Gustaf Degen
@gustaf23.bsky.social
Plant biologist (for now), interested in photosynthesis. Postdoc @ University of Sheffield @hhu.de alumn Linktree: https://t.co/Jn5oMG0vq9 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0804-4169
A massive update: At least ~15 companies~ are selling scientists antibodies using faked validation data. We've documented 18,000+ manipulated images on 17,000+ products sold by leading laboratory suppliers including Thermo Fisher, Abcam, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Millipore Sigma and Bio-Techne. 1/🧵
Our new study on plant light harvesting complexes (LHCII) is live 🎉 We found that complexes engaged in energy dissipation show enhanced fluorescence intermittency ("blinking"). This links a native photoprotective state in plants (qH) to the fluorescence dynamics of individual antenna complexes 🌱✨
bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 2w agoSustained photoprotection involves enhanced fluorescence intermittency in a subpopulation of LHCII https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.24.746725v1
New OA Brief Communication: "Disequilibrium between chloroplast proton motive force and ATP levels in Arabidopsis" rdcu.be/fBLIG With News & Views: "Rethinking ATP balance in photosynthesis" rdcu.be/fBLKi #PlantScience
Our recent ATP biosensor work was kindly highlighted in a News&Views in @natplants.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Rethinking ATP balance in photosynthesis - Nature Plants
A study recently published in Nature Plants marks a paradigm shift that the primary role of PROTON GRADIENT REGULATION 5 is not to boost ATP production but to safeguard photosynthesis through ΔpH-depe...
nature.com
For 20 yrs textbook view: linear electron flow can't make enough ATP for CO₂ fixation, so plants use cyclic electron transfer (CET) to top it up. Today in @natplants.nature.com we measured ATP directly inside living chloroplasts — and that story doesn't hold. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
50% PMF🪫keeps ATP at 100%🔋 www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natplants.nature.com CET provides ∆pH for photoprotection, while the redox balance is most likely handled by the malate valve 🍃☀️ Based on elegant in vivo ATP biosensing by @gustaf23.bsky.social & @profmattjohnson.bsky.social
Gustaf Degen@gustaf23.bsky.social · 3w agoPlease to share our paper in @natplants.nature.com showing that PGR5 is not required for ATP augmentation in Arabidopsis chloroplasts @profmattjohnson.bsky.social @schwarzlanderlab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Please to share our paper in @natplants.nature.com showing that PGR5 is not required for ATP augmentation in Arabidopsis chloroplasts @profmattjohnson.bsky.social @schwarzlanderlab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Disequilibrium between chloroplast proton motive force and ATP levels in Arabidopsis - Nature Plants
A fluorescent ATP biosensor reveals that chloroplast ATP levels remain unchanged in Arabidopsis mutants with a much weaker proton gradient, showing that cyclic electron transport protects photosynthes...
nature.com
Organelle positioning as a principle of metabolic regulation and stress tolerance 🌿🔋🍃 Looking ahead in this joint perspective 🔮 with the Fernie and Sonnewald labs @theplantjournal.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
PERSPECTIVE: organelle positioning as a principle of metabolic regulation and stress tolerance
Understanding how plant cells coordinate metabolism remains a major challenge, particularly at the level of intracellular organization. This perspective proposes that dynamic organelle positioning ac...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Reform UK councillors have introduced a motion to rescind King's Lynn and West Norfolk's climate emergency declaration and deprioritise decarbonisation efforts The council were going to vote on it on Thursday But the meeting has been postponed due to extreme heat
Chloroplast genome editing of Rubisco boosts photosynthesis and plant growth www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natcomms.nature.com
Chloroplast genome editing of Rubisco boosts photosynthesis and plant growth - Nature Communications
Rubisco has inherently low catalytic efficiency limiting crop productivity. Here the authors show that chloroplast genome editing can be used to generate substitutions in Arabidopsis rbcL that increas...
nature.com
Pleased to share our preprint on “Loss of PSAE redirects PGRL1 to photosystem I and enhances PGR5-dependent cyclic electron transfer in Arabidopsis” @profmattjohnson.bsky.social @sheffieldpps.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🌱 Genetic modification can boost crop yields—but let's not oversell it. Climate is changing. Population is growing. We need resilient, high-yielding crops. But hype won't harvest them. Real progress comes from knowing what actually works in the field🚜 #plantscience www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Genetic modification can improve crop yields — but stop overselling it
With a changing climate and a growing population, the world increasingly needs more-productive and resilient crops. But improving them requires a knowledge of what actually works in the field.
nature.com
One of David Attenborough's best speeches. Today we're celebrating the 100th Birthday of the humanist and naturalist David Attenborough! Thank you for a lifetime of inspirational broadcasting and devotion to science and the natural world.
“A palantir is a dangerous tool, Saruman” Maybe naming a company after something the bad guy in LOTR uses should have been a hint!
Carole Cadwalladr@carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 4mo agoNEW: Palantir’s revolving door. A new investigation by @thenerve.news has found Palantir has recruited more than 30 senior officials from UK govt, a strategy transparency experts say poses an ‘acute risk’ of corruption. 1/ Link ⬇️
NEW: Palantir’s revolving door. A new investigation by @thenerve.news has found Palantir has recruited more than 30 senior officials from UK govt, a strategy transparency experts say poses an ‘acute risk’ of corruption. 1/ Link ⬇️
A single line in this piece just made my day: “The electricity system operator is understood to be preparing to run the grid without any gas for short periods as soon as this summer, in a first for the UK energy system.” Renewables *work*. And progress matters🎉 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Britain breaks solar energy record twice as UK’s biggest solar farm gets approval
Record high set on Monday and raised on Tuesday, with 14.4GW of electricity generated in sunny spring weather
theguardian.com
NEW – Analysis: Record wind and solar saved UK from gas imports worth £1bn in March 2026 ✍️ @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org Ho Woo Nam Read here: buff.ly/wFGUgMU
Oil prices wouldn't be all over the news today if more of our economy was powered by local, secure renewable energy. This isn't an "energy crisis". It's a fossil fuel crisis. 44% of UK electricity came from renewables in 2025. More of that plus an electrified economy => no more oil shocks.
There are a hundred more important things to say, and I tried to say some of them in my essay for "Thinking About...", but: invading a country for oil is also just atavistic at this point. Even if it worked, which it won’t, it still wouldn’t work.
Bloomberg News@bloomberg.com · 8mo agoWall Street’s biggest banks made more money financing green projects than they did from working with fossil fuel companies for a fourth straight year, even as they faced ongoing pressure to pull back from the business
Stephen Flynn criticises Nigel Farage from attacking children who speak more than one language #BBCQT "A man who aspires to be PM of these isle would pick a fight with school kids, would hold school kids up as an object to beat, absolutely repulses me and it should repulse all of you as well"
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu
So happy this is out as a preprint (for) now. Since measuring ATP is tricky, we used ATP biosensors in collab with @schwarzlanderlab.bsky.social to show that in chloroplasts without PGR5, NPQ and pmf are diminished, yet ATP levels unchanged. Balancing ATP/NADPH must be achieved by different means.
Matt Johnson@profmattjohnson.bsky.social · 10mo agoOur new preprint 🚨🌱☀️on flourescent biosensing of ATP levels in chloroplasts in vivo shows disequilibrium between proton motive force and ATP levels. We show PGR5 dependent cyclic electron transfer does not augment ATP/NADPH ratios @gustaf23.bsky.social 🙌 www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Our new preprint 🚨🌱☀️on flourescent biosensing of ATP levels in chloroplasts in vivo shows disequilibrium between proton motive force and ATP levels. We show PGR5 dependent cyclic electron transfer does not augment ATP/NADPH ratios @gustaf23.bsky.social 🙌 www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
UK science and technology is suffering from a lack of investment, a hostile immigration system, and fragile university finances, reports @cathleenogrady.bsky.social 🧪 #scipolicy www.science.org/content/arti...
U.K. science sector is ‘bleeding to death,’ lawmakers say in report
House of Lords committee urges government to stem exodus of science and technology companies
science.org
Today, Germany remembers the November pogroms of 1938. 87 years ago, Jews were targeted in a wave of orchestrated violence in Germany. Jewish shops and synagogues were destroyed. Many Jews were murdered. These acts of terror paved the way for the Holocaust. #NeverForget
