Jahnavee Palsodkar (she/her)

Our paper on using #eDNA from rainwater to study hidden biodiversity in #tropical #forest #canopies is now out in Science Advances! This method is a major step forward for the study and #conservation of this inaccessible compartiment. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Photo: J. Raynaud

Born to rewild: Reconnecting beneficial plant-microbiome alliances for resilient future crops Plant domestication is a coevolutionary process shaped by human selection, favoring traits supporting modern-day agriculture. This process has reduced…

Born to rewild: Reconnecting beneficial plant-microbiome alliances for resilient future crops

@cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social review by Dario X. Ramirez-Villacis, Antonio Leon-Reyes, @cornepieterse.bsky.social and Jos Raaijmakers @niooknaw.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

How can we better understand the plant immune system? In my new @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social piece, I propose “immune cell states” as a framework for uniting molecular and cellular perspectives.

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

This new paper documents a tenfold increase in research papers using community-collected iNaturalist data over just five years: tr.ee/89Ot3I

According to the study, here are four key ways that iNaturalist data directly powers science 🧵⤵️

A striking white flower stands out with six arced petals against a dark background.

Fire, Bees, and Ants: How Apodolirion buchananii Masterminds its Reproduction

A unique South African plant brings together fire, bees, and ants in a clever strategy to ensure its survival and reproduction.

wp.me/pdRZhH-lWF

#Botany #PlantScience 🧪

Diagramatic illustration of the molecular and biochemical mechanisms plants use to develop herbicide resistance. Mutations in herbicide target proteins prevent effective binding, while gene amplification boosts target protein expression, allowing plants to survive. Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, silence genes related to herbicide sensitivity or maintain genes promoting tolerance. Herbicide detoxification occurs in three phases: phase I modifies the herbicide (e.g. hydroxylation), phase II conjugates it with sugars, and phase III transports the detoxified molecules out of the cell. These processes enable resistant plants to survive and neutralize herbicides.

🧬 🌱 VIEWPOINT: 'Transposable element-driven evolution of herbicide resistance in plants' – Madhab Kumar Sen et al. doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

A woman studies embryos for decades, struggles for funding and respect. She publishes under her husband’s name, until they divorce. A single mother, she moves across an ocean to continue her studies. It all sounds quite modern, until you learn that she also worried she’d be burned as a witch. 🧵 1/15

Phytobacterial effectors antagonize plant reproduction: new weapons in hand Bacteria secrete proteins into plant cells to reprogram host immunity and development. Yang et al. recently revealed that a nonadapted bacterial pathogen, Xanthomonas oryzae (Xoo), suppresses reproduction in arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) via a type…

Phytobacterial effectors antagonize plant reproduction: new weapons in hand #plantscience

Shaping pathogenicity: How CRISPR-Cas loss fuels Xanthomonas evolution | Plantae Pathogens have evolved diverse infection strategies governed by virulence factors, often targeting specific host organs or tissues. Genome fluidity plays a crucial role in enabling microbial…

Plant Science Research Weekly -- Shaping pathogenicity: How CRISPR-Cas loss fuels Xanthomonas evolution (Current Biology) (Summary by Ching Chan) https://plantae.org/shaping-pathogenicity-how-crispr-cas-loss-fuels-xanthomonas-evolution/

#PlantaePSRW

My latest article for The Observer 😍🙏

Two young women examine tropical leaves, but which one is the botanist?

📝 #WhoIsABotanist? 🧵
https://doi.org/n4sc


With plant knowledge touching so many parts of our lives, what is it that makes someone a Botanist?
#Botany #PlantScience 🧪 #InBrief

There’s an interesting paper in Italian Botanist by Lorenzo Peruzzi,

A seed-specific DNA-binding with One Finger transcription factor, RPBF, positively regulates galactinol synthase to maintain seed vigour in rice Abstract. Seed vigour and longevity are intricate yet indispensable physiological traits for agricultural crops, as they play a crucial role in facilitatin

Improving rice grains with just one finger… ☝️

Sonowal and colleagues reveal how the DNA binding with One Finger transcription factor RPBF controls seed vigour in #rice through transcriptional regulation of galactinol synthase.

📖 doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...

#CropScience #PlantScience

Eavesdropping vs conscious warning Plants warn neighbouring plants against attach, don’t they? A new study shows that plants might not be as altruistic as we think.

Plants warn neighbouring plants against attach, don’t they? A new study @pnas.org shows that plants might not be as altruistic as we think.
Read more about this study on my blog plantenzo.net/2025/01/28/e...

🧪 #PlantScience

Image: Pterostylis recurva by Gnangarra / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5 AU https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/deed.en, A stripy orchid that doesn't look very eye-catching.

📝 The Love Lies and Sweet Rewards of Australian Orchids 🧵
https://doi.org/n3r2

New research uncovers how Australian orchids seduce fungus gnats with a sophisticated blend of chemical perfumes and sugary bribes.
#Botany #PlantScience 🧪 #InBrief

Our latest study explores how drought and pollinators shape the evolution of floral traits in Brassica rapa. We reveal how water scarcity drives earlier flowering, while pollinators select for larger flowers. Here's why this matters👇
#ClimateChange #Pollination #selection

The Atlantic Forest in Brazil. A lush almost mossy looking canopy of trees covers pointy hills in close proximity. It's the kind of landscape that a geographer would get goosebumps looking at.

📝 How Amazon Trees Marched to the Atlantic Forest 🧵
https://doi.org/n3rb


Ancient rainforest trees found hidden highways through Brazil's drylands, making more than a dozen epic journeys from the Amazon to the Atlantic coast over twelve million years.
#Botany #PlantScience 🧪 #InBrief

Vascular tissue as a target for biotic factors. Under optimal conditions, the phloem and xylem coordinate numerous trophic relations within the plant. This situation changes upon infection by pathogens that can exploit vascular connections to redirect nutrients or to colonise the plant systemically. On the left panel, a healthy plant is depicted with a well-functioning vascular system which photosynthesises efficiently and transpires adequately. Water (H2O) gets taken up from the roots by xylem and the transpiration from aerial tissues of the plant creates a strong negative pressure facilitating distribution over long distance (depicted by blue arrows). Sucrose produced in source leaves is distributed via phloem to physiological sinks such as young leaves, roots and underground storage organs like tubers (red arrows). On the right panel, when the plant is under attack, these processes are compromised as the pathogens and newly arising physiological sinks impose high demands on the plant for nutrition and water. Pathogens use different ways to colonise and gain entry to the vascular system, from the top via stomata and other openings. Plant roots are also in constant contact with soil-borne pathogens, which are able to colonise the conductive tissue. Numerous insects including herbivorous like grasshoppers or sap drinkers like aphids or psyllids are natural vectors of vascular pathogens and are responsible for the spread of the majority of phloem-specific disease factors. Some of the uninvited guests (viruses, bacteria, protists, nematodes and galling insects) can manipulate and exploit plant vascular system and stimulate the development of galls or tumours to support nutrient redirection. Potential pathogen entry sites are depicted with black arrows.

Salient features of vascular transport through plant conductive tissues – xylem and phloem. Local and global distribution of water, mineral nutrients, carbohydrates, phytohormones, and primary and secondary metabolites, plays a crucial role in coordinating overall plant growth and nutrition. Lateral fluxes between these tissues help in reshuffling and modulating nutrient flow dynamically. The internal environment of the xylem is characterised by a huge negative pressure generated as the result of transpiration pull. This presents unfavourable and hostile conditions to invading pathogens. Phloem, on the contrary, represents a nutrient-rich and secure cellular environment, which is difficult to access for pathogens but readily habitable. Based on its function, phloem at different physiological source and sink regions can be divided into collection, transport and release phloem. Transporters such as bidirectional SUGARS WILL EVENTUALLY BE EXPORTED TRANSPORTERS (SWEETs) and unidirectional SUCs help in regulating carbohydrate transport across phloem parenchyma (PPs) and companion cells (CCs), which is then loaded into sieve elements (SEs). During pathogen infection, almost all aspects of vascular transport are manipulated by different microbes to suit their lifestyle and metabolic requirements (marked by lightning arrows in pink).

I'm enjoying reading this paper from @newphyt.bsky.social:

Vascular tissue – boon or bane? How pathogens usurp long-distance transport in plants and the defence mechanisms deployed to counteract them

Clear, accessible, & introduced me to new ideas that I hadn't thought of before #PlantScience

Extensive genome evolution distinguishes maize within a stable tribe of grasses Over the last 20 million years, the Andropogoneae tribe of grasses has evolved to dominate 17% of global land area. Domestication of these grasses in the last 10,000 years has yielded our most product...

The consequences of polyploidy are... well, complicated. A deep dive into polyploidy in a massively successful tribe of grasses. A masterpiece led by Michelle Stitzer, representing the work of a lot of folks on the PanAnd project over last 7 years. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Why I teach my students about scientific failure “It’s a lesson I wish I’d learned before starting grad school,” this professor writes

"In my undergraduate classes, I asked my students to complete lab experiments that were virtually guaranteed to yield interpretable data... I grew uncomfortable with the gap between those picture-perfect experiments and my own research projects."

www.science.org/content/arti...

Ten simple rules for developing good reading habits during graduate school and beyond

journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

Wired for Clean Energy: How unique bacteria make electricity-conducting wires Meet the methane-munching bacteria that make their own molecular wires, paving the way for a sustainable future!

💡 International Day of Clean Energy

From flipping a switch to global sustainability, energy transforms lives. But did you know microbes like Geobacter can generate electricity? 🦠🔋

#CleanEnergy #MicrobialInnovation #SustainableFuture
#MicroSky

How does plant chemodiversity evolve? Testing five hypotheses in one population genetic model See also the Commentary on this article by Speed & Ruxton, 245: 924–926.

Check out the latest Issue of New Phytologist with an article by two of our RU members Meike J. Wittmann and Andrea Bräutigam @andreabraeutigam.bsky.social!
How does plant chemodiversity evolve? Testing five hypotheses in one population genetic model
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Cell integrity limits ploidy in budding yeast

Full text: academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

#yeast #yeastbiology #microbiology #molecularbiology

Plate 161: Dwarf almond (Amygdalus nana)

Your daily dose of botanical drawings from the Botanical Magazine.

Dwarf almond (Amygdalus nana)
Plate 161 in volume 5, 1792.

#magazine #artist #plants #curtis #botany

Mass testing of mutant enzymes involved in photosynthesis Insights from a high-throughput screening assay of rubisco variants could be used to engineer improved versions of this key enzyme.

Check out the summary and "behind the paper" here doi.org/10.1038/d415...

Seed tuber microbiome can predict growth potential of potato varieties - Nature Microbiology Time-resolved drone imaging of potato crop development and seed tuber microbiome data can be used to predict potato vigour, or growth potential, in next-season crops in trial fields.

www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🌱🚜 Excited to see our paper in @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social ! Amazing effort by @y-song.bsky.social in collaboration with TU Delft (Neil Budko, Elisa Atza) and the Dutch potato breeding industry to harness the power of the microbiome! 🥔🔬@utrechtpmi.bsky.social

RESEARCH: 'Irregular green netting of eggplant fruit peel: a domestication trait controlled by SmGLK2 with potential for fruit colour diversification' - Andrea Arrones et al, doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

Engineering of insect juvenile hormone III biosynthesis in the plant Nicotiana benthamiana Juvenile hormones (JHs) are farnesoic acid-derived sesquiterpenoids that play a crucial role in regulating various developmental processes in insects.…

Happy to share my first research paper :)

A fungal sRNA silences a host plant transcription factor to promote arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis Cross-kingdom RNA interference (ckRNAi) is a mechanism of interspecies communication where small RNAs (sRNAs) are transported from one organism to another; these sRNAs silence target genes in trans .....

Very nice work from @ignaciorubiosomoza.bsky.social and colleagues on the role of a fungal sRNA to promote AM symbiosis ☘️🍄. Just out @newphyt.bsky.social

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