Saima Shahid

Combined generalist and host-specific transcriptional strategies enable host generalism in the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea How generalist pathogens infect phylogenetically diverse hosts remains a central question in plant-pathogen biology. In particular, the extent to which broad host range is enabled by genetic variation...

The first in a coming array of papers looking at the co-transcriptome of 72 Botrytis genotype in 10 different host plants is out. Summary is the pathogen uses a combination of general virulence and host specific plasticity (not new genes) to infect dicots. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I’m missing out on the amazing science at #Botany2025, but super happy that my student Megan Adler is giving her first talk!

July 29, TUE, 9 AM (PDT):
“Dynamic DNA (de)methylation underpins parasitic #Cuscuta-host plant communication”

If you are attending, don’t miss Megan’s talk!

This is a great program. We started in in 2016 and it just gets better and better!
Check out some past fellows who are on Bluesky: @philcarella.bsky.social @mattbnt.bsky.social @psaima.bsky.social @fromani.bsky.social @sjb287.bsky.social @aribidopsis.bsky.social @cavycavs.bsky.social

⏱️ T - 7 days to go ⏱️

Only 1 week left to submit an abstract and apply for a travel grant to attend #JXB75 in Edinburgh in September 🌱

Don’t miss your chance - apply today! 🌱

#PlantScience 🧪 @sebiology.bsky.social

#Argonautes2025 - argonautes.img.cas.cz
Join us in Prague 27-30/8/2025 for the next edition of the Argonaute meeting #miRNA #siRNA #piRNA & #PIWI

Abstract submission for talk selection deadline is 30/6!

Please, spread the word @rnasociety.bsky.social @rti-umasschan.bsky.social

Congratulations @emiliebrasset.bsky.social and colleagues! Great work.

New alleles of Arabidopsis BIK1 reinforce its predominant role in pattern-triggered immunity and caution interpretations of other reported functions The receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase BIK1 and its close homolog PBL1 have been widely recognized as central components of plant immunity. However, most genetic studies of BIK1 and PBL1 functions were ...

Interesting - bik1 T-DNA mutants are smaller, have high levels of SA (autoimmune phenotype), but CRISPR mutants do not have more severe compromised defense.
#plantimmunity #plantscience
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

NoCass 4th to 5th September 2025 - registration now open!

#NoCass2025 registration now open!

If you're a student or post-doc at Norwich or Cambridge, join us at the Norwich-Cambridge Science Symposium on 4-5 September - a great chance to share research & form collaborations.

Find out more & register: lnkd.in/eH3We78t

@nocassofficial.bsky.social

The Plant Cell is accepting applications for Assistant Features Editors | Plant Science Today Are you an early career researcher passionate about plants and science communication? The Plant Cell is accepting applications for new Assistant Features Editors (AFEs) to begin in 2026 and 2027.

#ICAR2025 attendees!
Stop by @theplantcell.bsky.social booth next week to learn about the Assistant Features Editor (AFE) program blog.aspb.org/the-plant-ce...
6pm Tuesday, meet the Editor-in-Chief, Pablo Manavella.
6pm Wednesday, meet the rest of the editors, including some current AFEs! See you!

Experimental Warming Alters Nitrogen Cycle in a Humid Tropical Forest Warming Alters N Cycle in Tropical Forest ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

here is an earlier version of the preprint that describes the results in the figures www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I rarely have the energy to paint or draw now, but I still had fun making these figures for a paper using biorender. Although icons are made by biorender, it’s was quite a lot of work by @benebachelot.bsky.social and myself to come up with the final version- I am pleased with the look!

DNA gains and losses in gigantic genomes do not track differences in transposable element-host silencing interactions - Communications Biology Comparative analysis of transposable element activity and host silencing pathways across gigantic genomes of different sizes reveals that gigabases of DNA can be gained and lost without clear, predict...

#TEsky DNA gains and losses in gigantic genomes do not track differences in transposable element-host silencing interactions doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Image: UCR student Annalise Kane, co-first author of the study. Credit: Claudia Sepulveda/UCR

Scientists have found a way to trick parasitic weeds into germinating when no host is present, causing them to die. Using engineered microbes, they’re producing key plant hormones to potentially turn this natural system into a powerful defense.

buff.ly/4SvbjZP v @ucriverside.bsky.social #Science

I remember seeing this in the preprint version

Nature’s viny vampire: Discovering what drives parasitic Cuscuta campestris Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have discovered the mechanism that drives the parasitic vine Cuscuta campestris to insert organs into plants after making contact with the hosts.

Nature’s viny vampire..🧛

Discover what drives #parasiticplant Cuscuta campestris to insert its organs into host plants:

Read EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Read the original article here:
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...

#PlantScience

Excited to share that I'll soon be recruiting a 3 year postdoc to join the lab @lancasterplantbio.bsky.social to work with me on Rubisco biochemistry and engineering. Official advertising details to be released very soon, watch this space! Please spread the word. 😀🌱🧪🥼

Re-upping this. If you need to do local synteny visualization, please give my workflow a try.

github.com/cxli233/Tidy...

A wonderful scientist and a wonderful person. We should all strive to be remembered that way

📜 Planting Genomes in the Wild: Arabidopsis From Genetics History to the Ecology and Evolutionary Genomics Era

🧑‍🔬 @lauracleventhal.bsky.social, Megan Ruffley, ‪ @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social

📔 Annual Review of Plant Biology

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

#️⃣ #PlantScience #PlantGenomics

Epigenetics Gordon Research Conference. Consider joining us for what will be an excellent, exciting meeting and will be held in Europe for the first time: 10-15 Aug25 Barcelona, Spain. Please repost and apply early - this meeting is popular! www.grc.org/epigenetics-...

Today we celebrate a wide diversity in plant sciences at the Symposium of our institute at @unicologne.bsky.social with support from @ceplas.bsky.social & @trr341.bsky.social #PlantScience

Internationally recognized plant scientist named next President of the Danforth Plant Science Center - Danforth Plant Science Center After an extensive international search, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has named Giles Oldroyd, PhD, as its next President.

After an extensive search, the Danforth Center has named Giles Oldroyd, PhD, its next President.

@gilesoldroyd.bsky.social is a renowned plant geneticist & one of only a few hundred scientists elected to both the UK @royalsociety.org & the US @nasonline.org.
www.danforthcenter.org/news/interna...

Fully Funded PhD opportunity in my group! 125th Anniversary PhD Scholarship at @unibirmingham @UoBbiosciences studying (epi)genome plasticity in oaks at the @BIFoRUoB FACE facilities. Black & Black mixed heritage students (UK/Home-fee eligible)
30 April 2025 – RT🙏 More info👇

Diagram of somatic TE insertions across the A. thaliana genome

In our latest @biorxiv-genomic.bsky.social preprint, we describe our approach to use PacBio HiFi reads to detect somatic TE transposition -- good enough to detect rare events that are present in only single cells. Led by Andrea Movilli.
#plantscience
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

It's not a bug, it's a feature 😉
Here's a really nice review from the Slotkin group:
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Or one from my group about a heat stress responsive TE and how it modifies gene expression and stress responsiveness.
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

🚨Preprint Alert🚨 I'm really happy to finally share our exploits in red algae and introduce the wider community to Bostrychia, the new model system we have been developing to tackle the molecular biology of red algae. Isn't she a beauty? Thread below 🧵 1/8 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

CRISPR targeting of H3K4me3 activates gene expression and unlocks centromeric crossover recombination in Arabidopsis H3K4me3 is a fundamental and highly conserved chromatin mark across eukaryotes, playing a central role in many genome-related processes, including transcription, maintenance of cell identity, DNA dama...

Very excited to share this new preprint from the lab (shorturl.at/l7lNq)! @hendersi.bsky.social si.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social

Class-agnostic annotation of small RNAs balances sensitivity and specificity in diverse organisms
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

IPPS Online Seminar on February 5th, 2025, by Prof. Saima Shahid and Jiacheng Ji - International Parasitic Plant Society (1) Prof. Saima Shahid from The University of Sheffield (UK) will talk about: “The interplay of mobile small RNAs and DNA methylation in Cuscuta parasitism” (2) Jiacheng Ji, PhD student, Inner Mongoli...

We're excited to have Saima Shahid (UK) and Jiacheng Ji (China) as our next speakers at the IPPS seminar:
www.parasiticplants.org/2025/01/ipps...

On top, five Andropogoneae grass species, from left to right Zea mays subsp. mays, Hemarthria uncinata, Miscanthus sinensis, Sorghum bicolor, Andropogon gerardi. On bottom, a map of the world, with collection sites of Andropogoneae grasses in points. A green background shows the distribution of Andropogoneae grasses throughout tropical and temperate latitudes

On left, a phylogeny of Andropogoneae species, with 14 independent polyploidy origins noted. On right, genome size and repeat content of each assembly. Across all assemblies, average assembly size is 1.9 Gb, and average repeat size is 1.5 Gb.

New preprint featuring my favorite maize-relatives, the Andropogoneae! We sequenced the genomes of 27 species, including lemongrass, kangaroo grass, little and big bluestem, and more -- key species that shape grasslands and prairies worldwide. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...