Beau Dronsella

New preprint from our group! When we first started working with affordable, continuous-culture mini-bioreactors a few years ago, we realized they offered a unique solution for CRISPRi experiments, which rely on cell growth to dilute targeted proteins.

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

An unconventional Rubisco small subunit underpins the CO2-concentrating organelle in land plants In many algae, photosynthesis is boosted by biophysical CO2-concentrating mechanisms, which pack the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco into liquid-like organelles called pyrenoids. Engineering C3 crops with a...

Our work on #hornwort #pyrenoids is finally out in @science.org! 🎉 We uncovered how hornworts pack their Rubisco into pyrenoids and successfully recreated them in Arabidopsis. A key step toward engineering more efficient photosynthesis in crops @btiscience.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cool Preprint led by @mirbachh on comparing machine learning based engineering of a synthetic C1 fixation pathway vs the classic ALE based approach. ML allowed way faster pathway establishment and when combined with the evolved background improved growth by a factor of 3.🔥🎉

Graphic with Arabidopsis thaliana plant. It says in the text: We're hiring: 5 PhD positions, apply by 10 January, 2026. Over the caption, there are keywords: Plant Physiology, Epigenetics, Biotechnology, Cell Biology, Bioinformatics. At the bottom there are logos of IMPRS, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, University of Potsdam and the Max Planck Society.

Looking for a #PhDposition in #PlantScience ?
Our #IMPRS @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social and @unipotsdam.bsky.social is #hiring !

📅 Apply by 10 January 2026

More info:
👉 www.mpimp-golm.mpg.de/IMPRS-PhD

Please share this post to plant it in the right feed 🌱 #PlantSciJobs

Harnessing plant agriculture to mitigate climate change: A framework to evaluate synthetic biology (and other) interventions The scale of plant agriculture can be used to mitigate climate change, and meaningful targets (synthetic biology and comparators) can be selected to increa

Our new paper is out: we present a quantitative framework to assess how (bio)tech interventions in plant agriculture could meaningfully contribute to climate mitigation. This may be the most important paper I ever publish #SyntheticBiology #ClimateAction #Agriculture #Biochar doi.org/10.1093/plph...

Modular in vivo engineering of the reductive methylaspartate cycles for synthetic CO2 fixation Biological carbon fixation is currently limited to seven naturally occurring pathways. Synthetic carbon fixation pathways have the potential to surpass aerobic natural pathways in efficiency, but none...

Newest preprint from our lab: a new family of promising synthetic CO2 fixation cycles that may outcompete the Calvin cycle and that Vittorio Rainaldi realized to a great extent in E. coli! Up to 11 heterologous enzymes in a cascade supporting CO2 fixation & growth! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Very excited to finally share my PhD paper, about advancing #chloroplast #synbio through high-throughput plastome engineering of #Chlamydomonas.
Huge thanks to the whole team!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

CRISPR/Cas9 targeted genetic screening in Physcomitrella identifies novel cell division genes Although plants share core cell division mechanisms with other eukaryotes, their unique features, such as acentrosomal spindle formation and cytokinesis via the phragmoplast, suggest the existence of ...

Please check out our improved #preprint:

CRISPR/Cas9 targeted genetic screening in Physcomitrella identifies novel cell division genes

Thank you, Elena Kozgunova for taking the lead.

#Physcomitrella #celldivision

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

🔥🔥🔥 Friday Evening, Paper Out, Feierabend 🔥🔥🔥

When evolution and enzyme engineering team up, they can convince microbes to assimilate sustainable carbon substrates preparing them for a life in a circular bioeconomy.

doi.org/10.1016/j.ym...

A blueprint for designing the next-generation of synthetic C1 microbes - Nature Communications Synthetic one-carbon assimilation could contribute to a more sustainable and circular carbon economy, but much work in this field has focused on model microorganisms. Here the authors provide their perspective on the potential value of non-model microbes, and how that potential could be realised.

🚀 Thrilled to share our new Nature Communications article:
“A blueprint for designing the next-generation of synthetic C1 microbes”
We propose a framework to unlock sustainable, carbon-efficient biomanufacturing using non-canonical hosts.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short 🧵1/4

A Robust Isotope Ratio LC-MS/MS Workflow for High-Throughput Metabolic Profiling of Bacteria Stable isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) has become a cornerstone of quantitative metabolomics, enabling accurate intracellular metabolite quantification across a range of biological systems. ...

1/ 🚨 New preprint!
We've developed a robust IDMS-based LC-MS/MS workflow for high-throughput intracellular metabolomics in diverse bacteria. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Metabolomics #MassSpec #SystemsBiology

EMBL is back on hiring faculty! Check out the multiple open positions:

3 PIs- 2 in Heidelberg incl. our Molecular Systems Biology Unit, 1 in Grenoble
1 Head of Unit (Cell Biology & Biophysics, Heidelberg).

Closing deadlines in Sep!
+3 more positions to come out then, stay tuned...
@embl.org

Now published in Microbial Biotechnology! enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Escherichia coli selection strains for growth-coupled metabolic engineering Synthetic metabolism has the potential to transform carbon capture, bioremediation, or bioproduction strategies. To transfer metabolic designs from an…

#Growth-coupled #selection just got an update ! In the last years, E. coli selection strains for #central , #amino #acid and #energy metabolism intermediates were created by the community. So, we compiled them and revisit the core concepts of growth coupling.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Ethylene glycol is widely used as monomer of the plastic PET. It is therefore highly relevant as sustainable feedstock for microbial biotechnology. In our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com, we characterize efficient enzymes for ethylene glycol oxidation: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🎉 Excited to share that I’ve received an Emerging Investigator Grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation! I’ll start my research group in Jan 2026 to develop universal cell factories for P2X & CO₂-based biomanufacturing 🌱🔬
👉 researchleaderprogramme.com/recipients/e...

Two Key Ferredoxins for Nitrogen Fixation Have Different Specificities and Biophysical Properties Two ferredoxins, FdC and FdN, are collectively essential for the process of nitrogen fixation by the iron nitrogenase in R. capsulatus. We explore the biophysical factors, through spectroscopic and s....

Leveraging spectroscopic and structural approaches we obtained new insights into the role of #ferredoxins in N2 fixation. Just published in Chemistry – A European Journal: doi.org/10.1002/chem...! Great work by Holly Addison. Fantastic collaboration with Antonio Pierik on the EPR characterization.

Designed bacteria can detect specific molecules Researchers have developed a computer-guided method for designing and engineering bacteria that can detect the presence of specific molecules in the environment. This method will advance the use...

www.sciencenews.dk/en/designed-...

Piece from ScienceNews.dk on our glyoxylate and glycolate sensor strains

📢 We are proud and delighted that our Microbes for Climate (M4C) Cluster of Excellence has been selected for the 2025 Excellence Strategy! 🌟Together with @unimarburg.bsky.social, we look forward to exciting #microbe research – stay tuned! @unimarburg.bsky.social @maxplanck.de‬ @synmikro.bsky.social

🎉Doppelerfolg für die #UniMarburg in der Exzellenzstrategie! 🎉 Zwei Cluster zu Klimawandel und menschlicher Wahrnehmung sichern sich Förderung. Marburg beweist Forschungsstärke und Innovationskraft.🚀 @proloewe.bsky.social @synmikro.bsky.social @maxplanck.de @jlugiessen.bsky.social @tuda.bsky.social

Really impressive work from Ari and the team - going from an idea all the way to a functional pathway using the latest synbio tools! The CORE cycle is another carbon fixing route that could be used as an alternative to photorespiration in plants. Interested to see where this goes next! 🌱📈

Groundbreaking work just dropped🔥.
@ari-satanowski.bsky.social and Daniel Marchal engineered new-to-nature CO2 reduction at ambient conditions via ATP-driven cycles for CO2->formate in vivo.
All kinds of fancy experiments in here and a real seminal contribution to the field👏. Check it out!

Excited to share a main project from my PhD, out now in
@naturecomms.bsky.social! 📝
We've designed and brought to life the “CORE cycle” – a new-to-nature pathway that provides a novel route for biological CO2 capture 🦠🌱
nature.com/articles/s41...
Take a look! Thread below... 🧵

An energy-efficient pathway for aerobic production of formate from CO2, the CORE cycle. Could become part of a novel CO2-fixing photorespiration bypass design. Congrats @ari-satanowski.bsky.social

Alternatives to photorespiration: A system-level analysis reveals mechanisms of enhanced plant productivity Computational modeling reveals how engineering plants with alternative pathways to photorespiration could boost crop yields.

As well as CO2 Rubisco reacts with O2: plants evolved photorespiration to deal with the consequences. It works, but synthetic biology can do better! 🔄 We used metabolic modeling to compare alternative pathways to boost crop yields 🌱 🧵 #ScienceAdvancesResearch
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Alternatives to photorespiration: A system-level analysis reveals mechanisms of enhanced plant productivity Computational modeling reveals how engineering plants with alternative pathways to photorespiration could boost crop yields.

"We show that carbon-fixing APs are the most promising candidates to replace native photorespiration in major crop species."

Alternatives to photorespiration: A system-level analysis reveals mechanisms of enhanced plant productivity | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Comparative genomic assessment of the Cupriavidus necator species for one-carbon based biomanufacturing The transition from a petroleum-based manufacturing to biomanufacturing is an important step towards a sustainable bio-economy. In particular biotechnological processes which use one carbon (C1) compo...

📢 Preprint alert! In this study we provide new genomic insights into #CupriavidusNecator for #C1Biomanufacturing:
- Genome assemblies for more strains
- Species definition refined
- Traits & methylation systems explored
Great job by @magnusgj.bsky.social and team

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

🚨Check out this amwesome new CRISPR tool for highly efficient genome engineering in C. necator led by @dellavallesimo.bsky.social and @eorsi.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥

A spaceship as an allegory to an independent, self recycling system.

We are announcing about 30 PhD positions in the @fwf-at.bsky.social Cluster of Excellence Circular Bioengineering www.circularbioengineering.at/jobs
9 projects open in Progamme 2 (Self-Sustainable Microbial Systems) in 4 Austrian Universities

Check out Sebastians crazy effort to engineer E. coli to grow on formate via the synthetic Serine-Threonine-Cycle. In contrast to the rGlyp the STC works even at ambient CO2!🔥