Sophia Zebell

USDA funding delays under Trump compromise agricultural research Sharp drop in grant awards leaves researchers frustrated

"With 2 weeks left before the end of this fiscal year, USDA’s [NIFA] had awarded just 558 competitive grants ... 68% fewer than during the prior fiscal year—and $741 million less in competitively awarded research funds"

Don't forget #PlantSci and ag research, folks.
www.science.org/content/arti...

Genetic variation at transcription factor binding sites largely explains phenotypic heritability in maize - Nature Genetics Pan-cistrome of the maize leaf under well-watered and drought conditions profiled by haplotype-specific MOA-seq highlights the relevance of transcription factor binding QTLs for understanding phenotypic diversity in maize.

A paper published in Nature Genetics presents a comprehensive pan-cistrome of maize leaves, revealing over 200,000 variants linked to transcription factor binding sites under both well-watered and drought conditions. go.nature.com/4785q5p 🧪🌾#plantscience

What a relevant justification! I can't wait to read the resulting issue!

Thanks for posting! I haven't seen your blog before and I really enjoyed the bountiful footnotes and citations!

Other authors, if you can find their contact information online. I know my inbox is less cluttered than senior folks and I try to respond promptly to requests!

An enjoyable read, with clear simple experiments that show tomato conservation of a core developmental mechanism previously demonstrated in Arabidopsis.

A wheat tandem kinase activates an NLR to trigger immunity The role of nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors in plant immunity is well studied, but the function of a class of tandem kinases (TKs) that confer disease resistance in wheat and ba...

2 papers in @science.org this week uncover wheat tandem kinase function. Working in parallel, the authors of each paper show that two different tandem kinases converge to activate the same NLR!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#PlantScience

This paper is a tour de force from many friends and collaborators across Solanum expertise! Check it out to learn about the behavior of paralogs in genomes plus the Solanum genus and it's incredible potential for new crops! #plantscienceresearch

U.S. gene banks, key to new crops, hobbled by Trump job cuts Newly appointed head of USDA’s genetic repositories axed along with key staff

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

This team and our unique dataset have been instrumental in shaping my thinking about paralogs, epistasis, and quantitative genetics. I hope our work inspires others to reconsider the role of genomes in producing the diverse phenotypes of the natural world! #plantscienceresearch

Cryptic variation fuels plant phenotypic change through hierarchical epistasis Cryptic genetic variants exert minimal or no phenotypic effects alone but have long been hypothesized to form a vast, hidden reservoir of genetic diversity that drives trait evolvability through epist...

Thrilled to share our latest preprint, an interdisciplinary look at epistasis between variants in the coding and noncoding genome! #plantscienceresearch www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Nice work on evolution of genetic interaction between cis-reg elements in floral development! This study really hammered home for me the vast aesthetic difference between having one fewer petal (hideous) and one extra petal (charming) in brassicas. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #plantscienceresearch

“Your work is your rebellion” 💪

www.reddit.com/r/labrats/co...

Strong genetics and such a cool example of the consequences of altered TF-DNA binding in domestication!

Thanks for sharing! I enjoy the concept of "permitting yourself the feeling of doneness".

Diagram illustrating the 4 stages in DNA-free base editing: (1) in vitro transcription, (2) protoplast transfection, (3) protoplast regeneration, and (4) base-edited plants.

This remarkable new RNA-based adenine and cytosine #BaseEditing system achieves targeted and efficient A-to-G and C-to-T conversions in lettuce, with potential applications in #crop breeding and #PlantBiotechnology.
doi.org/10.1111/jipb...
#PlantScience

Associate Professor / Professor of Evolutionary Genomics
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49389/

Calling all #genomics researchers! The small, diverse, friendly Dept of Biological Sciences at Lehigh has a #tenuretrack position: bit.ly/3CYRb5B. App review starts 12/2 (not a hard cutoff). Please join our awesome team!

Assistant Professor, Integrative Plant Biology - Orlando, Florida, United States The OpportunityThe Department of Biology in the College of Sciences (COS) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) invites applications for a 9-month, tenure track assistant professor, anticipated t...

🚨TT job alert 🚨
Asst. Prof. of Plant Biology @ucf.bsky.social
Deadline: Jan 16 2025

Starter packs BIOLOGY Ecology Macroecology https://go.bsky.app/GBn9pNZ Global ecology https://go.bsky.app/V6tN4cv Trait based ecology and evolution https://go.bsky.app/PThMXeX Invasion biology https://go.b...

hey everyone! i made a list of some useful starter packs (primarily biology/earth sciences with a few bonus things thrown in) to share with friends who have joined bsky in the last week and thought it may be useful for some people here too! 🌍🧪 #SciSky #BioSky docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Sometimes it's just about the right moment for the idea. I know that doesn't fit with the urgent need to secure funding, but if you can hold out and try again I bet your ideas will find their time to shine. I find your love for development inspiring!

Antagonizing cis-regulatory elements of a conserved flowering gene mediate developmental robustness Developmental transitions require precise temporal and spatial control of gene expression. In plants, such regulation is critical for flower formation, which involves the progressive differentiation o...

Putting my postdoc hat back on for a moment to share this beautiful work by Amy Lanctot! She demonstrates both activation and repression within a tomato CRE and shows a different regulatory landscape in Arabidopsis, all with amazing flowering phenotypes! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Convergent evolution of plant prickles by repeated gene co-option over deep time An enduring question in evolutionary biology concerns the degree to which episodes of convergent trait evolution depend on the same genetic programs, particularly over long timescales. In this work, w...

Phenomenal study from the Lippman lab on convergent evolution: a single gene is responsible for the loss of an important defense trait in many species, from monocots to dicots!
#PlantScience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Plant Physiology. Calll for Assistant Features Editors. Deadline for applications: October 15, 2024.

We're looking for two cohorts of Plant Physiology Assistant Features Editors to start in 2025 and 2026!
See the editorial. Advanced PhD students & postdocs.
I'd be delighted to tell you more in person, at #PlantBio2024, #ICAR2024SanDiego, or #BT2024DBG.
Or message me!
doi.org/10.1093/plph...

Part of this manuscript actually used herbaria to examine evolution of prickles loss across the spiny Solanum... How cool is that!

Pictures of prickles (sharp projections) on various plants: Rosa, Senegalia greggii, Ceiba Speciosa, Bixa orellana, Datura stramonium, Solanum pyracanthos, Aralia spinosa, Smilax, Astrocaryum alatum, Victoria amazonica, Ceratozamia mexicana, and Alsophila firma

Intrigued by the proliferation of prickly plants across lineages? Jack Satterlee and a triumph of collaborators have answers about convergent evolution of these sharp projections, and how to get rid of them! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Extreme restructuring of cis-regulatory regions controlling a deeply conserved plant stem cell regul... bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

Proud to have played a small role in Dani Ciren's PhD work, out last week on BioRxiv! Check it out to learn about regulatory sequence rearrangement during evolution! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Development has announced the next call for applications for the 'Pathway to Independence' programme - aimed at supporting postdocs going on the job market. Application deadline 31 January 2024.

Full details can be found at journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi...