Claudia Martinho

Plant genome sequencing workflow. Details: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-026-12623-z

Need a genome sequence of your favourite plant? We laid out instructions for a complete workflow based on ONT sequencing:

"Cookbook for plant genome sequences"
doi.org/10.1186/s128...

#Genomics #LongReads #PlantSciences #Bioinformatics
@puckerlab.bsky.social @unibonn.bsky.social

We are shaking our tissue culture lucky charm for you. We just got out of bad contamination, fingers crossed it won't come back 🤞

One single protein, one big decision: how brown algae know when to reproduce. New press release on how researchers in the Department of Algae Development and Evolution have discovered a remarkably streamlined strategy for developmental control in brown algae.
Read on here: tinyurl.com/3taptpba

This paper is also a reminder of why I love comparative biology: sometimes, the most “minimal” systems reveal the clearest logic of how complex regulatory networks really work.

It turns out… a lot.
In Ectocarpus, this single ARGONAUTE integrates small-RNA pathways with germline fate determination, showing how deeply RNA silencing can be wired into developmental decisions.

Back in 2021, a simple question started this project for me:
Why do land plants have many ARGONAUTE genes (Arabidopsis has ~10), while brown algae have just one?
What does that single ARGONAUTE actually do?

Thank you to all the authors who made this work possible, and to Dr Susana Coelho for her role as co-corresponding author and for her contributions to the project.

Germline fate determination by a single ARGONAUTE protein in Ectocarpus | PNAS ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins are a highly conserved family of RNA-binding proteins that play central roles in gene regulation and developmental process...

One protein. One pathway. A whole germline fate.

New paper from my postdoc @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social out in PNAS:
Germline fate determination by a single ARGONAUTE protein in Ectocarpus www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

I am excited to offer a postdoctoral research position in my lab in Oxford studying the distribution of small RNAs during plant sexual reproduction. shorturl.at/7Goxt
Reposts appreciated!
Obligatory cat video to brighten your day. :-)

Excited to share @robynemm.bsky.social and I will be co-chairing a session on plant epigenetics in development and plasticity at @sebiology.bsky.social Annual meeting in Florence

Registration is now open! Submit your abstracts and enjoy some fantastic chromatin biology in beautiful Italy ☀️ 🧬

An expanded registry of candidate cis-regulatory elements - Nature The existing ENCODE registry of candidate human and mouse cis-regulatory elements is expanded with the addition of new ENCODE data, integrating new functional data as well as new cell and tissue types...

Our paper on the newest version of the Registry of candidate cis-Regulatory Elements (cCREs) is out 🧬

Huge thanks to the many collaborators, experimentalists, analysts and software developers who made this work possible — truly a team effort!

A "meme-torial" of the science is coming soon 👀

New paper on genome editing in brown algae by Dr. Claudia Martinho, former member of Susana Coelho's Algal Development and Evolution Department, in collaboration with Masakazu Hoshino, Morgane Raphalen, Viktoriia Bukhanets, Anagha Kerur, @kbogaert.bsky.social, Rémy Luthringer, and Susana Coelho

Do plants and animals evolve organs under different molecular evolutionary constraints? 🌱🐾

A really nice paper just out in Cell.

We’re very happy to share this method with the community and hope it will be useful 🌿
If you try it out and your algae have opinions about it, we’re always happy to chat!

Importantly, the protocol is transferable across species, including Scytosiphon, and ecologically and economically important kelps such as Laminaria and Undaria.

As a proof of concept in Ectocarpus, we precisely edited the IMM locus and recapitulated the classic imm mutant phenotype with the early formation of upright filaments, providing a clear and reproducible developmental readout.

Building on previous great efforts, this work focuses on accessibility and scalability:
• transgene-free (Cas–RNPs)
• PEG-mediated delivery
• reproducible across loci (we recommend using multiple crRNAs!)
• no cloning or specialized equipment

A truly wonderful collaborative effort — huge thanks to all co-authors and collaborators for their ideas, experiments, and persistence 💙

Masakazu Hoshino, Morgane Raphalen, Viktoriia Bukhanets, Anagha Kerur, @kbogaert.bsky.social, Rémy Luthringer, and Susana Coelho.

Genome editing in brown algae! 🧬🪸🌿 Now out in Cell Reports Methods!

Excited to share this highly efficient, transgene-free CRISPR–Cas genome editing protocol for brown algae, requiring no cloning and no specialized equipment.

doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...

#CRISPR #BrownAlgae
@mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social

And here's another resource to support undergraduate summer research placements, the @aspbofficial.bsky.social SURF program (summer undergraduate research fellowship)
aspb-surf.secure-platform.com/a
Final applications due Feb 6, so start looking now!
#PlantSci

Can we tune a plant’s epigenetic toolkit to disrupt plant homeostasis in ways that enable phenotypic innovation?

🌱Check out our new Opinion Paper with @thanvisrikant.bsky.social discussing this topic in @cp-trendsplantsci.bsky.social!

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

Food will be more affordable — if we double funds for agriculture research now A global drop in public and private investment in agricultural science in the past four decades is partly to blame for high food prices, an analysis reveals.

Food will be more affordable — if we double funds for agriculture research now www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Have you ever wondered how it is possible that systemically infected plants produce (a certain percentage of) healthy progeny? 💚

Check out the first preprint of the @incavirus.bsky.social lab and first preprint of my postdoc! 🍀

We'd be very happy about feedback and discussions!

Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity to share my work @kent.ac.uk! Great atmosphere and amazing discussions with @gomollonsara.bsky.social and all colleagues about plants, genomics and heredity.

Postdoctoral Researcher (Dr Miguel Montez) | John Innes Centre An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the Wellcome Trust project led by Dr Miguel Montez and hosted within the Dodd Group at the John Innes Centre.

📣 Looking for a 3-Year Postdoc @johninnescentre.bsky.social to join my Wellcome project.

This is a highly interdisciplinary project that explores chromatin dynamics in 🌱 plant responses across timescales, from circadian rhythms to seasonal changes

📅 Closes on 10 Dec.
www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/36...

CRISPR targeting of H3K4me3 activates gene expression and unlocks centromere-proximal crossover recombination in Arabidopsis Nature Communications - Binenbaum et al. demonstrate that precise CRISPR-based targeting of a key chromatin mark (H3K4me3) can switch on genes, boost disease resistance, and unlock meiotic...

Very excited to share our work published in Nature Comms last week! Here we describe a range of cool things that can be done once you have the power to control deposition of H3K4me3…

rdcu.be/eNEf4

A short thread:

Congratulations 🎉 🎉 🎉 amazing news!

Thrilled to share what we learned from re-annotating the mobilome of the brown algae model [Ectocarpus] 🌊🌿🏖️

genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

A wonderful collaboration with @ericadinatale.bsky.social, @cssmartinho.bsky.social, @rorycraig.bsky.social, and Susana Coelho! 🎉

A beautiful life ❤️

Congratulations 🎉. Well done!