Jake Harris

Congrats - looks awesome! And as a new parent, I love marigold..!

Mutation of a stromal C-terminal threonine residue of Photosystem II subunit S slows down NPQ induction and speeds up relaxation In order to prevent damage by excess light, photosystem antennae can switch to an energy dissipative mode (termed non-photochemical quenching, NPQ). In higher plants, this switch is facilitated by the...

Check out our recent pre-print which identifies the role of the first stromal residue involved in PsbS’ NPQ function!

We found mutating the c-term b-strand reduced induction but increased relaxation ☀️ 🌿

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

We’re excited to share a new CRISPR-Cas12 genome editing system, highly efficient across multiple brown algae species!

Brown algae transformation has been challenging despite many thoughtful approaches over the years.

We hope this one is kelpful 🌿😅
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#CRISPR #Algae

A three year postdoctoral position is available in my group, investigating plant centromere structure, function and evolution @camplantsci.bsky.social
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51488/

Pleased to see this work come out in its final form! rdcu.be/em4UY. Great collaboration with the Ausin lab. Here we provide some mechanistic insight into how H2A.Z finds its way to gene bodies (spoiler alert, H3K4me3 readers are involved!).

Fantastic opportunity. Fantastic lab. Quote from PhD student seminar last week "Leonie is THE BEST supervisor, ever." ... neatly summing up the overall sentiment from anyone in her orbit...

How does immunisation establish durable disease resistance in plants?
Mobile immune signals released upon immunisation boost effectiveness of the defence hormone salicylic acid by ten times!😲 This results in higher immune gene expression and systemic acquired resistance against infection.

Awesome. Can HIGHLY recommend postdoc-ing with Steve...!!!

Construction of multi-targeted CRISPR libraries in tomato to overcome functional redundancy at genome-scale level - Nature Communications Genetic variance is vital for breeding programs and mutant screening, yet traditional mutagenesis methods wrestle with genetic redundancy and a lack of specificity in gene targeting. Here the authors ...

New CRISPR tools for tomato functional genomics from Eilon Shani! 🍅 🧬 ✂️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

And a 3 year tech position is also now live. Synthetic biology project funded by the Advanced Research + Innovation Agency (ARIA). Please apply / RP! www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51027/
@camplantsci.bsky.social

This is awesome work. So many layers of discovery in this paper. Great to see it in its final form!

Data-driven mathematical modelling explains altered timing of EARLY FLOWERING 3 in the wheat circadian oscillator Circadian rhythms, daily oscillations with a free-running period of approximately 24 hours, have evolved in organisms across the kingdoms of life, enabling organisms to anticipate and adapt to environ...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Really enjoyed this collaboration between my lab and James Locke lab. We show plant circadian oscillators can have a flexible architecture. Our computational models suggest that dawn-expression of ELF3 in wheat occurs due to repression of the ELF3 promoter by TOC1.

We are advertising a new postdoctoral position in my group. 3 years of funding to work on a moonshot synthetic biology project funded by the Advanced Research + Innovation Agency (ARIA). Please apply and please RP! www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50801/ @camplantsci.bsky.social

Thank you @sjonhartman.bsky.social! Yes we're excited about the work and its potential. And coincidentally, we are also excited to be hosting @alessio-b.bsky.social in the lab in May!

Neural stem cell epigenomes and fate bias are temporally coordinated during corticogenesis The cerebral cortex orchestrates complex cognitive functions, yet how its distinct temporal lineages are molecularly patterned during development remains unresolved. Here, we integrate single-cell tra...

Can a stem cell change its epigenome while proliferating? In collaboration with the lab of Amos Tanay, we demonstrate that yes, the epigenome of neural stem cells (NSCs) is continuously remodeled, across multiple layers, during mouse corticogenesis. 1/14
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Join our team as a postdoc and explore the exciting world of transposable elements and developmental biology with us! @imbavienna.bsky.social @vbcscitraining.bsky.social

NEWS - Does this breakthrough mark a new epigenetic chapter in crop breeding?

Today is #WorldHealthDay. Did you know that #wheat is an incredibly important crop for human health? 🌾

Read our latest news story about an important epigenetic breakthrough in creating more resilient crops

okt.to/sL9oKr

Paper Alert! @pnas.org

We think nematodes break open plant cells, sense small molecule signals (termed effectostimulins), which switch on a master regulator SUGR1, which switches on effectors, which break cells.

Looks like a feed-forward loop driving infection.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

VRN2-PRC2 facilitates light-triggered repression of PIF signaling to coordinate growth in Arabidopsis Osborne et al. show that the angiosperm-specific PRC2 subunit VRN2 is enriched in hypoxic regions of the Arabidopsis shoot, where it is required for stable deposition of H3K27me3 in key PIF4 target ge...

Now with the #plantscience #epigenetics hashtags 😅

Excited to see our work led by @drosborneplantsci.bsky.social & @djgibbs.bsky.social out in Developmental Cell. 🌱 We show that VRN2-PRC2 in meristematic hypoxic niches epigenetically limits growth through PIF targets.
www.cell.com/developmenta...

Transcription factors instruct DNA methylation patterns in plant reproductive tissues DNA methylation is maintained by forming self-reinforcing connections with other repressive chromatin modifications, resulting in stably silenced genes and transposons. However, these mechanisms fail ...

Back-to-back manuscripts from the Jacobsen and Law labs revealing TFs that direct RdDM! Genetics controlling epigenetics. Reminiscent of KRAB ZFs... shorturl.at/TE4PH shorturl.at/QEHDU

Transposon-triggered epigenetic chromatin dynamics modulate EFR-related pathogen response @manavellalab www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cold-induced nucleosome dynamics linked to silencing of Arabidopsis FLC Temperature influences nucleosome dynamics, and thus chromatin, to regulate gene expression. Such mechanisms underlie the epigenetic silencing of Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) by prolonged cold....

We are happy to share our work on local #nucleosome dynamics integrating #temperature inputs into an #epigenetic switching mechanism.

⚠️ Preprint alert!!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thanks Nicola! Yes it was great working with you. 307 all the way. Here’s to many more!

Thank you David! 307 is the best. Looking forward to catching up next week!

Thank you Peter! Looking forward to mulling over a beer or two at our next meeting!

Thanks Courtney!

Also would like to give a big shout out to @jamiehackett.bsky.social and colleagues - we were inspired by their amazing work, and without it would not have discovered that using mammalian PRDM9 is highly efficient with reduced off target!

A huge enormous thank you to collaborators @hendersi.bsky.social – amazing to share lab space with this guy! and Steve Jacobsen who was involved at the inception and for supporting me to develop this work in my own group.

Here we describe development a SunTag based tool for H3K4me3 deposition, and use it to activate endogenous genes, improve pathogen resistance and unlock meiotic crossovers at centromeric regions in Arabidopsis.

CRISPR targeting of H3K4me3 activates gene expression and unlocks centromeric crossover recombination in Arabidopsis H3K4me3 is a fundamental and highly conserved chromatin mark across eukaryotes, playing a central role in many genome-related processes, including transcription, maintenance of cell identity, DNA dama...

Very excited to share this new preprint from the lab (shorturl.at/l7lNq)! @hendersi.bsky.social si.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social