1/9 Our latest paper on immunity mechanisms in Marchantia just out @pnas.org ! 🔽
Close collaboration between our former PhD students @karimaelm.bsky.social and @chloe-beaulieu.bsky.social !
and the old gard @jacquet-chris.bsky.social @maximebonhomme.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We genetically disconnected starch from the matrix in the algal pyrenoid!
A saga1;saga2 double mutant lacks a starch sheath!
Our model: SAGA1 & SAGA2 locally initiate starch on the pyrenoid surface by enriching starch precursors.
🌞🦠🔬🔌👀
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Three types of starch granule accumulation occur in cereal endosperm.
Wandering starch – how plastid dynamics affect starch granule formation?
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#Commentary by Lloyd highlighting the recent work by Esch et al.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
This is a really interesting read on the history of the Journal @nature.com.
Very informative.
#SciPub #ScientificPublishing #AcademicPublishing #Publishing
At the end of 2024 I did a chronological round up of all the #plantscience in @science.org that year.
So how did 2025 pan out? This year, I’m grouping papers thematically instead of chronologically so read on to find out what exciting plant science came out over the last 12 months. (1/22)
Targeting granule initiation and amyloplast structure to create giant starch granules in wheat https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.693964v1
Growth phenotype of Brachypodium distachyon amyloplast reporter lines.
Amyloplasts of Brachypodium endosperm
Esch et al. @johninnescentre.bsky.social
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
So, we all know that VIPP1 (the Very Important Protein in Plants) is the "photosynthetic ESCRT-III", required for the biogenesis and maintenance of light-harvesting thylakoids. But what about ESCRT-II, you say? ...Meet VIA1! Congrats @mayankdu.bsky.social on your lab's first paper! #PlantScience 🧪 🌾
New pre-print from the team!
The manuscript is @emma-raven.bsky.social's PhD work showing that whether a leaf is a carbon sink or a carbon source influences how they execute immune responses.
Have a read!
#PlantScience
@johninnescentre.bsky.social
A calcium-decoding module translates volatile DMNT into jasmonic acid-mediated herbivore resistance in Camellia sinensis (Bo Li, Yanni Deng, et al) doi.org/10.1093/plph... #PlantScience
New preprint: In situ Architecture of #Plasmodesmata.
Using #cryoET, #AlphaFold & proteomics, we uncover the native organization of plant intercellular nanopores.
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧪🧵1/n
#teamtomo #PlantScience #Physcomitrium #Arabidopsis #cryoEM
How plants sense injury in their barrier tissue, periderm? Painstakingly detailed and amazing work by post doc Hiroyuki Iida shows that wounding is sensed by the diffusion of two gases: ethylene and oxygen. @treebiocoe.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu 1/x 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Great to write my final News & Views on starch metabolism!
Original paper by Heutinck et al: academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
I'm thrilled to share that our study is now published in Cell:
Extensive N4 cytosine methylation is essential for Marchantia sperm function.
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
This paper confirms our 4mC discovery in Marchantia sperm and takes it much further.
A thread: 0/13
PRESS RELEASE - Professor Uauy appointed as Director of the John Innes Centre
Following an international search, we are delighted to announce that Professor @cristobaluauy.bsky.social has been appointed as the next Director of the John Innes Centre.
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
@ukri.org
The Science cover picture of the 1988 issue shows the triple response mutant phenotype in a group of Arabidopsis thaliana seedling, with one tall seedling standing out – it carries the mutation in the ETR1 gene, the ethylene receptor. Next to the cover is the title page of the paper “Insensitivity to Ethylene Conferred by a Dominant Mutation in Arabidopsis thaliana”, by ANTHONY B. BLEECKER, MARK A. ESTELLE, CHRIS SOMERVILLE and HANS KENDE.
#PlantScienceClassics #18: Ethylene triple response mutants. 35 years ago Anthony Bleecker et al. exploited the triple response phenotype to identify the #ethylene receptor ETR1 @science.org. The ethylene story is another example for #PlantBlindness at the Nobel Prize.
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Two new #hornwort papers from our group out in Nature Plants @natureplants.bsky.social today - a great way to celebrate the new year! 1/4
Plant Physiology 2025-26 Assistant Features Editors. academic.oup.com/plphys|www.aspb.org. Featuring Plant Physiology and ASPB logos and themed-background.
Plant Physiology 2026-27 Assistant Features Editors. academic.oup.com/plphys|www.aspb.org. Featuring Plant Physiology and ASPB logos and themed-background.
📣 Plant Physiology welcomes new Assistant Features Editors starting in 2025 and 2026!👉 https://academic.oup.com/plphys/advance-article/doi/10.1093/plphys/kiae661/7922604
A big thanks, to those who are stepping down from the position!👏
Model of gene regulatory networks from the paper.
New Article: "Co-option of plant gene regulatory network in nutrient responses during terrestrialization" rdcu.be/d1MXn
With News & Views: "Plant evolution: Agile nutrient network evolution" rdcu.be/d1MXG
@jiaaawen.bsky.social talks about her work towards unravelling ethylene biosynthesis in Marchantia polymorpha #nonseedUK24 🌱
Thanks to @fromani.bsky.social for organising #nonseedUK24 in Cambridge. What a fantastic meeting. Thanks for the generous sponsorship @gensocuk.bsky.social and @biologists.bsky.social 😃 🌱 🧬
📜 Amyloplasts are necessary for full gravitropism in thallus of Marchantia polymorpha
🧑🔬 Mimi Hashimoto-Sugimoto, Miyo Terao Morita, et al.
📔 @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#️⃣ #PlantScience #Marchantia #PlantEvoDevo #PlantDevelopment
Our News and Views article is out, 'Follow the calcium road: Conserved mechanisms of growth and development in Marchantia polymorpha'. Great experience to co-write with Jiawen Chen!
News and Views article: academic.oup.com/plphys/advan...
Original research article: academic.oup.com/plphys/advan...
Happy to share this part of my PhD on starch granule initiation in wheat endosperm!
academic.oup.com/plphys/advan...
Many thanks to the co-authors, my supervisor David Seung, and the reviewers!
New New & Views on shoot aerenchyma formation in duckweeds!
academic.oup.com/plphys/advan...
Original paper: academic.oup.com/plphys/advan...
Check out my editor profile interview with Alistair McCormick! We talk about his career journey, current research and role as monitoring editor for Plant Phys!
plantae.org/working-towa...
SAGA1 and SAGA2 promote starch formation around proto-pyrenoids in Arabidopsis chloroplasts https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.25.568654v1
