Our work on chromatin evolution in brown algae is finally out!

This is also my first "co-first author" paper!! I’m excited to share what we found 👇

Heya science peeps, my first first-author paper is on Biorxiv! We show how transcriptome-wide expression variability in outbred animals responds massively to an environmental stressor and is underpinned by cryptic variability- (not just mean-) controlling alleles. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thanks!

I am very grateful to be featured discussing my work on transcription associated proteins and TAPscan @rensingstefan.bsky.social
Many thanks to @theplantjournal.bsky.social for the opportunity and recognition!

Congratulations Marleny🎉

New CRISPR tools for brown algae: a transgene-free genome editing methodology, developed in Ectocarpus and validated in kelps such as Undaria pinnatifida, opens new possibilities for functional genomics, aquaculture, and blue biotechnology.

Online ahead of print: doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...

Looking back at a highlight from 2025: Great energy at the 2025 SALTO Symposium we organized at the MPI for Marine Microbiology! Researchers from Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, and Australia joined us in Bremen to explore the evolutionary links between specialized bacteria and their algal hosts.

Enhanced sensitivity of TAPscan v4 enables comprehensive analysis of streptophyte transcription factor evolution TAPscan v4 allows genome-wide annotation of 138 TF families, with 18 (sub-)families added since v3. With this release, we make a new web interface available, but also the underlying database and code...

🏆𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 (𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫)

PETROLL et al. Enhanced sensitivity of tapscan v4 enables comprehensive analysis of streptophyte transcription factor evolution
doi.org/10.1111/tpj....

Congrats @petrollromy.bsky.social !

Targeted genetic manipulation and yeast-like evolutionary genomics in the green alga Auxenochlorella Auxenochlorella, green algae shaped by evolutionary forces acting on vegetative diploids, are amenable to discovery research and bioengineering via efficie

Excited to introduce Auxenochlorella as a new algal reference organism for fundamental plant science and bioengineering. A paper in two parts: a genetic toolkit for site-specific genomic manipulation, paired with the most unusual genome I’ve ever worked on

academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...

So happy to see my first first-author paper published! 🎈
A short thread on how Ectocarpus and its TE secrets have kept me busy lately:

rdcu.be/eITQH

Latent endogenous viral elements drive active infection and inheritance in a multicellular host Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) inserted in host genomes are often regarded as inert relics of past infections. Whether they can retain infective potential and contribute to active viral cycles has r...

Excited to share our new preprint on giant virus infection in brown algae: Latent endogenous viral elements drive active infection and inheritance in a multicellular host
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Rewiring of chromatin regulation underlies the evolution of brown algal multicellularity Chromatin structure plays a central role in regulating transcription, genome stability, and epigenetic inheritance in eukaryotes. Much of our understanding of chromatin architecture and histone post-t...

Super glad to contribute to this study on chromatin evolution in brown algae! Special thanks to Jeromine Vigneau, @borglab.bsky.social and Susana Coelho for making this happen.

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

Origin and evolutionary trajectories of brown algal sex chromosomes - Nature Ecology & Evolution Genomes of nine brown algal species with different sex determination systems show that U/V sex chromosomes evolved 450–224 Ma and show remarkable conservation of genes within the sex-determining regio...

Genomes of brown algae with different sex determination systems show that U/V sex chromosomes evolved 450–224 million years ago and show remarkable conservation of genes within the sex-determining region, despite independent expansions of the sex locus in each lineage

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

Transposable elements in brown algae? 🌊
Yes, they’re full of surprises ✨
Come meet Ectocarpus at #ESEB2025!

📍Room 113 - S28.03
🗓️ Thursday, 2:30pm

The expanded Bostrychia moritziana genome unveils evolution in the most diverse and complex order of red algae Petroll et al. present a chromosome-level genome assembly of Bostrychia moritziana to illuminate evolution of the most complex and diverse order of red algae. Unexpected novelties include genome expan...

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

So excited to be at #ESEB2025 presenting poster 221 today!☀️

Check out our chromosome-level genome of Bostrychia, a red alga from the complex Ceramiales order, revealing massive genome expansion by giant Plavaka DNA transposons, the evolution of expanded gene families and UV sex chromosomes!

A wonderful summary of our recent work in @currentbiology.bsky.social . It’s an honour for it to have been written by such respected researchers in the field. Thank you @multicellgenome.bsky.social & team! 🤩

Delighted to see our work now published in @currentbiology.bsky.social. A great place for Bostrychia to stake its claim as an emerging red algal model system. Check it out here: www.cell.com/current-biol...

The Expansion and Diversification of Epigenetic Regulatory Networks Underpins Major Transitions in the Evolution of Land Plants Abstract. Epigenetic silencing is essential for regulating gene expression and cellular diversity in eukaryotes. While DNA and H3K9 methylation silence tra

New study with @petrollromy.bsky.social @borglab.bsky.social traces the evolution of epigenetic silencing in plants. Deep conservation of PRC2-mediated H3K27me3 marks across green algae suggest ancient, conserved networks of gene repression.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molb...

#evobio #molevol #plants

I am very excited to see my first PhD paper out as a preprint. "The expanded Bostrychia moritziana genome unveils evolution in the most diverse and complex order of red algae". Huge thanks to @borglab.bsky.social for the great supervision and guidance through this exciting project!🎉

Diagram of somatic TE insertions across the A. thaliana genome

In our latest @biorxiv-genomic.bsky.social preprint, we describe our approach to use PacBio HiFi reads to detect somatic TE transposition -- good enough to detect rare events that are present in only single cells. Led by Andrea Movilli.
#plantscience
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

TAPscan v4, final verson available:
dx.doi.org/10.1111/tpj....
Annotate TF families yourself or access web-UI online. Thanks to @petrollromy.bsky.social @shiltemann.bsky.social @jandevries.bsky.social @watertoland.bsky.social

Diatom phytochromes integrate the underwater light spectrum to sense depth - Nature This study demonstrates that diatoms with phytochrome photoreceptors can detect and functionally respond to the entire visible light spectrum through these sensors, enabling them to sense depth a...

Very happy to share my PhD paper!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Exploring Meiosis in Brown Algae: Meiotic Axis Proteins in the model brown alga Ectocarpus Most extant eukaryotic systems share core meiosis-specific genes, suggesting meiosis evolved only once in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). These genes have been characterized as master regu...

New preprint! How does meiosis work in non-model organisms? Together with Susana Coelho at the MPI for Biology Tübingen @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social , we took a look at the proteins of the meiotic axis in the brown alga Ectocarpus www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

More than one-third of all family gains were identified during the evolution of streptophyte algae, before the emergence of land plants, and are thus likely to have been significant for plant terrestrialization. 2/2
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Diagram of the TAPscan v4 workflow

Proud to share TAPscan v4, automated annotation of 138 TF families; code, webtool and database available online.
@watertoland.bsky.social @nfdi4plants.bsky.social @jandevries.bsky.social @shiltemann.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/tpj....