@alisonsmith25.bsky.social
@camplantsci.bsky.social
@theplantjournal.bsky.social
#AlgalBiotech, #Diatoms, #AlgalInnovationCentre, #PlantSciences, #Microalgae, #ThePlantJournal
27.10.2025 06:57 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Professor Jake Harris, Professor Alison Smith and Dr PaweΕ Mordaka from Cambridge University's Department of Plant Sciences. Photo credits: University of Cambridge.
Researchers from Cambridge's Dept. Plant Sciences are among 9 teams to be awarded ARIA Synthetic Plants funding today - paving the way for more productive, resilient, and sustainable plants.π±
tinyurl.com/ys3w6v2x
@c-jake-harris.bsky.socialβ¬
@alisonsmith25.bsky.social
@cambridgebiosci.bsky.social
02.06.2025 14:01 β π 6 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0
Some great Marchantia work from the lab next door.
17.03.2025 14:32 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Chlamydomonas chloroplast genes tolerate compression of the genetic code to just 51 codons
Genome scale engineering has enabled codon compression of the universal genetic code of up to three codons in E. coli, providing the means for genetic code expansion. To go much beyond this number, smaller and simpler genetic systems are needed to avoid significant technical challenges. Chloroplast genomes offer multiple advantages for codon compression and reassignment. Here we report a recoding scheme for the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii chloroplast genome, in which two stop codons and one or more of the codons for arginine, glycine, isoleucine, leucine and serine, all of which have two cognate tRNAs, are absent, compressing the genetic code to 51 codons. Firstly, several recoding strategies were tested on the essential rpoA gene, encoding a subunit of the chloroplast RNA polymerase. A defined compression scheme, which relied on swapping the target codons with the permitted frequent codons, could replace the native protein coding sequence without affecting chloroplast protein expression levels or the strain fitness. The same strategy was successfully used for codon compression of ycf1, encoding a subunit of the chloroplast translocon, psaA and psbA, intron-containing highly-expressed genes encoding reaction centres subunits of both photosystems, and an 8.5 kb operon encoding essential and non-essential genes. Finally, we tested degeneracy of the 51-codon genetic code by exploring the combinatorial design for the large subunit of RuBisCO, relying on restoration of photosynthesis in an rbcL mutant strain. More than 70 functional sequences with diverse codon adaptation indices were recovered. In all codon-compressed genes there was no observable penalty on photosynthetic growth. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
New paper this week from the Plant Metabolism group:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@alisonsmith25.bsky.social
@kittyclouston.bsky.social
@andreholzer.bsky.social
12.03.2025 15:21 β π 4 π 5 π¬ 0 π 0
We are freezing but Phaeodactylum is growing.
19.02.2025 16:48 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Phaeodactylum tricornutum grown with no temperature control in the AIC, using the Varicon Aqua Phyco-Pond system.
19.02.2025 16:44 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
Reef Conservation UK (RCUK) is a networking group and annual meeting for reef scientists, conservationists and enthusiasts to discuss and collaborate on issues related to coral reef research and conservation.
Biophysicist/math biologist (Newcastle University) working on microswimmers and the physics of microbes π¦ ; passionate about nature and sustainability β»οΈ; mental health advocate; he/him/his; opinions personal.
Professor of Biology/Ecology and #TriBeta advisor doing #SLACScience. I focus on understanding how human activities affect freshwater algal biochemistry. Gardener, hiker, baker, dog/cat mom. RP β endorsement.
Incoming postdoctoral researcher at University of Bristol. Interests: protein design, motor protein, plant synthetic biology.
Plant circadian biology at Department of Plant Sciences University of Cambridge.
By day, PhD candiate in the Luginbuehl lab @ Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge. By night, aspiring DJ and painter.
PhD student in the Schornack Group @slcuplants.bsky.social. Interested in plant-microbe interfaces.
https://www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/people/alex-guyon
Gates Cambridge scholar studying plant circadian biology
PhD Student in Chromatin and Memory Group @ Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge. Working on plant epigenetics π±
Postdoc @slcuplants.bsky.social | Plant Microbe Interactions, Photosynthesis, Sustainability | Gates Cambridge Alumnus | βοΈπ±π¦ π§βπ¬π³οΈβππ¬π§¬
Plant genetics and epigenetics @ University of Cambridge, Department of Plant Sciences
Junior Group at FSU Jena with a passion for #cyanobacteria #synbio #proteintargeting #greenbiotech #sustainability π§ͺπ§¬. This account is run by Julie.
Website: https://www.bio.uni-jena.de/en/11275/synthetic-biology
Algae enthusiast, Associate Professor @UniofExeter, joint appointment @thembauk
Algal ecophysiology | signalling | microbiome | molecular microbiology | diatoms!
Chronobiologist - Diatoms
Falciatore lab UMR 7141 - IBPC
Paris
π³οΈβπ
Leverhulme ECF (U of Cambridge)π¬π§. PhD (UNL)π¦π·Biotechnologist (UNQ)π¦π·. Gene regulation and plant EvoDevo.
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Explore ACS Publications: pubs.acs.org
Publishing the best of biotech science and business. Find us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. Part of @natureportfolio.nature.comβ¬.
Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Synthetic and Engineering Biology at the University of Cambridge. Bringing together researchers working across disciplines - at the intersections of biology, engineering, computer science, design and bioethics.
