Plant Science

Photo of tomatoes and plants with text reading "Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 comes into force today"

Today is a big day as the Precision Breeding Act comes into force 🌱

@kamounlab.bsky.social: “This is a milestone for UK science and innovation. We now have the regulatory framework to translate discovery into impact — improving crops, strengthening food security, and benefiting society” 🌿

There's still time to RSVP and receive the Zoom link for the Philip N. Benfey Arabidopsis Community Lifetime Achievement Awards webinar featuring Detlef Weigel, Mark Estelle, and Maarten Koornneef!
RSVP---> bit.ly/naascawards
@plantevolution.bsky.social

Arabidopsis, a little weed in the mustard family, joined the celebrity ranks of Drosophila, E. coli and other model organisms in the 1980s. There was a lot of pushback-- in some circles it was referred to as the "A-word" (!)

Looking for 2 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬!
🌿 Join TPJ! You´ll:

🧬 Select standout TPJ papers
📰 Write short commentaries
🎨 Choose cover images
💬 Work with authors & SEB team

👉https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/1365313x/homepage/rheditor
📩 Rosie Trice 𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞@𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦
🗓️24Nov2025

Curating the Art & Sci section is one of my favorite newsletter duties- we feature scientific images; original works by artists; compelling pieces from the history of art and ideas, graphics created by science communicators, maps, fiber arts and more.

Tag me with ideas!

Academy farewells champion of Australian science Dr Jim Peacock AC, former Academy President, made outstanding contributions to Australian science. The Australian Academy of Science is saddened to learn of the passing of its former President and

Sadly I heard today that Jim Peacock has died. Jim was the foremost pioneer of plant molecular biology in Australia & globally. He was both my mentor and friend and will be sorely missed by many #plantscience 🧪 www.science.org.au/news-and-eve...

His studies were now raising questions that could only be fully addressed by the application ofthe newly emergingmolecular biology approaches. These were slow to permeate into the plant sciences, and I remember the look ofconfusion on colleagues’ faces when Chris took a swig of his pint of beer and then announced that we needed to adopt cloning approaches.

Chris strongly believed in those days that a couple ofpints ofbeer and sev- eral cigarettes in a local pub (either the Happy Man or the Barley Mow at Englefield Green) over lunchtime helped the creative faculties and ensured an optimal design for the experiment. This work led to a series of publications on the mechanisms of induction ofPAL and chal- cone synthase, the first enzyme in the flavonoid pathway that leads to the elicitor-induced bean phytoalexins (41), as well as increased profits for the landlords of the aforementioned pubs.

Chris saw this move as an acceptance by the prestigious Salk faculty, which included Nobel laureates Francis Crick and Renato Dulbecco, ofthe maturity and intellectual rigor of the Plant Biology program, and this real- ization resulted in the institute’s administra- tion giving a green light for additional faculty hires. Chris was an outstanding talent spotter, and Joanne Chory was hired in 1988 to start a program on the genetic dissection of photo- morphogenesis, with Detlef Weigel following in 1993, initially working on the genetic dissec- tion of flowering. Chris collaborated with his new hires where appropriate (39, 99), utilized the techniques they were developing, such as T-DNAactivation tagging, in his ownwork (8), and was delighted to see their programs rapidly and independently develop to a stature equal to that of his own.

Chris was also attentive to the smaller, more personal details, and was remarkably generous to those who worked in his lab as students, postdoctoral fellows, or visiting scientists; it is notable that he freely allowed many of these people to take the projects they had initiated under his supervision to their new jobs. Another of his major legacies is therefore the number ofcareers he nurtured that are now flourishing at major universities and research institutes throughout the world. There are also the memories that many people have of the sheer fun of doing science with someone who is at once a great leader, a visionary, a lover of the good things in life, and the possessor of a most wonderful sense of humor.

I came across this beautiful obituary for Chris Lamb in @annualreviews.bsky.social, authored by Richard Dixon:

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

It's very well written, putting his science into perspective & also painting a picture of Chris as a person and mentor.

#PlantScience #PlantImmunity

And @newphyt.bsky.social continues it's great series of Profiles with this one on @pdchristine.bsky.social:

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

#PlantScience #PlantDevelopment #PlantImmunity #PlantLuminaries

Biological Laboratory | LEGO® Ideas This is a two-floor realistic Biological Laboratory building. In this design, I try to tell stories about biologists, introduce biology concepts to general publ…

I just made an account and voted for this biology laboratory made of LEGO to "promote biological research and inspire more people into the world of biology". They need 10K votes. Reposting and/or voting below would be helpful. 🤗
beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

I'm thinking I should make this a weekly post -

Does anyone have good literature on a anthocyanin biosynthetic mutant having a stress sensitivity phenotype in the wild beyond UV-B?

After some hard work and testing to remove the remaining bugs can I now say: My new website www.femkedejongsciencejournalist.com is online.
All services new and old that I am offering as part of my portfolio career you can find now in one place.

A screenshot showing cartoon drawings of scientist. All are wearing white lab coats. most are men, any with white or crazy hair. Most wear glasses. Four out of 24 are clearly women, the rest appear to be men. 23 out of 24 look white, and one is sort of blue seems to be not entirely human.

A few years ago I made a slide showing the top 10 results if you search Google Image for "cartoon scientist".
In my slide, 10/10 are white men.
Someone asked if this is still true, so I tried again.
Here below you have 24 images.
20 are men, 4 are women (progress!).
23 are white, 1 is blue 🤔

A vinyl box with six colored vinyl LPs sticking out of its right side. The Title "Guns in Rosettes" is on top, with the subtitle "The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal" just below. Then there is an Arabidopsis plant with machine guns sticking out. Below is the statement "6-LP LIMITED EDITION COLORED VINYL BOX SET"

The back cover of the vinyl box set showing the tracklist: 1. Methionine-derived compounds Aliphatic GSLs 2. Tryptophan-derived compounds (trptonites) Indolic GSLs Camalexin Hycanite (4-OH-ICN) 3. Phenylalanine-derived compounds (phenylpropanoids) Benzenic GSLs Coumarins Hydroxycinnamates Flavonoids 4. Terpenoids (E)-β-caryophyllene α- and β-pinene Thalianin, arabidin, and DMNT And the statement "Recorded live in front of an audience in 2025"

Our article "Guns in Rosettes: The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal" is finally published @plantphys.bsky.social!
You can download the #OpenAccess PDF here:

doi.org/10.1093/plph...

But real connoisseurs of #AntimicrobialCompounds will want to get the vinyl boxset: #PlantScience #PlantImmunity

Lost Science is a new NYT series of accounts from scientists who have lost their jobs or funding. You can send your story to the Times here www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

Congrats, Joe Ecker @salkinstitute.bsky.social, to receiving the McClintock Prize! Joe has been a visionary leader of the field of genetics and genomics – not only for plants – for decades
www.salk.edu/news-release...

I was a member of a scientific society for many years before joining the staff nearly 20 years ago, and I endorse this position!
I encourage everyone to find and join a relevant scientific society (or several). You can engage with their programs and benefit directly, or just support their mission.

Stellenangebote: Universität Hohenheim Aktuelle Stellenangebote der Universität Hohenheim.

The Cluster of Excellence @greenrobust.de is hiring:

- Computer Scientist/Research data manager: shorturl.at/xSvvO
- Data steward: shorturl.at/l6NCv
- Scientific coordinator 'Plant Perturbation Atlas': shorturl.at/vBU6x

Deadline: Friday, 7 November 2025

RT are welcome

#plantjobs #plantscijobs

Our KWS colleague Anja Matzk will speak at an event organised by Plants for the Future ETP and co-hosted by three MEPs, discussing how #NGTs can help make European farming more resilient and competitive.
Looking forward to the interesting exchange! 💡

Authors, @sciencewriters.org find your book in the Anthropic settlement database (try different spellings of your name and titles to catch small errors)

Hey Botany friends, any PI at a grad-degree-granting institution want to help us out with a "applying to grad school" panel on Oct 9th at 4:30 est? 🙏 Come share your wisdom!

A celebratory graphic for the Journal of Experimental Botany's 75th anniversary. Oxford University Press.

Celebrate 75 years of pioneering plant science research! 🪴🎉

@jxbotany.bsky.social marks this important milestone with a collection of new Darwin Reviews from leading plant scientists.

Take a snapshot of plant science today: oxford.ly/4gSKOB1

Please repost - If you're a new group leader in plant science, take a look - travel funds, mentorship from the TPJ editorial board, invitation to editorial board meetings and opportunity to submit a review. Find out more about scientific publishing and help build your research network 🌱🌾🌴🥬

📢Announcement!
The call for 𝐓𝐏𝐉 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 is now open! 🌟
It is designed to offer support and mentorship to researchers transitioning from post-doctoral scientists to principal investigators

Info: 👉http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/1365313x/homepage/TPJ-fellowships
& in 🧵

Mourning the loss of Joanne Chory, Arabidopsis pioneer — Arabidopsis Community as supported by NAASC NAASC remembers the legacy of Dr. Joanne Chory (Salk Institute), Arabidopsis pioneer and climate change champion.

If interested… More about Joanne here
www.arabidopsiscommunity.org/news-events/...

A young woman with dark hair is on a roller coaster. She is looking over her shoulder at the camera behind her, clearly screaming. Whether she is screaming from fear, excitement, or both is unclear.

Now out in @plantphys.bsky.social
"Illuminating Growth: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Joanne Chory"
A summary of the recent Joanne Chory Symposium, which featured talks and photos from her former mentees.
doi.org/10.1093/plph...
(Photo shows an excited Joanne on a roller coaster).

Blooms supersized - Nature Biotechnology Nature Biotechnology - Blooms supersized

A tiny white-petalled weed beloved of plant biologists has received a CRISPR-fueled makeover, turning it into a supersized ruby-colored bloom www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Please share & RSVP to join the November 25th webinar!
Hear from the 2025 Philip N. Benfey Arabidopsis Community Lifetime Achievement Awardees! bit.ly/naascawards
@plantevolution.bsky.social

🚨 Calling all #PlantScience ECRs! 🚨

JXB is now inviting applications for its 2026 Editorial Internships 🌱✍️ 🧪

✨ You’ll gain:
🌿 Behind-the-scenes publishing experience
📝 Write commentary pieces
🤝 Join our 2026 Editorial Board meeting 👩‍💻

🗓️ Deadline: 30 Sept
👉 bit.ly/jxbinterns @sebiology.bsky.social

Bryophytes hold a larger gene family space than vascular plants - Nature Genetics A super-pangenome analysis incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte genomes reveals that bryophytes exhibit a larger number of unique and lineage-specific gene families than vascular plants.

Here's 123 new bryophyte genomes for you!
Apparently, bryophytes time and again include microbial genes in their genomic repertoire, and occupy a langer gene space than vascular plants.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Guns in Rosettes: The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal Arabidopsis remains one of the best studied models today and has a number of remarkable chemical defense systems which actively engage, interact and preven

Fun review of Arabidopsis anti-pathogen metabolism with @somssich.bsky.social and @tonnigrubeandersen.bsky.social.

Started to make a complete catalogue and had to focus. Even with all this knowledge, we still haven't studied most Arabidopsis enzymes or metabolites doi.org/10.1093/plph...