André Marques
@amarques.bsky.social
A lover of chromosome biology 🧬🔬🔎 Studying (not only) meiosis, centromeres & genome evolution in plants! Group leader at MPI for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany Lab website: https://www.mpipz.mpg.de/5028512/marques
Out now in @nature.com Research Briefings: Rhynchospora tenuis makes gametes without meiotic crossovers yet retains sexual reproduction. Only seeds that restore the parental chromosome combination are viable, giving clone-like offspring #meiosis4eva #SexualReproduction www.nature.com/articles/d41...
A plant that reproduces sexually but has clone-like offspring
Only seeds that replicate the parental combination of chromosomes remain viable.
nature.com
Nature ersearch paper: Sex without crossovers mimics clonal reproduction in Rhynchospora tenuis go.nature.com/3UXKc6g
Sex without crossovers mimics clonal reproduction in Rhynchospora tenuis - Nature
Rhynchospora tenuis undergoes obligate, genome-wide achiasmy in both male and female meiosis.
go.nature.com
Excited that our new paper with @henrylabsymbio.bsky.social and Kerry Oliver is out @pnas.org! We show that mobile genetic elements can spread adaptive host-benefiting traits across heritable insect symbionts on eco-evolutionary timescales.🧵 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Phenotypic divergence is driven by mobile genetic elements in a heritable insect symbiont | PNAS
Heritable microbes profoundly influence insect biology, yet the traits they confer often evolve rapidly and differ among closely related symbiont s...
pnas.org
Thanks to the generosity of the Bezos Family Foundation, @basicsci.fredhutch.org is excited to announce a new search to recruit a Bezos Family Distinguished Scholar : apply.interfolio.com/193655
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#EvoChromo ciliate kinetochores @maxraas.bsky.social @kopslab.bsky.social . Previous work w\ @jvhooff.bsky.social : tinyurl.com/y5h4ehnt showed a lack of Tetrahymena kinetochore complexity. Replacement, simplification or missed homologies? All of the above? - check out our pre-print tiny.cc/hp8w001
Max Raas@maxraas.bsky.social · 10mo agoOur story on the kinetochore composition of the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila is out now on bioRxiv! We find surprisingly many orthologs of conventional kinetochore components, but also components that have very different evolutionary origins. A 🧵 (1/11) Check it out here: tinyurl.com/4ectm9x4
Excited to share this review that @needhibhalla.bsky.social and I wrote on meiotic checkpoints! www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Tuning Meiotic Checkpoints: Evolutionary Costs and Mechanistic Trade-Offs
In this review, we discuss three meiotic checkpoints—the DNA damage response, the pachytene checkpoint, and the spindle checkpoint—and highlight their similarities and differences across diverse syste...
annualreviews.org
This looks like an awesome review! Looking forward to reading it 🙌 congratulations @needhibhalla.bsky.social and @lacefieldlab.bsky.social
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽@needhibhalla.bsky.social · last mo.Excited to have this out in the world! @lacefieldlab.bsky.social and I discuss meiotic checkpoints, with a focus on how they may be tuned both in and across systems to reflect the mechanistic trade-offs, evolutionary constraints and unique goals and innovations of meiosis. 🧪
Our new paper in collaboration with @brandgefahr.bsky.social and the RinkLab www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Stepwise emergence of recombination suppression precedes fissiparous asexuality in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea - Nature Communications
Asexuality has evolved many times in planarians, but its genomic basis is unknown. This study shows that in the species S. mediterranea, a series of chromosomal rearrangements in a sexual an...
nature.com
📣We are #hiring Join the Department of Comparative Development and Genetics @mpipz.bsky.social to work on mechanisms underlying plant development & diversity in a Research Support role.🌿Apply now #plantsci 👉https://jobs.mpipz.mpg.de/jobposting/36d653f86928d4c47af6b4d32debc67692b34a7d0?ref=homepage
🚨 Paper: Active matter physics views living systems as open, out of equilibrium, and emergent. In a perspective on plant morphogenesis 🌱we discuss how such features arise from tissue hydromechanics, and how to model them. Thank you for your attention to this active matter. shorturl.at/IKKRt
Towards a hydromechanical theory of plant active matter | Quantitative Plant Biology | Cambridge Core
Towards a hydromechanical theory of plant active matter
cambridge.org
Hadrien Oliveri@hadrienoliveri.bsky.social · 10mo agoActive matter physics studies living beings as open, out of equilibrium, and emergent systems. In this perspective on plant morphogenesis, we show how such features arise from the basic hydromechanics of plant tissue and how to capture them in models. 🌱💧 Preprint 👇 arxiv.org/abs/2512.05554
Top 1% in @qedscience.bsky.social is now officially published in @nature.com
André Marques@amarques.bsky.social · last wk.Out today in Nature: sex without crossovers. Rhynchospora tenuis makes pollen, fertilises and sets seed, yet 0 crossovers in 10,997 pollen nuclei. Chromosome drive and ~87% seed abortion rebuild the mother's genotype, so the offspring are clones. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Out today in Nature: sex without crossovers. Rhynchospora tenuis makes pollen, fertilises and sets seed, yet 0 crossovers in 10,997 pollen nuclei. Chromosome drive and ~87% seed abortion rebuild the mother's genotype, so the offspring are clones. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
André Marques@amarques.bsky.social · 8mo agoA new extreme of meiotic evolution: ✔️ 𝗻𝗼 crossovers ✔️ 𝗻𝗼 gene conversion ✔️ 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 meiosis & fertility Sex mimics clonality without becoming asexual, in the holocentric multicellular eukaryote 𝘙𝘩𝘺𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘴. more about it: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
I am happy to present our work @liverworks.bsky.social @robinburns.bsky.social @alisondawnscott.bsky.social on centromeric repeat turnovers, of which we counted three in the Arabidopsis genus:
The Nature of Centromeric Repeat Turnovers in the genus Arabidopsis
Centromeres are critical for accurate segregation of chromosomes and are often composed of megabases of tandemly arranged satellite repeats. Yet, despite their conserved function, the DNA sequence of ...
biorxiv.org
Sex without crossovers mimics clonal reproduction in Rhynchospora tenuis @Nature.com
Sex without crossovers mimics clonal reproduction in Rhynchospora tenuis
Nature, Published online: 16 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11057-7Rhynchospora tenuis undergoes obligate, genome-wide achiasmy in both male and female meiosis.
dlvr.it
Brazilian beak-sedge reproduces through pollen, fertilization and seeds, but its surviving offspring are genetic clones of their mothers. More than 10,000 pollen nuclei showed no DNA crossovers. doi.org/hcjqf3
Brazilian sedge reproduces sexually but without DNA reshuffling, producing genetic clones
Sexual reproduction usually reshuffles genetic information, creating offspring that differ from their parents. But one small plant takes an unexpected route.
phys.org
Brazilian sedge reproduces sexually but without DNA reshuffling, producing genetic clones phys.org/news/2026-09... via @phys.org.web.brid.gy
Brazilian sedge reproduces sexually but without DNA reshuffling, producing genetic clones
Sexual reproduction usually reshuffles genetic information, creating offspring that differ from their parents. But one small plant takes an unexpected route. In a new study published in Nature, an int...
phys.org
📣📣Paper Alert! New paper @nature.com from the Marques group @amarques.bsky.social and colleagues on Rhynchospora tenuis - 🌿a plant that reproduces sexually but has completely lost the reshuffling of DNA🧬 Congratulations! 👏 🥳 Read more👉 www.mpipz.mpg.de/pr-marques-2... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Sex without crossovers mimics clonal reproduction in Rhynchospora tenuis - Nature
Rhynchospora tenuis undergoes obligate, genome-wide achiasmy in both male and female meiosis.
nature.com
I can help you illustrate your research with effective figures, graphical abstracts, and infographics Drawing to explain and inspire linktr.ee/dorotdesigns
Dorota Paczesniak Official: Instagram | Linktree
I’m a freelance scientific illustrator and consultant with a background in evolutionary biology | Drawing to explain and inspire
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Congratulations to all the authors! Thanks @amarques.bsky.social for trusting my illustration skills - I’m so happy to be a part of this and have contributed to illustrations and figure design #SciArt
Out today in Nature: sex without crossovers. Rhynchospora tenuis makes pollen, fertilises and sets seed, yet 0 crossovers in 10,997 pollen nuclei. Chromosome drive and ~87% seed abortion rebuild the mother's genotype, so the offspring are clones. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
André Marques@amarques.bsky.social · 8mo agoA new extreme of meiotic evolution: ✔️ 𝗻𝗼 crossovers ✔️ 𝗻𝗼 gene conversion ✔️ 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 meiosis & fertility Sex mimics clonality without becoming asexual, in the holocentric multicellular eukaryote 𝘙𝘩𝘺𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘴. more about it: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Haplotype-specific chromosome painting unveils recombination patterns in the holocentric species Rhynchospora breviuscula H.Pfeiff. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.24.733714v1
Have a favorite European colleague who should be recognized for their work in non-medical biotechnology? Pls nominate them for the Novo Nordisk Foundation Prize for Biotechnology. (Prior awardees at novonordiskfoundationprize.com/awardees). Thank you! novonordiskfoundationprize.com/nominate-bio...
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Prize
Our prizes are awarded to researchers who have contributed to scientific breakthroughs or in other ways distinguished themselves within natural or medical science.
novonordiskfoundationprize.com
Projeto SolidarESA, da Casa do Produtor Rural, doa mais de 3 mil espigas de milho verde para doze entidades assistenciais de Piracicaba, beneficiando crianças, adolescentes e idosos da região
Projeto da USP doa mais de 3 mil espigas de milho para entidades assistenciais em Piracicaba
Projeto de extensão da Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz da USP une agricultura sustentável e solidariedade ao beneficiar 12 entidades assistenciais de Piracicaba
jornal.usp.br
‼️Job altert🚨📢 please spread the word: We're looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join our new department "Phytopathology and Plant Protection" at @unihalle.bsky.social. www.verwaltung.uni-halle.de/DEZERN3/AUSS...
Our lab @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social is hiring two postdoctoral researchers to join our ERC-funded GRAFT project on mobile small RNAs in plants. 🔗 Details: jobs.mpimp-golm.mpg.de/jobposting/b... 📅 Deadline: July 31, 2026 Please share!
Let s dive into the world of holocentric chromosomes with @amarques.bsky.social Wonderful talk ! #smbe2026
Heading now to #Copenhagen for attending the @official-smbe.bsky.social with several team members. Looking forward to exciting conversations and networking! Hope to see some of you there!
Happy to have two preprints of the lab featured within the 1% Read them: Sex without crossovers mimics clonal reproduction in Rhynchospora tenuis www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Pangenome analysis reveals the evolutionary dynamics of repeat-based holocentromeres www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
QED Science@qedscience.bsky.social · 3mo ago🎉 Meet The 1%. Out of 57,455 bioRxiv life science preprints, QED Science selected 574 exceptional manuscripts through blind evaluation. The 1%: the-one-percent.qedscience.com Good science deserves to be seen. @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social @openrxiv.bsky.social @richardsever.bsky.social
