6/11 🛜 Why do abiotic networks collapse in the wild? In the lab, stresses are applied acutely & in isolation. In the wild, plants must integrate heat, light, humidity, simultaneously across their whole life. The transcriptome reflects that integration. Single-stress lab experiments can't capture it.

A cellular basis for the mammalian nocturnal-diurnal switch Early mammals were nocturnal while dinosaurs dominated the daytime. Mammalian transition to daytime activity accelerated after the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, but the underlying mechanisms remain...

Since I moved to @mrclmb.bsky.social I’ve been trying to answer this: Why are some mammals active at night and others in the day? Today our answer is out @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/....
If you’re interested in circadian biology, evolution or how timing shapes physiology, take a look

Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium 2026 logo - Shaping Life-Mechanisms of Morphogenesis. Timelapse of a developing Arabidopsis leaf imaged at 9-12 days old under a confocal microscope, with cells segmented and coloured using MorphographX software. Images by Sarah Attrill.

Registrations now open for #SLS26 Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium 2026 in Cambridge, UK — Shaping Life: Mechanisms of Morphogenesis!
Join us explore how cellular, genetic & mechanical forces sculpt plant form
📅 22–24 Sept 2026
In-person + livestream
Limited fee waivers
www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/sls
#plantsi

Marchantia might seem an unlikely biotech crop, but it’s worth trying. In Aurore’s thesis, we pushed this concept by engineering the auronidins with MpMYB14 and using the pigments to dye cotton. It ended up giving a very unique and beautiful product. #PlantScience www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Cover image: Pictured is a regenerating root from an Arabidopsis thaliana leaf. Akansha Ganguly et al. detached plant leaves to study the mechanisms of stress mitigation associated with wound repair. The authors found that plant-specific PLETHORA transcription factors activate the ATG8 gene, which initiates recycling of damaged cell components to decrease intracellular stress and allow stem cells to differentiate. ATG8 is not activated if the plant is simply forming a callus, rather than regenerating roots. The results reveal how plant-specific autophagy regulators interact with intracellular stress signaling to aid in wound repair. See the article by Ganguly et al., e2513954123. Image credit: Akansha Ganguly.

Now on the Cover @pnas.org News, Delightful to see @akanshaganguly.bsky.social Journey from stress to regeneration, from leaf to root featured on cover. Akansha, you made it, very well done, congratulations.

Like wings of fire! congrats Kalika

📣 Thermomorphogenesis community 📣
Excited to announce that Ritesh Raipuria will present his preprint on hydrogen peroxide and thermomorphogenesis regulation in our next JC.
Don't miss out!!

Plant Kelch phosphatases are Ser/Thr phosphatases involved in cell cycle regulation www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01...

Cell wall–derived mechanical signals control cell growth and division during root development Mechanical changes in elongating root cells guide division of neighboring cells, shaping root development.

Latest from our lab in 2025. A wonderful collaboration with Sabrina Sabatini's team at Sapienza University of Rome. How mechanical signals contribute to root growth and zonation @cbgpmadrid.bsky.social @upm.es doi.org/10.1126/scia...

Transcriptional dynamics and chromatin accessibility in the regulation of shade-responsive genes in Arabidopsis - Genome Biology Background Open chromatin regions host DNA regulatory motifs that are accessible to transcription factors and the transcriptional machinery. In Arabidopsis, responses to light are heavily regulated at...

Accessible chromatin enables rapid recruitment of PIFs to induce expression of shade-induced genes! doi.org/10.1186/s130.... Particularly proud of the excellent work of Sandi Paulišić and Alessandra Boccaccini. Many thanks to all authors who made it happen. @unil.bsky.social @fbm-unil.bsky.social

Mutualist-pathogen co-colonisation modulates phosphoinositide signatures at host intracellular interfaces: Nicotiana benthamiana plants expressing biosensors for PI4P and PI(4,5)P2. PI(4,5)P2 was tip-enriched at mutualist structures but evenly distributed around pathogen structures. PI4P was absent from pathogen extrahaustorial membranes but present at invasive hyphae and mutualist interfaces. Co-colonisation triggered PI4P recruitment at pathogen haustoria, and enhanced resistance to P. palmivora. Graphic by Alex Guyon.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi boost plant resilience by remodelling the plant-pathogen membrane interface
Check-out the latest paper from @alexguyon.bsky.social & @dromius.bsky.social
📖 doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social
News article www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/arbuscu...

ERC grant helps to understand why the upper and lower surfaces of plant leaves differ Hanna Hõrak, Associate Professor of Molecular Plant Physiology at the University of Tartu Institute of Technology, has received a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) grant to study how cell pa...

Thankful, happy and excited to be awarded an ERC consolidator grant to understand how and why some plants make stomata on their upper leaf surface. tuit.ut.ee/en/news/erc-... #ERCCoG @erc.europa.eu

Cell wall patterning regulates plant stem cell dynamics The plant cell wall regulates development through spatiotemporal modulation of its chemical and mechanical properties. Pectin methylesterification is recognized as a rheological switch controlling wal...

Thrilled to have our paper out in @science.org. Cell division guides plant cell wall formation. Does the reverse hold? We show that bimodal pectin methylesterification, via PME5 mRNA nuclear sequestration, influences plant cell division and cell plate orientation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Congratulations Elise Laruelle & @robinsonsci.bsky.social on your @acceleratescience.bsky.social - @c2d3.cam.ac.uk funded project "Plant automatic cell lineage reconstruction"
More info www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/plant-a...
Illustration by Elise Laruelle & leaf images by @sainikumud.bsky.social

Also happy to say that Arabidopsis epidermal cells make the cover of @theplantjournal.bsky.social for the issue with our paper, showing that nitrate availability impacts pectin metabolism and cell wall mechanics for growth 🌱

Check the work here 👉 doi.org/10.1111/tpj....

Mary Williams speaking on the stage. The slide projected behind her contains a satellite photo of half of the Earth, with a cartoon alien spaceship on the top left, and the title reads “What would aliens take home from earth?”

“If we didn’t have plants, we’d still be fish!” 🐠🌍

Our keynote @plantteaching.bsky.social about the importance of plants, from photosynthesis to evolution and development... through aliens! 🌱🛸

@johninnescentre.bsky.social @quadraminstitute.bsky.social @earlhaminst.bsky.social

#NBIAST2025

Epidermal hydrodynamics controls water homeostasis of shoot meristems for plant adaptation to terrestrial environments Zhu et al. uncover an evolutionarily conserved water transport pathway in the epidermis of plant shoot meristems that maintains water homeostasis and regulates stem cell activity. This epidermal hydro...

Really nice work with an adaptive twist on SAM hydraulics. Congrats to @weibingyang.bsky.social and all involved 🌱🌊
#plantscience

www.cell.com/developmenta...

**Please Repost**

Pallavi Singh Lab is looking for two Postdocs to join our team studying how plants balance carbon, water, and resilience in a changing climate.

PlantPlug PDRA: vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

REVOLUTION PDRA: vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

Deadline: October 15.

New paper from @cam.ac.uk, Universities of Adelaide & Western Australia, & NASA highlighting how controlled environment agriculture (CEA) can boost the translation of fundamental plant science into real-world impact.

DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2025.08.014

A comparative study of plant #phenotyping workflows based on three-dimensional reconstruction from multi-view images
by Daiki Someno & Koji Noshita
doi.org/10.1101/2024... via @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social #PlantScience

To be or not to be

Coming to you live from #ISPLORE2025JP Fresh preprint from my lab showing that leaves progressively oxygenate and how this is important for their morphogenesis.Thanks to our collaborators from @Fra_LicO2si lab. #plantscience
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Very cool story out about NRT1.1 also serving as ABA receptor to integrate nitrate and ABA responses in plants ! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@cellpress.bsky.social

#PaperCBGP

🆕📄A new study, led by @cbm-csic-uam.bsky.social & @wabniklab.bsky.social from the CBGP and published in @natplants.nature.com, shows plant roots have an “internal clock” ⏱️

🧬Key findings on how plants coordinate growth and enhance root strength & efficiency

📎 More: shorturl.at/yzTxO

Longitudinal section of a rice shoot apical meristem double-stained for two histone modifications. The image shows a lobe-like structure divided into cells with large nuclei that have varying amounts of purple and green staining.

Exciting technical advance in @theplantjournal.bsky.social
"Whole-tissue 3D immunostaining of shoot apical meristems in rice at single-cell resolution" #microscopy #PlantScience
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Photo showing the inside atrium of the new Life and Mind Building

Oxford Biology is growing 📢

We’re appointing 3 Associate Professors in:
🌱 Plant Sciences
🦉 Animal Behaviour
🔬 Molecular Cell Biology

3 fields. 3 opportunities. One new home for Oxford Biology.

Learn more 👉 bit.ly/41S2Tc7
Apply now 👉 bit.ly/488CNW3

New endowed professorship strengthens climate research at the University of Basel The University of Basel is setting up a new endowed professorship at the Biozentrum to make fundamental discoveries at the interface between biophysics and climate-relevant environmental biology. This...

@UniBasel is setting up a new endowed professorship at the Biozentrum to make fundamental discoveries at the interface between biophysics and climate-relevant environmental biology
www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/news/detail/...

Local regulation of auxin-related pathways in the shoot apical meristem plays a major role during proliferative arrest González-Cuadra et al. show that repression of auxin-related pathways locally in the SAM is key in the control of proliferative arrest. FRUITFULL regulates these pathways to promote meristem arrest. B...

It was already known that auxins (surprise!) had a key role controlling the end of flowering, plant menopause. Now we can tell you how and where they act in the inflorescence meristem to control the process.
@irenegonzlez.bsky.social
www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2825%2901002-4

ggplot2 4.0.0 A new major version of ggplot2 has been released on CRAN. Find out what is new here.

I am beyond excited to announce that ggplot2 4.0.0 has just landed on CRAN.

It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.

Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats