UK wheat faces a serious new threat: yellow rust has overcome Yr15 resistance in major varieties. A BBSRC /DEFRA Rapid Response led by JIC with Niab and RRes as partners is hunting new resistance genes to protect harvests. 🌾 www.niab.com/news-views/n...

PRESS RELEASE - Rapid response launched to tackle new yellow rust strains threatening UK wheat

Fifty percent of the UK’s wheat is under threat from a newly identified strain of the yellow rust pathogen, due to the breakdown of a key resistance gene, Yr15

www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

1/ 🧵 (cont)

A big step forward for Biotalys, the #EPA is recommending the registration of our first biofungicide #EVOCA.
biotalys.com/media/news/e...

Want good Bioinformatics resources for Phytopathogens?
Plant pathology community at @bspp.bsky.social and @britmycolsoc.org.uk please take the time to complete the Phytopathogen Genomics Resources Survey:-
🔗 zurl.co/gKjC1
Your input is important for FungiDB/@veupathdb.org
& Ensembl @ebi.embl.org.

"Don't lose hope"
Each of us an make a difference, even if it is small to improving the planet for todays and future children...

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Annual Conference 2026 13─16 April 2026

🔬 Are you working on AMR-related innovations?

We are planning a B2B partnering event to connect academic entrepreneurs with UK & Irish businesses in the AMR space, before Annual Conference 2026.

Register your interest today - microb.io/48ide4Q #Microbio26 #KnockingOutAMR

Congratulations Megan!!!! @mcdonaldmeganc.bsky.social

Exciting insights from Evans Lagudah presenting on durable resistance to rusts: how ‘muscle’ (strong, race-specific) & ‘backbone’ (multi-pathogen, partial) R genes combine for long-lasting protection. #PlantPathology #PPATH2025

Leena Tripathi presents how genome editing is creating disease-resistant bananas and plantains, targeting BXW and Banana Streak Virus without introducing foreign DNA. A major step for food security and smallholder farmers. #PPATH2025

Spornado | Early Alert System for Crop Disease | Early Alert System for Crop Disease The Spornado Sampler is an innovative, easy-to-use crop disease early alert system that changes everything. Learn more here!

Luca Cornetti on SPORNADO Early Alert System for Crop Disease spornadosampler.com @spornadosampler #PPATH2025

On train to Nottingham and looking forward too catching up with the BSPP community.
@bspp.bsky.social
#PPATH2025

If there is little to learn from LLM's will always struggle. Plus LLMs still have a have significant number of "hallucinations", i.e. it gets things wrong.

Almost 50% of lab workers identify as neurodiverse.

So what difference could it make for research organisations to fully embrace neurodiversity in their workplace culture?

We supported the John Innes Centre to implement a project aiming to do just that 👇

Post by @steveharvey, not on Bluesky, on the UK Biobank latest release of 500k whole genomes:
A mind-blowing paper from the UK Biobank last week: whole genome sequencing of 490,640 participants.

The Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology (MRC CMM) seeks 2 Assay Development scientists to support assay development and drug discovery. news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...

jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

Assay Development Scientist 2:
jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

Strain-level dynamics of microbiome transplantation

🆕 Funded #PhD with Dr Chris Quince at the Earlham Institute and @quadraminstitute.bsky.social, working on understanding the mechanisms of faecal #microbiome transplantation, with major potential impact to the treatment of IBD.

buff.ly/ZaWxIZI

#microbiomeresearch @mmbdtp.bsky.social

IRS25114, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Genome Editing - CIMMYT CIMMYT is a cutting edge, non-profit, international organization dedicated to solving tomorrow's problems today. It is entrusted with fostering improved quantity, quality, and dependability of product...

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Genome Editing @CIMMYT apply.workable.com/cimmyt-1/j/E...

There is still time to apply to our international MSc: Agrigenomics.
The website might look a bit old, the course contents are up to date: everything from Molecular Biology to Applied Genomics, in an agriculture context!

Questions? message me!

www.agrigenomics.agrar.uni-kiel.de/en/application

Yes, but no mention that I can find as to what this MoA is.

New Career Development Fellows enhance data-driven bioscience at the Earlham Institute The Earlham Institute has appointed two new Career Development Fellows, supporting their journey towards establishing independent research groups.

💬 “Being in Norwich, at the heart of UK #plantsciences, will allow me to build strong collaborations and contribute to the development of resilient, sustainable #crops capable of meeting the challenges of a growing population and a changing climate.” - @willshaw.bsky.social

buff.ly/FQEQcIP #synbio

The dominant lineage of Phakopsora pachyrhizi in the United States of America does not have a Brazilian origin ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

The dominant lineage of Phakopsora pachyrhizi in the United States of America does not have a Brazilian origin
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The Molecular Dialogue Between Zymoseptoria tritici and Wheat | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® Zymoseptoria tritici is a highly damaging pathogen that causes high wheat yield losses in temperate climates. Z. tritici emerged during the domestication of wheat in the Fertile Crescent and has been ...

Nice review of wheat and Zymoseptoria tritici interactions apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/...

As academic Bluesky grows, researchers find strengths—and shortcomings Platform fosters collegial interactions among scientists, but potentially limits interactions beyond the academic community

www.science.org/content/arti...

Tonight's moon with Venus just above.

Research Fellow - School of Biosciences - 104926 - Grade 7 This post-doctoral role is associated with Dr. McDonald’s UKRI Future Leader Fellowship, and will explore the biochemistry of the Starship transposases. These transposases are the enzymes responsible ...

I have extended the deadline to apply for this post-doctoral role to work with me on the Biochemistry of Starship Transposon to this Sunday the 5th of January...original deadline set on a holiday set by HR (not me)! edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Horizontal transfers between fungal Fusarium species contributed to successive outbreaks of coffee wilt disease Outbreaks of coffee wilt disease, caused by the fungus Fusarium xylarioides, have severely impacted coffee production. By sequencing and comparing 13 historical strains spanning 60 years and multiple ...

Cool read in @plosbiology.bsky.social showing that horizontal transfers between fungal Fusarium species contributed to successive outbreaks of coffee wilt disease, and suggesting a key role for Starship transposons journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

HI old friends! Finally took the leap here to say I have several open positions going in my lab at the moment (and more to come).
1) PhD studentship in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society (genomics)
2) Biochemistry Postdoc to understand how Starships move

Check out the links below!

With @sokratiag.bsky.social, Kevin Couper and Hongpeng Zhou I'm offering a PhD opportunity at the University of Manchester, UK, on Multimodal AI methods for spatial omics data to characterise tumour microenvironments bit.ly/3Oub4E6

content of the issue: 34 New data on quarantine pests and pests of the EPPO Alert List 235 Documenting new EU quarantine pests in the EPPO Global Database 236 New IPPC document: Climate-change impacts on plant pests: a technical resource to support national and regional plant protection organizations 237 First report of Scirtothrips dorsalis in Portugal 238 First report of an Epitrix species on potato in Italy 239 First report of Hemadas nubilipennis in the Netherlands 240 Oligonychus perditus does not occur in Serbia 241 Update on the situation of Xylotrechus chinensis in Spain 242 Update on the situation of Xylotrechus chinensis in Greece 243 First reports of Dryocosmus kuriphilus, Oligonychus perseae and Phoracantha recurva in the Azores (PT) 244 Host plants of Euwallacea fornicatus in Australia 245 Eradication of Meloidogyne enterolobii from the Netherlands 246 Globodera pallida found again in Slovenia 247 First report of Xylella fastidiosa in continental China 248 Update on the situation of Xylella fastidiosa in Iran and first record on alfalfa 249 Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae does not occur in Argentina 250 Revision of the taxonomy of Grosmannia wageneri 251 Pre-emptive biological control of Spodoptera frugiperda using Trichogramma species 252 Biological control of Ailanthus altissima in the United States 253 Potential for Chrysoperla carnea as a biological control for stink bugs 254 First report of Youngia japonica in the Azores archipelago (PT) 255 First report of Artemisia verlotiorum in Azerbaijan 256 Studies of four invasive alien plants in Southwestern Georgia 257 Manual removal of Reynoutria japonica along a river in Canada 258 Long-term chemical control of Reynoutria species in the Czech Republic 259 Pueraria montana var. lobata in Croatia 260 Comparisons of herbivory on native and non-native plants in botanical gardens in Europe

The November issue of the EPPO Reporting Service is online: gd.eppo.int/reporting/Rs....

It provides recent reports of emerging and quarantine pests, invasive alien plants, as well as updates on biological control agents
#planthealth