Sebastian Eves-van den Akker

Ancient hybridization underlies tuberization and radiation of the potato lineage Genomic and functional analyses reveal that the potato lineage originated from a homoploid interspecific hybridization event between the Tomato and Etuberosum lineages 8–9 million years ago. The alter...

The hybrid origin of potato tuberization.

From: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Unlocking expanded flagellin perception through rational receptor engineering - Nature Plants Receptor kinase FLS2 detects the flg22 epitope of bacterial flagellin. Here the authors identify key residues on FLS2’s concave surface that enable expanded perception of flg22 variants, allowing the ...

Excited this paper is finally published! We focused on the inner concave surface of LRR RKs to expand bacterial flagellin perception in plants. Selection indicates expanded perception is more common than previously thought. Experiments led by @jerrytli.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We’re excited to share a new CRISPR-Cas12 genome editing system, highly efficient across multiple brown algae species!

Brown algae transformation has been challenging despite many thoughtful approaches over the years.

We hope this one is kelpful 🌿😅
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#CRISPR #Algae

🪱 Calling all Early-Career Nematologists:
Registration for #VNC2025 is NOW OPEN! 🎉

If you are MSc student, PhD candidate, or postdoc working in nematology, Register and submit your abstract.

Register here👉 lnkd.in/dzTRsK7z

⏰ Registration closes September 10th!!!

Research Fellow (Postdoctoral) at University of Birmingham An opportunity for an academic position as a Research Fellow (Postdoctoral) is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.

I have a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position starting in January to study the evolution of seed gene networks using the fern Ceratopteris! Interested? More info here:
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNU179/r...

Closing date 31st July. 🙂
#PlantScience
#PlantSciencejobs

Excellent visualisation of slime molds reaching for food 🧀🫜🥒🍗 Loving the picky one!

🧪 #science #biology

Insects pressed on herbarium sheets...I'm looking for a paper I know exists on the topic, a short essay in a relatively narrow audience bulletin, ca. 1970s-1980s perhaps. Going nuts trying to locate it again.

Professor Julian Hibberd in the Department of Plant Science library. Photo by Andrew Benton.

Congratulations to Professor Julian Hibberd on his election to the @embo.org announced today!

tinyurl.com/4b3mnsru

@cambridgebiosci.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk @jmhibberd.bsky.social 🧪#PlantSci

A gene with a thousand alleles: The hyper-variable effectors of plant-parasitic nematodes Pathogens are engaged in a fierce evolutionary arms race with their host. The genes at the forefront of the engagement between kingdoms are often part…

HYP effector paper here:
sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

(3/3)

The first is that editing events which are phylogenetically and functionally unrelated enlist surprisingly similar genetic machinery

The second is that most editing systems were discovered from 1970-2005. We speculate why, and we suggest where to look!

(2/3)

How and when organisms edit their own genomes - Nature Genetics This Review describes the changes that some organisms make to their own DNA sequences, linking many to common genetic mechanisms built around canonical DNA repair and to a set of functional circumstan...

New paper @natgenet.nature.com

nature.com/articles/s41...

Our most recent thinking on HYP effectors involves programmed shuffling of the parasite genome. This prompted us to review how and when organisms edit their own genomes

In so doing, Vincent made two important discoveries...

(1/3)

Plz repost. Fresh Preprint led by @alexguyon.bsky.social
When a pathogen pushes into a cell already occupied by a symbiotic fungus, things change. New membrane phospholipids at pathogen haustoria! This may impact immune receptor positioning & defense secretion. -
And the roots are more resistant!

🌱 New review out with @minyaojhu.bsky.social and Dr. Katharina Schiessl.

Plants form unique organs, and here, we dive into signal perception, hormone regulation, and organ development of three structures: root-knot gall, rhizobia nodule and haustorium

Read here 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.tp...

I am excited to announce I will be starting my lab at IRNASA-CSIC in Spain. Investigating the rhizosphere microbiota and its role in crop nutrition. There are two positions openings: a technician and a postdoc deadline 30th June!
www.irnasa.csic.es/postdoctoral...
www.irnasa.csic.es/en/technicia...

Triggering ‘suicide hatching’: Japanese researchers unveil how potatoes and microbes outsmart the potato cyst nematode A Kobe University study reveals a crucial chemical relationship among potato plants, soil microbes, and potato cyst nematodes, potentially transforming pest control in agriculture. Scientists ident…

Japanese researchers unveil how potatoes and microbes outsmart the potato cyst #nematode
www.potatonewstoday.com/2025/06/04/t...

Two exciting papers from Shirasu Lab utilizing the *juice* of my favorite biological players—Agrobacterium and nematodes—to investigate receptor profiles!
🦠 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🪱 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Congrats to the authors! 🥳🤩

We’ve uncovered Asgard chromatin structures formed by a Hodarchaeal histone : closed hypernucleosome conserved in archaea and an open form resembling the H3-H4 eukaryotic octasome. Fantastic work by @harshranawat.bsky.social!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Chromatin #Asgard #Archaea #cryoEM

YouTube video by ren's slice of life Running around the lab in 360° | A week of a plant science student

Check out amazing MPhil plant science student @karenuchida.bsky.social and here lab week in 360° @slcuplants.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk

youtu.be/l9-m_JlG6cE?...

World class training - International dual award PhDs in Plant & Soil Science now open These new studentships offer a unique opportunity to join a vibrant and collaborative research community spanning two world-class institutions in Sheffield, UK and Sydney, Australia.

Check out these exciting opportunities for a dual award PhD in plant and soil sciences 🤩 at @sheffieldpps.bsky.social and @westsyduhie.bsky.social: www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/... each PhD project will involve at least 1 year spent at each institution - pls repost 🙏

Professor Uta Paszkowski, Acting Head of the Crop Science Centre and Head of the Cereal Symbiosis research group at the University of Cambridge

Congratulations to Uta Paszkowski from @cropscicentre.bsky.social - elected to the National Academy of Sciences, USA in recognition of her significant contributions to understanding symbiotic relationships between plants & fungi.

@cambridgebiosci.bsky.social
@paszkowskilab.bsky.social

📻Tune in to the Soil Matters podcast: bit.ly/4jGSLtu to hear Prof Lynn Dicks and Dr Anna Krzywoszynska @unioulu.bsky.social on sustainable soil management in the UK.

Missed their paper? You can read it here: bit.ly/4iLnMLI

Congratulations to Hailing Jin, who was elected to @nasonline.org. Interkingdom RNAi is one of the most fascinating discoveries in biology in the last decades.

profiles.ucr.edu/hailing.jin

Very happy to see my friend Uta Paszkowski from @cropscicentre.bsky.social elected to @nasonline.org. Improved plant-microbe symbioses are a key puzzle piece in the fight against the #climatecatastrophe (yes, it hasn’t gone away).

www.cropsciencecentre.org/staff/uta-pa...

Integrating Arabidopsis and crop species gene discovery for crop improvement Summary. Genome sequence assemblies form a durable and precise framework that supports nearly all areas of biological research, including evolutionary biol

📜 Integrating Arabidopsis and crop species gene discovery for crop improvement

🧑‍🔬 Michael W. Bevan, Klaus F. X. Mayer, et al.

📔 @theplantcell.bsky.social

🔗 academic.oup.com/plcell/advan...

#️⃣ #PlantScience #AppliedPlantScience #Crops #Agriculture #PlantBreeding #PlantGMOs #PlantGenomics

Figure 1. Custom Micro-Roses, engineered in Arabidopsis thaliana 🌹

Top: Visible light, Bottom: Fluorescence
(a) White: no pigment
(b) Magenta: betalains
(c) Pink champagne: betalains + betaxanthins
(d) Champagne: betaxanthins

A pathogen effector FOLD diversified in symbiotic fungi Pathogenic fungi use secreted effector proteins to suppress immunity and support their infection, but effectors have also been reported from fungi that engage in nutritional symbioses with plants....

🎉 Thrilled to share that our article on the discovery of MycFOLD effectors in symbiotic fungi ranks among the most viewed papers in @newphyt.bsky.social in 2023! Grateful for the interest - Let’s keep the momentum going!
#TopViewedArticle

doi.org/10.1111/nph....

This was such a nice surprise! Our review about Aphelenchoides besseyi is in the top 10% of most-viewed papers published by the Plant Pathology in 2023!

Please, check it out doi.org/10.1111/ppa.13829

@sebastianevda.bsky.social @uprogress.bsky.social

Apply now for a four year Research Fellowship at Kew. £41,020 per annum Closing Date 20/04/2025 opportunity to become an independent researcher with some startup funds for research and travel. careers.kew.org/internal/vac...

Wheat tandem kinase RWT4 directly binds a fungal effector to activate defense - Nature Genetics This study shows that RWT4, a wheat tandem kinase, confers resistance to the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae by directly binding to the pathogen effector AvrPWT4 and activating host defense.

I'm very excited our most recent work on plant tandem kinases (TKPs) has finally been published! TKPs are a fascinating protein family conferring disease resistance to fungi. Originally in bioRxiv. Many thanks to @yichangsung.bsky.social for leading this work. 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...