Stephan Wagner

Synteny analysis supporting anthocyanin biosynthesis gene loss in the Cucurbitaceae. Reference: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.06.680802

New preprint from the group:

🧬 Large-scale Phylogenomics Reveals Systematic Loss of Anthocyanin Biosynthesis Genes at the Family Level in Cucurbitaceae

👉 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

@nancy-choudhary.bsky.social @bpucker.bsky.social

Salicylic acid biosensor, SalicS1, tracks the plant immune hormone salicylic acid in real time - revealing propagation of hormone surge during plant pathogen advance

Latest biosensor from @xanderjones.bsky.social team
In Science doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Summary www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/new-bio...

Synteny plots supporting loss of DFR, ANS, and arGST in Cucurbitaceae. Reference: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.06.680802

Excited to share our new preprint!

🧬 Large-scale Phylogenomics Reveals Systematic Loss of Anthocyanin Biosynthesis Genes at the Family Level in Cucurbitaceae

👉 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

A deep dive into the genomic evolution of color in cucurbits 🎃🍉 — feedback welcome!
@puckerlab.bsky.social

Regulation of heterosis-associated gene expression complementation in maize hybrids - Genome Biology Background Classical genetic concepts to explain heterosis attribute the superiority of F1-hybrids over their homozygous parents to the complementation of unfavorable by beneficial alleles (dominance) or to heterozygote advantage (overdominance). Here we analyze 112 intermated B73xMo17 recombinant inbred lines of maize and their backcrosses to their original parents B73 and Mo17 to obtain hybrids with an average heterozygosity of ~ 50%. This genetic architecture allows studying the influence of homozygous and heterozygous genomic regions on gene expression in hybrids. Results We demonstrate that single parent expression (SPE) complementation explains between − 8% and 29% of the mid-parent heterotic variance in these hybrids. In this expression pattern, consistent with dominance, genes are active in only one parent and in the hybrid, thus increasing the number of expressed genes in hybrids. Furthermore, we establish that eQTL regulating SPE genes are predominantly located in heterozygous regions of the genome. Finally, we identify an SPE gene that regulates lateral root density in hybrids. Remarkably, the activity of this gene depends on the presence of a Mo17 allele in an eQTL that regulates this gene. Conclusions Here we show that dominance of SPE genes influences the number of active genes in hybrids, while heterozygosity is instrumental for the regulation of these genes. This finding supports the notion that the genetic constitution of distant regulatory elements is instrumental for the activity of heterosis-associated genes. In summary, our results connect genetic variation at regulatory loci and the degree of heterozygosity with phenotypic variation of heterosis via SPE complementation.

Our paper by Marion Pitz and Jutta Baldauf on the regulation of gene expression complementation in maize hybrids has now been published in Genome Biology. 1/7
genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

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...

Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host‐derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition Iron acquisition is a critical challenge for plants, especially in iron-deficient soils. Recent research underscores the importance of root-exuded coumarins in modulating the root microbiome communi.....

Super excited to share that my PhD research paper is finally out!
@newphyt.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1111/nph....

@parkergroup.bsky.social

Huuuge congratulations, Tonni! All the best for your start in the arguably more scenic city. You'll be missed in Cologne

Compilation of pictures from Insta (https://www.instagram.com/puckerlab/). More details: https://www.izmb.uni-bonn.de/en/pbb/teaching#p

🌿 Interested in a Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis in plant biology? Our group at the UniBonn offers projects on sequencing, transcription factor evolution, anthocyanin biosynthesis, carnivorous plants, and more.

➡️ Details: www.izmb.uni-bonn.de/en/pbb/teach...

#StudentResearch #PlantScience #Bonn

My poster is up at #2025ISMPMI. Come by P-372 Thursday afternoon if you are interested in fungal evolution, effectors and microbial competitions!

More research by @teamthomma.bsky.social at P-091, P-170, P-299, P-317, P-337 and P-388.

#2025ISMPMI my poster is up! If you are interested in how a family of plant endogenous peptides can act as both signaling and antimicrobial peptides, pass by my poster P-222 on Thursday afternoon.

#2025ISMPMI 🌱 Poster Presentation – Thursday Session! 🌱
Curious about how bacterial community volatiles influence Arabidopsis thaliana growth? Come check out my poster and let’s discuss the fascinating effects of bacterial VOCs on plant! #2025MPMI
Looking forward to exchanging ideas!

Purine-Based Infochemicals and Immunometabolites: A Comparative Review of Emerging Signaling Pathways in Plants and Animals Abstract. Purine-based metabolites serve as essential mediators of signaling, immunity, and host-microbe interactions across biological kingdoms. This revi

Our new review in FEMS Microbiology by Nick Dunken and Tim Thomsen is online. Purine-Based Infochemicals and Immunometabolites: A Comparative Review of Emerging Signaling Pathways in Plants and Animals url: academic.oup.com/femsre/artic...

Want to learn more about fungal-coumarin-iron interactions in the rhizosphere? Come to my poster 240 on Thursday
#2025ISMPMI

Great talk at #2025ISMPMI by @federicalocci.bsky.social on a TN protein in systemic resistance. So happy to catch up on @parkergroup.bsky.social projects!

Lara Van Dijck (@laravdijck.bsky.social) PhD candidate at Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Parker group studying 🍄🌱⌬ @parkergroup.bsky.social @mpipz.bsky.social

If you’re curious about the function of conserved TIR-only proteins in Arabidopsis and barley, come by my poster P018 on Tuesday morning!
Also check out more from @parkergroup.bsky.social:
🔹 @laravdijck.bsky.social – P240 on Thursday
🔹 Steven Cheng – P011 on Wednesday
#2025ISMPMI

#2025ISMPMI I forgot to mention that @pascal-krohn.bsky.social developed a system to probe exudates with spatial resolution.. you might wanna check that out if you are into that kinda stuff ;-)

For all the people at #2025ISMPMI. Make sure to check the amazingly cool work of @pascal-krohn.bsky.social on fungal infection in the periderm. It is on Thursday in poster session 2 P-446

All set up for the poster session tomorrow #2025ISMPMI Please join if you wanna know more about transcription factor complexes that play roles during AMS in #MyMarchantia P-407

And, also see posters P-089 @baptistebio.bsky.social and P-182 @madeleinebaker.bsky.social

Huge congratulations to you and the entire team, André!

Preprint out by @dfg.de funded RU #GoPMF. Check out extensive application of genetically-encoded sensors to resolve light-induced pH, ATP, and NAD/H changes across 🍃 cell organelles. Congrats to @schwarzlanderlab.bsky.social from @uni-muenster.de who lead the project: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The final version of our #PlantScience #biosensors review is now out at doi.org/10.1016/j.jp...

Huge congratulations Enric 🥳

MYB68 regulates radial endodermal differentiation and suberin patterning In this study, Kraska et al. identify MYB68 as a novel regulator of endodermal suberization, linked to the formation of distinct identities in the xylem-pole-associated endodermis. The research uncove...

Time for another paper from our lab!
This time it’s about passage cells. This work originated from a collaboration with @lauraragni.bsky.social and was spearheaded by the super-talented @leoniekraska.bsky.social Below you will find a thread that explains our findings.
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host-derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition Iron acquisition is a critical challenge for plants, especially in iron-deficient soils. Recent research underscores the importance of root-exuded coumarins in modulating the root microbiome community...

Curious about my PhD research @parkergroup.bsky.social? The paper is available as preprint on bioRxiv now!
🔬 The interaction between scopoletin and fungal endophyte F80 rescues plant growth under iron-limiting conditions by resolving the iron mobility bottleneck.
📝 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Together with my new colleague Roven Rommel Fuentes @ribesresearch.bsky.social we are currently looking to hire a PhD student or postdoc in the area of computational genetics and machine learning.

📣 We have a postdoc position in fungus-microbiota interactions! Apply here: jobportal.uni-koeln.de/bewerben/2197
⁩
For more details, visit: bewerbungsmanagement.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...

A PhD position (initially 3 years) is available in our laboratory in the Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP), at the University of Tübingen (Germany). The position is available with an intended start date starting January 2026. Interested applicants should submit a single PDF comprising a motivation letter describing your research interests, an up-to-date CV, and the names and contact information for 2 references to timing.lab@zmbp.uni-tuebingen.de ideally before July 21st.

We're looking for a new PhD candidate to join the lab. Please share 🌱😄

Hi all!!! 👋

New to Bluesky, but...

I'm hiring a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg...
www.verwaltung.uni-halle.de/dezern3/Auss...

Please repost if you can!!
Thank you!!!

RSPS2025 | Finalist: Dr. Tonni Grube Andersen | Presentation: Jun 4 13:00-13:30 (GMT) | Of bricks and gateways: Rewriting the rules of root barriers | FREE to Watch the Live Streaming via YouTube (youtube.com/@molecularpl...) / WeChat (MolPlant Channel)

Rigi Workshop 2026: Endless Forms Most Beautiful PhD-students and Post-docs: From 25 to 27th January 2026, join us for a 3-days interdisciplinary workshop at the top of Rigi Mountain to discuss and embrace curiosity-driven approaches, beyond the tra...

Very excited for the Rigi Workshop "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" that I am co-organising with @dudinlab.bsky.social
speakers: @gautamdey.bsky.social Susana Coelho @jandevries.bsky.social Lauren Sanders @annikaguse.bsky.social Edwige Moyroud
Jan 25-27 2026
biol.scnat.ch/de/rigi_work...