increased Environmental Niche of Dual‐Mycorrhizal Woody Species. Ecology Letters: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Dual-host woody species occupy a broader geographical range and environmental niche space compared to those associating exclusively with either AM or EM.