1/8 🔥 New preprint dropped: Dynamic co-existence of bacteriophages and their hosts 🦠 in the Arabidopsis thaliana 🌱 phyllosphere
Work led by the indomitable @sheilaroitman.bsky.social‬
#plantscience #microbiome #holobiont
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Preprint alert 🚨 (1/10) 🧵

𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘨𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘹 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺:
It can promote resistance, susceptibility, or restrict cell death 🤯

So what is its actual role?

We show it acts as a spatial organizer of immunity across cell types 🌱🦠 #proteostasis

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New #preprint 😍‼️ led by 2 incredible postdocs @ninizhani.bsky.social & Ranj Papareddy: transforming #UFMylation from a local ribosome rescue pathway to systems level regulator of mRNA splicing www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... A short 🧵

A high-affinity split-HaloTag for live-cell protein labeling Nature Communications - Lin and colleagues present high-affinity split-HaloTag pairs for protein tagging and multiplexed labelling. This versatile system allows protein visualisation with diverse...

A high-affinity split-HaloTag for live-cell protein labeling. And much more.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Growth differences between meristem regions underlies gynoecium initiation in Arabidopsis. (A) Schematic top view of the inflorescence showing initiating floral buds at different developmental stages (St) according to Smyth et al. (1990). (B) Time-lapse series capturing carpel primordia establishment from early stage 5 to late stage 6 over 72 h at 24 h intervals. Median sepals were removed. (C) Heat maps of Gaussian curvature at the different stages; the bottom row shows virtual longitudinal sections through the bud along its lateral axis. Increases in positive Gaussian curvature are indicated with white arrows (dark red zones in the top image). The blue arrows indicate a carpel primordium emerging as a lateral protrusion on the floral meristem. (D) Heat map of percentage area expansion between the stages. (E) Heat map of cell divisions between the stages. (F) Heat map of cell sizes at the different stages.

🌸⚖️ RESEARCH ⚖️🌸

Live imaging and hormone manipulation shows how auxin–cytokinin crosstalk drives differential growth at the cellular level in the gynoecium to establish the correct geometry for carpel primordia initiation – Gómez-Felipe et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪

The coordinated action of UFMylation and the RQC pathways clears arrested polypeptides at the ER - The EMBO Journal Clearance of arrested nascent polypeptides resulting from ribosomal stalling is essential for proteostasis. Stalled endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-bound ribosomes are marked by ubiquitin-fold modifier 1 (...

Congrats Milica @alessandrick.bsky.social & everyone @gekaragoz.bsky.social lab. Glad we could contribute to this awesome story on #UFMylation & #RQC crosstalk @embojournal.org link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Cell-type-specific immune programs orchestrate spatial defense in the Arabidopsis leaf epidermis

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Vertical Farms Tried to Compete With Open Field Farming. It Isn’t Going Well.

Good article (gift link).
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/b...

An “electrical” circadian clock balances growth between shoots and roots CRAG researchers have discovered, in a study published in the scientific journal Cell, that a key protein directly regulates pH gradients in different plant tissues.

✨ This discovery offers a new perspective on plant productivity and could help develop crops that allocate resources more efficiently under challenging conditions.

🔗 You can read the full news here:

FERONIA regulates plant thermomorphogenesis via nuclear translocation and auxin pathway modulation Under warm temperatures (28°C) the cytosolic domain of FERONIA is cleaved and travels into the nucleus. There, it phosphorylates IAA29, thereby unlocking the transcription factor ARF19 to activate th....

FERONIA regulates plant thermomorphogenesis via nuclear translocation and auxin pathway modulation

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

New article- we developed a strategy to fortify salads with Vitamin B12 in indoor farms. Sorry, no chronobiology in this one! A wonderful collaboration between @johninnescentre.bsky.social @quadraminstitute.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social and LettUs Grow www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Phosphorus availability tunes root architecture through TOR signaling. Pathways are represented without implying temporal or spatial sequence. Positive and negative regulation is denoted by arrowheads and flat-ended lines, respectively. (A) Nutrient control of TOR signaling. The TOR complex 1 (TORC1) integrates multiple mineral nutrient signals, including sulfur (S), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), iron (Fe), and potassium (K). Sulfate is transported via SULTRs, activating TOR. Nitrate, imported through NRTs, stimulates TOR via the ROP2 GTPase. Phosphate uptake through PHTs enhances ARSK1 expression and activity, which phosphorylates RAPTOR1B, activating TOR. Conversely, phosphate limitation lifts repression of PSR1 and ARSK1, which inhibits TORC. Iron is taken up via IRTs and eventually influences TORC activity.

🌱🧬 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🧬🌱

TORC1 integrates phosphorus and iron signals to regulate root architecture under stress, revealing key mechanisms of root plasticity and offering novel strategies to improve phosphorus use efficiency in crops – Choi et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

Pol II degradation activates cell death independently from the loss of transcription Pol II-mediated transcription is essential for eukaryotic life. While loss of transcription is thought to be universally lethal, the associated mechanisms promoting cell death are not yet known. Here,...

We just posted a preprint about a death mechanism that we find truly surprising.

When you turn off transcription, cells die (duh!)... but did you know this happens due to loss of Pol II itself, not loss of Pol II activity!?!

preprint here and a thread (1/n): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧪

PELOTA at the Crossroads of Ribosome-associated quality control and Silencing: Coordinating Development, Stress, and Immunity in Plants Abstract. Ribosome-associated quality control (RaQC) pathways, including no-go decay (NGD) and non-stop decay (NSD), are essential for maintaining translat

❗️Excited to share our new review in J Exp Bot on PELOTA and ribosome-associated quality control in plants 🌱

We explore how translation surveillance connects with RNA silencing, development, and plant immunity.

Great work by PhD student Gemma Sans-Coll 👏

academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-...

Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life Giant DNA viruses encode a cap-binding complex homologous to eIF4F, the defining translation-initiation complex of eukaryotes. The viral cap-binding complex is required for viral protein synthesis and...

Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

The cover of Vol 77 | Issue 5 | 2026 of the Journal of Experimental Botany, Special Issue: Energy Management: Molecular Mechanisms and Signaling. Yellow coloured banners border the top and bottom of the page and in the centre the image depicts a whiteboard illustration of the original concept behind the workshop ‘Plant Energy Management: Molecular Mechanisms and Signalling,’ held at UPSC, Sweden, in August 2024. The aim was to expand upon the original TOR meeting by focusing on the inputs and outputs of the core energy management machinery in a species-agnostic manner. (Credit: Benoît Menand, Johannes Hanson, and Vanessa Wahl.)

📣 Check out JXB's newest Special Issue 📣
📘 Issue 5 of 2026 📘

⚡🌿 Energy Management: Molecular Mechanisms and Signalling 🌿⚡

📘 Guest edited by Benoît Menand, Johannes Hanson & Vanessa Wahl

🔗 academic.oup.com/jxb...

#JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪 SEBiology

Immune activation suppresses reproductive growth in Arabidopsis through cytokinin signaling Johnston et al. report that defense hormones suppress cytokinin signaling, causing yield penalties. Restoring cytokinin in autoimmune plants relieves reproductive defects, confers broad pathogen resis...

Our beautiful work is out in Current Biology! @currentbiology.bsky.social

Immune activation suppresses reproductive growth in Arabidopsis through cytokinin signaling: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Job vacancies: University of Hohenheim Current job opportunities at the University of Hohenheim

our cluster is searching for a technical assistant for supporting joint plant phenotyping experiments to be carried out at the University of Hohenheim
www.uni-hohenheim.de/en/job-openi...

Immune activation suppresses reproductive growth in Arabidopsis through cytokinin signaling Johnston et al. report that defense hormones suppress cytokinin signaling, causing yield penalties. Restoring cytokinin in autoimmune plants relieves reproductive defects, confers broad pathogen resis...

Immune activation suppresses reproductive growth in Arabidopsis through cytokinin signaling

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Reading one of the first publications documenting circadian rhythms in humans and it’s essentially two professors torturing an assistant prof.

so i guess not much has changed in academia in 130 years 🙃

Co-translational control of protein stability and quality in plants Abstract. Proteostasis relies on the coordinated control of protein synthesis, folding, modification and degradation, and an increasingly clear picture is

My review “Co-translational control of protein stability and quality in plants” is now online at @jxbotany.bsky.social, in which I describe how co-translational processing and ribosome-associated quality control together establish protein stability and fate early in synthesis. tinyurl.com/5dhhz9h6

RNA splicing generates a functionally specialized Rep protein isoform in geminiviruses — enabling timely control of the viral cycle. Strikingly, similar strategies might have evolved in DNA viruses infecting different kingdoms: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Spearheaded by @delphinem-p.bsky.social!

@hanhtkvu.bsky.social @embl.org & we are looking for a #postdoc to study #regeneration x #autophagy across kingdoms of life. Pls spread the word & get in touch if you are interested www.health-life-sciences.de/opportunitie...

Cool story from @meristemania.bsky.social lab on growth-defense tradeoff at the shoot apical meristem www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Recruitment of bifunctional regulator thermospermine to methylated ribosomes directs xylem fate Polyamines are often associated with ribosomes and are thought to stabilize their integrity. In Arabidopsis, the polyamine thermospermine (tSpm) affects xylem cell fate. tSpm induces translation of SU...

Recruitment of bifunctional regulator thermospermine to methylated ribosomes directs xylem fate | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Great news: Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowships for Julia Baulies and @delyan.bsky.social funded. Looking forward to exciting work on root regeneration and TOR signaling, respectively!

Really excited about this - thanks for the support !

Looking to work with and learn from world-leading experts in plant cell imaging? I’ve got an open PhD position www.photobodies.com/about-6 in the framework of the AGILE Marie Curie Doctoral Network cordis.europa.eu/project/id/1...
Deadline: 15th of April, start date September 2026. #phd #job

Looking forward to meeting you at PEM2026 this summer, in beautiful Montpellier 🌱 Registration is open, join us! 👇🏼

Fluorescent proteins (mTurquoise2, mEGFP, mCitrine, mScarlet-I) move between cells via plasmodesmata in the epidermis of Nicotiana benthamiana. (Image credit: Rory Greenhalgh, Jacob O. Brunkard.)

🌱 SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORIAL 🌱

🔬 Plasmodesmata (PD) are membrane-lined channels in cell walls 🔬
In this editorial, Brunkard & Burch-Smith shift focus from "which molecules move through PD?" to "which molecules are *prevented* from moving through PD?" 🔎

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪