Susan Jones

Fungal pathogen promotes caterpillar feeding and weight gain using a host-like trehalase Zhao et al. report that Cordyceps militaris fungi induce feeding and weight gain in silkworm larvae using an insect-like trehalase. Fungal infection induces a sharp drop in insect blood sugars and the...

Cordyceps is the fungus in 'The last of us'. So this one caught my eye -- fascinating paper in the evergreen journal, Current Biology (one of my personal faves): www.cell.com/current-biol...

a blue sign that says we are hiring ALT: a blue sign that says we are hiring

There is still time to apply to become part of our team at Nature Biomedical Engineering! Please share! springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...

Delighted to announce here that @ritastrack.bsky.social is the new Chief editor of Nature Biomedical Engineering. Congratulations Rita!

⭐ I'm hiring a new Chief editor for Nature Biomedical engineering, in New York, Beijing or Shanghai.

Please apply here: springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...

Seed-borne bacteria drive wheat rhizosphere microbiome assembly via niche partitioning and facilitation - Nature Microbiology A sequential propagation strategy shows how the microbes initially on seeds are key to building complex, reproducible and heritable plant microbiomes.

OUT NOW: Seed-borne bacteria drive wheat rhizosphere microbiome assembly via niche partitioning and facilitation

@dgarrs.bsky.social

#microsky 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Science under siege: protecting scientific progress in turbulent times As Editors-in-Chief of The Company of Biologists' journals, we have been watching with growing concern the policy changes in the United States of America (USA) and the challenges that these are creati...

Together with fellow @biologists.bsky.social EiCs we've written about the unprecedented cuts & policy changes to research in the US

We stand with our US colleagues during this challenging time

Science transcends borders—setbacks in one nation affect us all

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

What a great PhD project! Check out the work of the Busby lab — includes forest canopy microbiome analyses agmicrobiome.org

Dog day afternoon, #GBGV style

📣Taking our ability to understand phage biology up a notch. Phage functional genomics platform, out now

🔓Open access, read it at your leisure
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@cresslab.bsky.social, @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social

Congratulations to the whole team! 🎉

A picture of the journal's front cover

Happy launch day everyone! We're really excited to share our first issue, which is now available to read online here www.nature.com/nrct/

One (tired) man and his dog 😊

Recommendations for mitochondria transfer and transplantation nomenclature and characterization - Nature Metabolism This Consensus Statement provides a nomenclature framework and experimental recommendations for studying mitochondrial transfer and transplantation.

This is important: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

DNA origami: a new frontier in epigenetic inheritance across generations In a collaboration between two labs spanning both sides of the English Channel, scientists have discovered a new way in which the organisation of DNA within our cells affects genes for generations

Article by @fitz-james-lab.bsky.social and me summarising his Mol Cell study
www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/article/dna-...

🤩 pair of papers here that begin to reveal the potential of topically-applied engineered bacteria.

Figure from the paper, showing BOOSTER-overexpressing poplar plants that are about twice as tall as the negative controls. Googly eyes (not from original paper) look at the taller plants.

BOOSTER, a newly identified orphan gene, supercharges photosynthesis and, when overexpressed, boosts height of poplars by up to 200% (at least in greenhouse)

To make it even more interesting, part of the gene seems derived from a poplar fungus-farming ant 🐜

Paper: www.cell.com/developmenta...

Conserved jumbo phage factors required for protein import into a phage nucleus Bacteriophages use diverse mechanisms to evade anti-phage defenses systems. ΦKZ-like jumbo phages assemble a proteinaceous nucleus-like compartment that excludes antagonistic host nucleases, while int...

And see this related preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Conserved jumbo phage factors required for protein import into a phage nucleus

Yup. That does say "phage nucleus" and it really is a nucleus-like compartment.

Gregg Wallace says complaints came from ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ Wallace stepped back from role on MasterChef last week while allegations of sexual misconduct are investigated

It’s not a class issue. How about stopping deflecting misogyny using class war and owning your mistakes and apologising, Gregg? ‘Only’ 13 women complained. Just how many complaints is enough to take it seriously Gregg? Wow. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Spatial metagenomic characterization of microbial biogeography in the gut - Nature Biotechnology The spatial distribution of bacterial species in the mouse gut is measured by microscopic ‘plot sampling’.

Uses method published originally in Nature Biotechology www.nature.com/articles/s41...

TL DR: spatial AND temporal engraftment matter

Interesting paper that identifies a murine ‘super donor’ FMT microbiome and then investigates what makes it ‘super’:

Great to be at OncoLille yesterday to discuss research culture and regulatory T cells!

The Engagement Is Better on Bluesky - Bluesky Bluesky is the lobby to the open web. Find and build your community here.

We could go on about how we welcome publishers, we don't demote links, we encourage independent developers to build apps and extensions on top of Bluesky's network.... but instead, we'll show you.

All thanks to the incredible community here! 🦋

Our dog is not spoilt. We merely made him more comfortable 😆

Excited to share “Bin Chicken”, substantially improving genome recovery through rational metagenomic assembly. Applied to public 🌍 metagenomes, it recovered 24,000 novel species 🦠, including 6 novel phyla.
doi.org/10.1101/2024...
@wwood @rhysnewell @CMR_QUT
🧵1/6

Absolutely thrilled to announce our newly awarded MRC @ukri.org project grant! 🍾 Together with @gpollara.bsky.social & @scottishwormboy.bsky.social, we'll seek novel bacterial virulence and host defence determinants using clinical #UTI samples in my lab's human urothelial microtissue model! #UTISky

Cover of Michael Veal’s book Living Space

🎶Best music book of 2024?

For me, it was Michael Veal’s mind-expanding “Living Space: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, & Free Jazz, From Analog to Digital”

He uses theories & frameworks from architecture, photography & design to help understand the most avant-garde albums from these 2 musical geniuses

Diverse phage defence systems define West African South American pandemic Vibrio cholerae Our understanding of the factors underlying the evolutionary success of different lineages of pandemic Vibrio cholerae remains incomplete. Interestingly, two unique genetic signatures define the West ...

Exciting times! Our latest preprint is now live 🤩!
After nearly 16 yrs of running my lab, I truly believe this is one of the most significant contributions we've made. It offers fresh hypotheses about how pandemic Vibrio cholerae spreads globally. Let’s dive in!🧵..1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This work ‘might also guide the rational engineering of C4 photosynthesis in C3 crops to improve crop productivity and resilience’. Fascinating paper, check it out 👇

Menstruation Matters Menstruation is part of human life, yet we hide it behind stigma and taboos. In this Focus, our authors discuss why menstruation matters. Tackling significant ...

Want to know why menstruation matters? Read all about it in this Focus issue from @naturehumbehav.bsky.social

www.nature.com/collections/...