Sebastian Schornack

A presenter talking in front of slides in an auditorium

Today’s seminar @slcuplants.bsky.social by @pdchristine.bsky.social is on the cell-to-cell communication upon biotic stress - a crucial aspect of plant multicellular life.

Bean root system, text: "Dig into the latest in root and rhizosphere science: Mini Symposium of the ISRR, January 28th 2026"

Rooting for roots?
#PlantScience

Join us online for the Mini Symposium of the International Society of Root Research @rootscientists.bsky.social

Register here for free:

tinyurl.com/yzeddrjx

Programme👇

Having fun with the microscope lately. Here’s one of my favourite artsy and slightly psychedelic shots of #Marchantia chloroplasts and a fluorescent membrane reporter. (z-stack maximum projection)

How similar are these tubular structures to the highly complex branched arbuscules of AM fungi?

Detection of gene activity of a FOLD gene (black spots) specifically in the structures formed by the symbiotic fungus Rhizophagus irregularis (labelled in yellow) within legume root cells. Image by Edouard Evangelisti.

Project Name: DIY Plant Walls: Engineering Plant Cell Size and Material Strength using Fungal Proteins

Supervisors: @dromius.bsky.social & @robinsonsci.bsky.social

Application Deadline: 5pm Monday 19 January 2026

Start Date: 1 October 2026

More details: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
2/3🧵

Montage of microscopy images of plant organs and cells in tissues.

🚨Two fully-funded #PhD positions🚨
Join @slcuplants.bsky.social to help us explore intriguing fundamental plant development questions in a supportive, friendly institute with fantastic supervisors & exceptional support services 🌿🧬🔬
Find out more www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/PhD

Pls share
#plantscijobs
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New opportunity to join our #EvoMPMI group @johninnescentre.bsky.social as a Postdoctoral Researcher working on the mechanistic basis of immunity in diverse plants. Please spread the word, reach out by email, and/or apply if interested! More details here: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po...

Check out amazing confocal images by @alexguyon.bsky.social, former member of @dromius.bsky.social lab and now postdoc in Maria Harrison’s group. He managed to image haustoria from a pathogen and arbuscules from a symbiont in the same cell! 🤩

Thanks for highlighting our work @marywilliams521.bsky.social

New tools to study an old mycorrhiza | Plantae I love learning about the many molecular adaptations that allowed plants to adapt to life on land, and particularly have enjoyed sharing the iconic micrograph from Remy et al (1994) that shows a 400…

Plant Science Research Weekly -- New tools to study an old mycorrhiza (PNAS) @chistinesd.bsky.social @dromius.bsky.social (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching.bsky.social) buff.ly/a36EjVv

#PlantaePSRW

A SABATH family enzyme regulates development via the gibberellin-related pathway in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.11.693594v1

Non-seed science is accelerating forwards at a truly impressive rate. Thanks to @philcarella.bsky.social and Kayla Robinson for an awesome #nonseedUK25 meeting, and to @justingoodrich.bsky.social and @sandyheth.bsky.social for agreeing to organise #nonseedUK26 in Edinburgh - looking forward to it 👍

Absolutely gorgeous microscopy and time-lapse imaging on this plant-mutualist-pathogen system! Insane in the membrane 🎶 Well done @alexguyon.bsky.social @dromius.bsky.social and colleagues!

Mutualist-pathogen co-colonisation modulates phosphoinositide signatures at host intracellular interfaces: Nicotiana benthamiana plants expressing biosensors for PI4P and PI(4,5)P2. PI(4,5)P2 was tip-enriched at mutualist structures but evenly distributed around pathogen structures. PI4P was absent from pathogen extrahaustorial membranes but present at invasive hyphae and mutualist interfaces. Co-colonisation triggered PI4P recruitment at pathogen haustoria, and enhanced resistance to P. palmivora. Graphic by Alex Guyon.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi boost plant resilience by remodelling the plant-pathogen membrane interface
Check-out the latest paper from @alexguyon.bsky.social & @dromius.bsky.social
📖 doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social
News article www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/arbuscu...

Interior of Sainsbury Laboratory building showing experimental laboratories on left with floor-to-ceiling glass facing into the main central avenue with people walking on stairs and sitting at study boxes. Lots of natural light and views to the Cambrdge University Botanic Garden. Overlay text "Join SLCU" and logos and closing date of 15 January 2026.

🌱 2x David Sainsbury Career Development Fellowships at @slcuplants.bsky.social

Unique opportunity for early-career researchers to launch their own independent research programme in quantitative plant development, with generous support & world-class facilities.

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/david-s...

Tenure Track Professorship (W1 with Tenure Track to W3) in “Molecular Biology" (f/m/d) - Heidelberg job with Universität Heidelberg | 12850668 The Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH) and the Faculty of Biosciences invite applications for a   Tenure Track Professors...

Please RT‼️ #TenureTrack position @zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de one of the best #proteostasis research centres in the world. www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Salicylic Acid and the unique TGA transcription factor controls plant immunity against Pseudomonas syringae in Marchantia polymorpha ABSTRACT. Land plants have co-evolved with microorganisms since its transition to a terrestrial habitat around 500 million years ago. In angiosperms, salic

Salicylic Acid and the unique TGA transcription factor controls plant immunity against Pseudomonas syringae in Marchantia polymorpha url: academic.oup.com/pcp/article/...

DIY Plant Walls: Use the secrets of fungal pathognes to reprogramme plant architecture & material properties with @dromius.bsky.social & using @robinsonsci.bsky.social's unique Automated Confocal Micro-Extensometer
Webinar: 10 Dec 2025
Applications close: 19 Jan 2026
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

The autoactivity of tomato helper NLR immune proteins of the NRC clade is unaltered in Nicotiana benthamiana prf mutants Nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich repeat immune receptors of the NRC clade act in one direction, with autoactive helpers able to trigger hypersensitive c

The autoactivity of tomato helper NLR immune proteins of the NRC clade is unaltered in Nicotiana benthamiana prf mutants (Daniel Lüdke, Hsuan Pai, AmirAli Toghani, Adeline Harant, Chih-Hang Wu, Sophien Kamoun) doi.org/10.1093/plph... #PlantScience @aspbofficial

MpNPR modulates lineage-specific oil body development and defence against gastropod herbivory in Marchantia polymorpha https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.17.688000v1

Thanks, Nick! What a difference a lifetime makes…

This is a remarkable study describing a new fungal species in a 407 million year old plant - Rugososporomyces lavoisierae Strullu-Derrien and Schornack sp. nov - using some amazing technology. Worth a read 👇

New light on old stones: a fossil #fungus in #symbiosis with one of the oldest known land plants

@chistinesd.bsky.social, et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

@dromius.bsky.social @ffercoq.bsky.social #PlantScience

Summary also available in French and Spanish.

The original thin polished sample of Windyfield chert (left) was placed on a slide and imaged under a Keyence microscope. Zooming in on the sample revealed exquisitely preserved fungal structures, including details of hyphae and arbuscules. Images by Gareth Evans taken using a Keyence brightfield microscope.

Read about the microscopy techniques employed to detect and distinguish traces of organisms long after their DNA has vanished.
www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/scienti...

"This is just the start. By applying these methods to the fossilised remains of different organisms, we now have a powerful new tool to tell apart structures that may look similar but differ in their fine ultrastructure, for example ancient arthropods, plants and fungi." @dromius.bsky.social

Confocal scanning laser microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging & Raman analyses allowed @nhm-london.bsky.social, @slcuplants.bsky.social & @cambridge-ee.bsky.social researchers to resolve plant & fungal structures fossil
Read in @newphyt.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/nph....

@dromius.bsky.social

1. Postdoc in plant-fungal interactions: jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Research...

2. Postdoc in molecular plant-microbe interactions: jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Research...

3. Research technician: jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Technici...

(Pls share!)

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picture of the Schornacklab team

Plz RP. Come join us at @slcuplants.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk to study effector-targeted plant processes impacting plant cell biology and development.
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/post-do...
www.schornacklab.net

Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants Symbioses have been fundamental to colonization of terrestrial ecosystems by plants and their evolution. Emergence of the ancient arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis was followed by the diversification o...

1/ It is my pleasure to share the latest preprint of the team: "Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants"

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Here, we identified and functionally validated a novel master regulator of intracellular symbioses!

A thread ...
#PlantScience

Gene editing, traditional crossbreeding produce disease-resistant cacao plants

Mycelium of phytophthora palmivora, which can give rise to cacao black pod disease, grows from an agar plug, infecting a cacao leaf 48 hours after inoculation. Credit: Mark Guiltinan/Penn State In a development that…