Maite Colinas

1/11 🔥 New preprint alert 🔥
We wanted to know what plants in the wild really care about. So we asked them 🎤.
Here is what we learned: “Biotic-response networks are an important organizer of the transcriptome in wild Arabidopsis thaliana populations”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Yes I know but why… Copy pasting from chemdraw directly to ppt is so convenient but is just automatically copied as pdf on mac. Don’t know if that can be changed somehow?

It is 2026 and a pdf figure imported into a word or ppt file on a mac will still appear blurry when opening the word/ppt file on a windows.. yes, I know I can just use PNG etc. but I mean... 😅

A dual role of Arabidopsis PAL nuclear localization in fine tuning flavonoid biosynthesis PAL’s dual localization links metabolism with transcription, revealing feedback that fine-tunes phenylpropanoid regulation.

Interesting paper: Metabolic enzyme PAL can go into the nucleus in response to high product build up and sequester an activating TF of the pathway, thus acting as a feedback inhibition loop.

From: www.science.org/doi/full/10....
#PlantScience

Postdoctoral Researcher - VIB We are looking for a highly motivated and talented postdoctoral researcher to join our team at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology. The selected candidate will join the Nelissen lab to deve...

The group of @hildenelissen.bsky.social is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to develop multiplex genome editing systems in sorghum, tropical maize and rice, leading to the identification of gene combinations strengthening seedling vigor. Please spread the news!
jobs.vib.be/j/129009/pos...

Started this project years ago, but now everything is deposited on @addgene.bsky.social and a short @protocolsio.bsky.social is online. Try it out to make your own (cheap) homemade nuclease/Benzonase!

dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.261ged7xov47/v2

Thank you @jcoker10.bsky.social and Michael Lim!

Comparative transcriptomic and co-expression analyses enable the discovery of key enzymes responsible for oleuropein biosynthesis in olive (Olea europaea) Oleuropein, an oleoside-type secoiridoid, is the major determinant of olive oil flavor and quality. This study completes the biosynthetic pathway from 7-deoxy-loganic acid to 7-β-1-D-glucopyranosyl-ol...

We're closing in on oleuropein biosynthesis in Olive! Oleuropein is the reason we can't eat raw olives, and also the "spicy" taste of olive oil. People assumed (and some wrongly reported) that the pathway was the same as in Catharanthus, but that's not entirely true! 🧵
www.cell.com/plant-commun...

Flavonoids at the Crossroads of Plant Defense: A Multifunctional Shield Against Insect Pests Abstract. Flavonoids are a diverse group of secondary metabolites or specialized metabolites that play crucial roles in plant defense against insect herbiv

Flavonoids at the Crossroads of Plant Defense: A Multifunctional Shield Against Insect Pests academic.oup.com/jxb/article-... @jxbotany.bsky.social

See our newest manuscript dissecting emergent functions in a multispecies biofilm (metabolite cross-feeding, siderophore induction and cross-species utilization) that translates to plant growth promotion
Great work by @jiyuxie.bsky.social and Xinli Sun
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I guess the AD is located at the C-terminus in this MYB? It's quite frequently observed in different TF families that the ADs are intrinsically disordered (or predicted to) as opposed to the DBD

#natprod

Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.

In our latest preprint we report the unexpected discovery of Epi-STR, an R-stereoselective ortholog of the S-selective canonical Strictosidine synthases (STRs). Found in the rather obscure plant Pogonopus specious. This work was led by my stellar student Clara Morweiser!
#natprod
#PlantScience

Although canonical STRs have been targets of extensive rational engineering in the past changes in stereoselectivity were actually never achieved with the native substrates.
Thus this work also shows the importance of studying phytochemically poorly described plant species.

By structurally and phylogenetically comparing Epi-STR to canonical STRs Clara identified specific active site residues determining stereoselectivity and was able to swap the stereoselectivity of a canonical STR and Epi-STR.


STRs catalyze the Pictet-Spengler reaction between a secoiridoid and tryptamine, the class-defining reaction for monoterpenoid indole alkaloids such as medicinal alkaloids vinblastine, quinine, ibogaine and others.

In our latest preprint we report the unexpected discovery of Epi-STR, an R-stereoselective ortholog of the S-selective canonical Strictosidine synthases (STRs). Found in the rather obscure plant Pogonopus specious. This work was led by my stellar student Clara Morweiser!
#natprod
#PlantScience

New Article: "Elucidation of gene clusters underlying withanolide biosynthesis in ashwagandha through yeast metabolic engineering" rdcu.be/e14YH

4 cyt. P450s, 1 dehydrogenase, 1 sulfotransferase build core scaffold of products with neurological/anti-cancer properties.

#natprod

Events The Plant Cell Atlas (PCA) attends and hosts a variety of events to support our mission: to build a diverse scientific community that will set standards for generating and integrating large plant...

Registration is still open for the Plant Cell Atlas' Data Reproducibility for Plant Single Cell data workshop, online! www.plantcellatlas.org/events.html?...

Bee-hunting beetles are the first animals known to fake the smell of flowers Study of parasitic blister beetles reveals a new form of chemical deception

Bee-hunting beetles are the first animals known to fake the smell of flowers | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Forgot to post earlier this really cool story by my colleagues here @oconnorlab.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social. Blister beetle larvae mimic flower scents to attract bees. Led by Ryan Alam and Tobias Köllner.
#secmet

New Brief Communication: "A CRISPR-based sequence proximity binding protein labelling system for scanning upstream regulatory proteins" rdcu.be/eZLUP

CRISPR-based proximity labelling system to profile DNA-binding proteins such as PIF4 transcription factor .

A multi-plant transcriptomic atlas reveals conserved and lineage specific defense architectures in response to Botrytis cinerea Generalist pathogens pose a challenge to plant immunity by infecting diverse hosts while harboring extensive intraspecific genetic variation. Whether evolutionary distant plant lineages rely on a shar...

Ever wondered if diverse plant species respond similarly when infected by the same exact pathogen? Infect different asterids and rosids with the same Botrytis genotypes and teh short answer, quite differently.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@annajomu.bsky.social @ccaseys.bsky.social

(1/3)

So pleased to share this work on alkaloid biosynthesis.
Great collaboration with @unsworthchem.bsky.social. Well done to all authors. We have found key alkaloid producing enzymes that look like those normally found in bacteria.

www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Have you ever heard that women have more chances than men of getting grants or positions in academia? Of course you have, and here are my personal views on this. With the shocking revelation that no, it is NOT TRUE ! (1/n)

A free, open-access library of high-quality organism illustrations for science communication We create vector graphics of model organisms and emerging biological research organisms to enhance our publications. We’re sharing these editable graphics under a CC0 license for other scientists to...

A free, open-access library of high-quality organism illustrations for science communication

A few years ago, through luck and vibes, I managed to produce this blue colored bean variety.

This was an early step in trying to answer the question, [paraphrased] "Why isn't blue as common as red in beans, even though they're both anthocyanins and the plant has the genes for both?"

Cytokinin-mediated trichome initiation in Nicotiana benthamiana upon Agrobacterium tumefaciens infiltration Infiltration of Agrobacterium tumefaciens in leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana has become a standard method for transient expression in plants. Like many Solanaceae species, N. benthamiana develops on i...

Attention Nicotiana benthamiana users! Certain strains of Agrobacterium (e.g. GV3101-pMP90) induce glandular trichomes because of cytokinin production by Agrobacterium. As this can influence assay outcome, we recommend testing several strains. See our preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

High-efficiency, transgene-free plant genome editing by viral delivery of an engineered TnpB https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.05.692691v1