Schnittger Lab

Great collaboration between University of Hamburg and the team of Moussa Benhamed from the Institute of Plant Sciences-Paris-Saclay driven by @tuncayhasibe.bsky.social

Transcriptional control of meiotic recombination by the DREAM complex Meiotic chromosome segregation and recombination, essential for sexual reproduction and evolution, require a specialized gene set. However, how meiotic gene expression is controlled remains largely un...

BUT: restoring MER3 can partly rescue fertility. With DREAM’s role conserved from plants to animals, we’re excited to shed light on how reproduction is orchestrated across multicellular life! 🌱🔬✨ #Meiosis #Science #PlantBiology

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

How do plants control the genes needed for successful sexual reproduction? Our new work uncovers the DREAM complex as a crucial regulator of meiotic recombination in Arabidopsis. Without DREAM, plants are sterile—key recombination genes like MER3 are switched off...

Enhancing local meiotic crossovers in Arabidopsis and maize through juxtaposition of heterozygous and homozygous regions - Nature Plants This study discovered that locally confined DNA differences boost crossover rates in both Arabidopsis and maize, revealing a conserved mechanism that can accelerate plant breeding and trait introgress...

Breaking genetics news‼️🌱🌽 A natural DNA trick triples recombination in maize. What we first saw in Arabidopsis (@hendersi lab) a decade ago is now confirmed in crops—opening new doors for plant breeding. Published today in Nature Plants! More details 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy lab reunion over Italian cross-over dinner with Chao Yang from Huazhong Agri Uni 🇨🇳—in town to share insights on meiotic recombination in rapeseed 🌱.

7 nations, 1 table. Science unites 🌍💬 #ScienceCommunity #LabLife

In WT plants, expansion microscopy with spindle immunolabeling showed microtubule connections between spindle poles and the apicobasal cortex.

Thanks Yaniv. Very kind.

Unlocking meiotic crossovers near plant centromeres Crossovers (COs) ensure proper chromosome segregation during meiosis and generate genetic diversity. COs are non-uniformly distributed along chromosomes and almost universally suppressed in centromere...

The identification of the very conserved CTF18, SGO2 and SPF2 as suppressors of centromere-proximal crossovers highlights the importance of cohesin turnover in this process and opens up new possibilities for plant breeding. Much more in the paper : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A cytological framework of female meiosis in Arabidopsis Female and male meiosis often differ in many aspects, such as their duration and the frequency as well as the positioning of crossovers. However, studying female meiosis is often very challenging and ...

Six more years—plus a lot of blood, sweat, and tears—later, we are thrilled to finally share it: a cytological framework of female meiosis in Arabidopsis!

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

This led to our first live cell imaging paper on Arabidopsis meiosis in 2019 elifesciences.org/articles/42834.

What we learned from the male side brought us back to our original question, and so began another chapter.

After 12 years…

In 2014, a wild idea was born: to follow female meiosis in Arabidopsis in real time. After many trials (including experiments with quirky mutants where female organs developed inside out, and a few other unconventional ideas), we switched gears to image the male side.

Functional characterization of the Csm1-like protein TITAN 9 in Arabidopsis thaliana Plant genetics; Plant bioinformatics; Plant Biology; Plant physiology; Plant systematics; Plant evolution; Plant development

Fantastic collaboration with colleagues from Hungary and the Netherlands.

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

While a complete knockout is lethal, meiosis-specific reduction of TTN9 causes striking chromosome segregation issues and abnormal centromere signals during meiosis I. Our findings support a conserved role for Csm1-like proteins in maintaining healthy chromosome segregation across eukaryotes.

Functional characterization of the Csm1-like protein TITAN 9 in Arabidopsis thaliana Plant genetics; Plant bioinformatics; Plant Biology; Plant physiology; Plant systematics; Plant evolution; Plant development

Second: Some new findings about chromosome segregation in Arabidopsis!

We’ve characterized TITAN9 (TTN9), a distant Csm1-like protein in Arabidopsis. Proteomics revealed TTN9 associates with multiple kinetochore components, including DSN1.

Our work highlights an important role for stress granules during meiosis in response to heat stress.

This paper is also the first one from our local research network BIKON studying biomolecular condensates in Hamburg.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Interestingly, this behavior is specific to TAM; other meiotic cyclins do not form such condensates.

Crucially, we found that TAM’s recruitment to these granules enables plants to proceed to the second meiotic division under challenging conditions.

The recruitment of the A-type cyclin TAM to stress granules is crucial for meiotic fidelity under heat The concentration of a meiotic regulator into membrane-less compartments assures genomic stability during reproduction.

First up: understanding how plants defend themselves against heat stress. Our recent Science Advances paper shows that the meiotic cyclin TAM localizes to stress granules—special biomolecular condensates—during meiosis.

We’ve been a bit quiet here due to the climate around social media in politics. But behind the scenes, we’ve made some exciting progress and are happy to share several new papers!

As seen on our kitchen cupboard:

Happy lunar year!

Celebrating with our team the year of the...

Very cool project for a Ph.D. student in the team of our neighbors here at the Institute for Plant Science and Microbiology, University of Hamburg @uni-hamburg.de. Highly recommended.

Here, an open PhD position to study the structure and dynamics of bimolecular condensates in plant cells by Cryo-EM and super resolution microscopy.

Please spread the word.

www.uni-hamburg.de/stellenangeb...

#plantscience

Getting ready for the winter term - the calm before the storm...

Here, a job advert for junior group leader position in Molecular Biology of Plants, especially with focus on cell division, cell cycle, chromosomes and DNA repair.

Please spread the word.

stellen.uni-hamburg.de/jobposting/d...

Thanks a lot!

Thanks!

To start with, and perhaps as a sign for a new beginning, some picts from yesterday’s polar light magic over Hamburg.

The Schnittger lab is located in Hamburg/Germany and represents an international team of cell biologists, molecular biologists, and biochemists investigating the cell cycle, meiosis and DNA damage in plants. Here, we will post the latest information from and about the lab.

The Schnittger lab is happy to join BlueSky. We just re-located from the former twitter platform that became unbearable for us to support due to the homophobic, unsocial and democracy-threatening behavior of its new owner.