Leo Castanedo

ERC-Plus: jackpot science or missed chance to fix academia? My reflections on ERC-Plus, Europe’s newest ultra-competitive research grant and what it tells us about the academic culture we’re…

I just published: ERC-Plus: jackpot science or missed chance to fix academia?

My reflections on ERC-Plus, Europe’s newest ultra-competitive research grant and what it tells us about the academic culture we’re building.

medium.com/p/erc-plus-j...

Glad to have this finally published: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... lots of new data since the #preprint. If you are into selective #autophagy, #evolution, #proteostasis Please have a look!

Congrats 🥳!

Next generation of 1001 Genomes Plus browser and data download Please indicate all features you would like to see in a browser that displays features of completely sequenced Arabidopsis thaliana genomes

We (Nordborg & Weigel labs) need input on the next generation of genome browsers & data download modes for the #Arabidopsis #1001GenomesPlus project. We have now a curated collection of over 500 long read genomes.

Please help us by filling out this questionnaire: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...

Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our new collaborative work led by @taliamycota.bsky.social
Jiajun Cui & Emma Caullireau between my lab @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @cloeucl.bsky.social & the Karasov Lab (tkarasovlab.org) @uofubiology.bsky.social
and collaborators: @plantricia.bsky.social et al.

tinyurl.com/5yx2wmz5

(1/n)

Amazing stuff 👇🏼.

Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.

Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9

Still time to apply to work on #symbioses #mosses #cyanobacteria! Join us in #Copenhagen! @voltcenter.bsky.social

MHRA-led study reveals major inconsistencies in global microbiome research International collaboration establishes new quality standards to improve reliability of gut health studies – improving accuracy to provide better diagnosis and treatment.

Wow

'MHRA-led study reveals major inconsistencies in global microbiome research'

www.gov.uk/government/n...

'Species identification varied from 63% to 100% accuracy across different methods, meaning that some laboratories failed to detect a third of the bacterial species present in the sample'

New light on old stones: a fossil #fungus in #symbiosis with one of the oldest known land plants

@chistinesd.bsky.social, et al.

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

@dromius.bsky.social @ffercoq.bsky.social #PlantScience

Summary also available in French and Spanish.

New paper led by @metalichen.bsky.social from our group presenting a chromosome-level assembly of the Trebouxia photobiont alga from the lichen Xanthoria parietina - a resource we hope will enable significant new insight into the symbiosis @newphyt.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/nph....

1. Postdoc in plant-fungal interactions: jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Research...

2. Postdoc in molecular plant-microbe interactions: jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Research...

3. Research technician: jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Technici...

(Pls share!)

Looks like it is becoming a trend 😅!

@newphyt.bsky.social you may also want to edit that title 🔽

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

A screenshot of the "Making Fungal-Photobiont Symbioses in the Lab: Past, Present, and Future of the Elusive in Vitro Lichen" by Arseniy Belosokhov and Toby Spribille published in Annual Review of Microbiology, Volume 79, 2025. Link: https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-micro-051524-031834

#Lichens form their complex thalli through a partnership involving at least a fungus and an alga. But can these living structures be rebuilt in vitro? For more than a century, people have tried. With @spribille.bsky.social we revisited 150 years of #lichen #resynthesis to ask: has anyone succeeded?

Two residues reprogram immunity receptors for nitrogen-fixing symbiosis - Nature An investigation of plant receptor-like kinases identifies regions of these proteins that control whether immune or symbiotic signalling pathways are activated, with minimal changes to specific r...

This is 🔥🔥!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

To all visionary microbe enthusiasts: @femsmicro.org is looking for an editor-in-chief for their flagship journal FEMS Microbiology Reviews! More details can be found here: fems-microbiology.org/opportunitie...

Phylogenomics unveil a recent origin of morphological complexity in Coleochaetophyceae Bierenbroodspot et al. use phylogenomic analyses to study Coleochaetophyceae, phragmoplastophytic streptophyte algae that are well-known for their complex bodies. They trace that the famous discoidal ...

Sudden complexity just 65 million years ago discovered by team around @jandevries.bsky.social by analysis of the green alga Coleochaete, an ancestor and an intriguing group, which has evolved elaborate disc-shaped bodies. The team reports about it in Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

🚨 New in Developmental Cell @Dev_Cell
Our team uncovered how plants sense phosphorus deficiency and delay flowering — a molecular “switch” that links nutrient stress to development. A step toward breeding nutrient-smart crops! authors.elsevier.com/a/1m2id5Sx5g...
@MSU_PRI @MSUAgBio @MSU_PSM

Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants | bioRxiv Symbioses have been fundamental to colonization of terrestrial ecosystems by plants and their evolution. Emergence of the ancient arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis was followed by the diversification of alternative intracellular symbioses, such as the ericoid mycorrhizae (ErM). We aimed at understanding how these diversifications occurred. We sequenced the genomes of ErM-forming liverworts, and reconstituted symbiosis under laboratory conditions. We demonstrated the existence of a nutrient-regulated symbiotic state that enables ErM and underlies intracellular colonization of plant tissues. Comparative transcriptomic analyses identified an ancestral gene module associated with intracellular symbiosis beyond ErM. Genetic manipulations in the liverwort Marchantia paleacea, phylogenetics and transactivation assays demonstrated its essential function for intracellular symbiosis. We conclude that plant have maintained, and convergently recruited, an ancestral gene module for intracellular symbioses.

Outstanding preprint from @leocastanedo.bsky.social, @katharinamel1.bsky.social, @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social and coll. on an evolutionary conserved module for intracellular symbiosis. - > Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants | bioRxiv

Thank you, Jean-Michel. Appreciate it!

Thank you, Cami 🙂! Hope that all is great!

With @kellerjeanphd.bsky.social, @katharinamel1.bsky.social, @tatiana-vernie.bsky.social, @mbianc.bsky.social, and many other people (not in bsky, I think), and collaborators 😁.

Sincere thanks to the chief and endosymbiosis expert, @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social, who drives exciting and innovative research directions.

Highly recommended as a mentor and collaborator!

Grateful to the whole team @lrsv-toulouse.bsky.social who made this work possible!

Our results fill a major knowledge gap in how endosymbiotic interactions diversify in plants and reveal molecular basis of nutrient-dependent regulation 🦠🌱!

🛑Exciting update from our work with @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social team on the ericoid mycorrhizal symbiosis❗❗

🔥New results support a conserved three-gene module and master regulator for nutrient-responsive intracellular accommodation of fungal symbionts🤯

Check the nice thread below👇🏼
#plantscience

Sooo happy to see this preprint out 🍄☘️!

Congratulations @leocastanedo.bsky.social @katharinamel1.bsky.social et al. !

It has been a long journey, from developing ericoid-mycorrhizae in the lab (Leo) to the genetics in Marchantia (Katharina), and many other details (#teamwork)

My new Emmy Noether Group is recruiting!

🔬 Two PhD positions in plant pathogen evolution

🧬 Start: April 2026 (flexible)

📍 Dept. of Phytopathology & Plant Protection @rstam.bsky.social @uni-kiel.de

⏰ Apply by 15 Dec 2025

🔗 More info: www.uni-kiel.de/personal/de/...

Do get in touch or share 😊

Screenshot of a PNAS article titled “The costs of competition in distributing scarce research funds,” authored by Gerald Schweiger, Adrian Barnett, Peter van den Besselaar, Lutz Bornmann, Andreas De Block, John P. A. Ioannidis, Ulf Sandström, and Stijn Conix. Edited by Neil Shubin. Published December 2, 2024, in volume 121, issue 50, article e2407644121.

Research funds are scarce & competition is fierce. A recent paper by @andreasdeblock.bsky.social & colleagues explores how this competition shapes science—its practices, risks & ethics—and proposes ways to make funding fairer & more effective👇 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #AcademicSky #HPS #scipol 🧪