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Facundo Romani

@fromani.bsky.social

Leverhulme ECF (U of Cambridge)🇬🇧. PhD (UNL)🇦🇷Biotechnologist (UNQ)🇦🇷. Gene regulation and plant EvoDevo.

80 Posts1127 Follower742 Folgt
Andy Plackett@seedrevolutionlab.bsky.social · yesterday

www.nature.com/articles/s41... It's been a long time coming, but delighted to say that the first major output from my Royal Society Fellowship is now published. 🙂 #PlantScience

The post-fertilization archegonium gene network of seedless plants contributed to the origin of seeds - Nature Communications

The authors identify conserved gene networks across fern and angiosperm reproductive development, including between the sporophyte ovule and the fern gametophyte egg-chamber. Repurposing of this netwo...

nature.com

Arnau Sebé-Pedrós@arnausebe.bsky.social · 2d ago

Happy to share the final version of our study on the evolution of chromatin states across eukaryotes, out today in @natgenet.nature.com Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Some highlights below

Diversity and evolution of chromatin regulatory states across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics

This study introduces iChIP2, a low-input chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing method that profiles histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) simultaneously across diverse eukar...

nature.com

Robin Burns@robinburns.bsky.social · 2w ago

Delighted to share our paper on neo-chromosomes! We induced centromere fission using CRISPR in Arabidopsis and increased the chromosome count from n=5 to n=6. The broken chromosomes ends quickly “healed” by adding telomeres de novo and the new karyotype is stable through mitosis and meiosis! 1/3

Ian Henderson@hendersi.bsky.social · 2w ago

CRISPR-mediated centromere fission generates neochromosomes with distorted meiotic inheritance in Arabidopsis biorxiv.org/content/10.6... new preprint from us - includes changing the Arabidopsis karyotype from 5 -> 6 chromosomes using Cas9 & outcomes of 5/6 chromosome hybrid meiosis

Josep Mercadal@josepmercadal.bsky.social · 2w ago

Our work on pattern formation in fossil and extant liverworts is out! @dev-journal.bsky.social Check it out if you are interested in fossils, evo-devo, and how mathematical modeling can help us understand the evolution of developmental processes! 🌿🧪 Thread ⬇️

Lateral inhibition governs ancestral cellular patterning in fossil and extant liverworts

Highlighted Article: Comparative and mathematical analyses reveal that oil body cell patterning in fossil and extant liverworts is consistent with a local activation-lateral inhibition mechanism, poin...

journals.biologists.com

Facundo Romani@fromani.bsky.social · 2w ago

Excited to share this story in its final form, now published in ACS Synthetic Biology. #PlantBiology #Synbio pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Engineering Auronidin Production in Marchantia polymorpha Enables a New Class of Plant-Derived Textile Pigments

Plant-derived pigments offer sustainable alternatives to synthetic colorants, yet their practical deployment in textiles is limited by restricted chemical diversity and low abundance. Liverworts represent a source of diverse chemical compounds, and the model liverworts Marchantia polymorpha are emerging as chassis for bioengineering and synthetic biology. Here, we report the biotechnological application of auronidins, a rare class of flavonoid pigments, as textile dyes. Using M. polymorpha, we engineered enhanced auronidin production through controlled expression of the R2R3-MYB transcription factor MpMYB14. We systematically benchmarked constitutive and inducible gene expression systems, including heat-shock, glucocorticoid receptor, and β-estradiol (XVE) circuits, identifying inducible strategies that decouple biomass accumulation from secondary metabolite production while achieving high pigment yields. Extracted auronidins were used to dye cotton yarn directly, demonstrating the feasibility of auronidins for textile dyeing. Our results establish M. polymorpha as a versatile plant chassis for programmable secondary metabolite production and introduce auronidins as a promising natural pigment platform for sustainable textile biotechnology.

pubs.acs.org

Facundo Romani@fromani.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Marchantia might seem an unlikely biotech crop, but it’s worth trying. In Aurore’s thesis, we pushed this concept by engineering the auronidins with MpMYB14 and using the pigments to dye cotton. It ended up giving a very unique and beautiful product. #PlantScience www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Facundo Romani@fromani.bsky.social · 3w ago

New pre-print. Biosynthesis of limonene in Marchantia is carried out by a small biosynthetic gene cluster specific to oil body cells #PlantScience www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Neryl diphosphate-derived monoterpene biosynthesis via a biosynthetic gene cluster in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha

Monoterpenes (C10) are a large group of specialized metabolites important for plant interactions with the environment. Their biosynthesis is well understood in seed plants, where geranyl diphosphate s...

biorxiv.org

Chung Hyun Cho@chc-evobio.bsky.social · last mo.

Excited to share our new preprint led by Fred and me in collaboration with the archaeal community! We found that the molecular foundation of histone-based chromatin has pre-eukaryotic roots in Asgard archaea. (1/4) #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Emergence of histone-based chromatin complexity in Asgard archaea

The emergence of the eukaryotes coincided with the diversification of histone proteins and their post-translational modifications by enzymes that constitute the core of eukaryotic chromatin. Yet the e...

biorxiv.org

Ignacy Bonter@ignacybo.bsky.social · last mo.

Happy to share some of the auxin Marchantia research we've been working on for a while with @fromani.bsky.social and @jimhaseloff.bsky.social. We confirm long standing suspicions that stem cells in Marchantia exist in an auxin concentration/signalling minimum, and potentially a cytokinin maximum.

Marchantia stem cell maintenance and re-establishment are controlled by MpPIN1-mediated auxin transport and ARF signalling

Meristem organization in land plants depends on coordinated auxin distribution, transport and response, yet how these processes are integrated during vegetative growth of the gametophyte of non-seed p...

biorxiv.org

Facundo Romani@fromani.bsky.social · last mo.

Glad to see Anna's final PhD paper as a pre-print. Marchantia as a bioproduction chassis not only for markers but also for useful proteins. #PlantScience #SynBio www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Marchantia polymorpha as a simple platform for plant-based production of functional nanobodies

Recombinant proteins have transformative potential in biomedicine, but their production is often costly and carries contamination risks. Plants offer an attractive alternative, with low growth costs a...

biorxiv.org

Facundo Romani@fromani.bsky.social · last mo.

Glad to see Anna's final PhD paper as a pre-print. Marchantia as a bioproduction chassis not only for markers but also for useful proteins. #PlantScience #SynBio www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Marchantia polymorpha as a simple platform for plant-based production of functional nanobodies

Recombinant proteins have transformative potential in biomedicine, but their production is often costly and carries contamination risks. Plants offer an attractive alternative, with low growth costs a...

biorxiv.org

George R. L. Greiff@ilichenmoss2.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Happy to announce our study that has just been published from work done during my PhD at the University of Bristol working in Prof. Jill Harrison's lab. It's about WOX genes and sporophyte development in the model moss, Physcomitrium patens. Take a look 🧵👇

A wild-type shoot with a single apical sporophyte (left) beside a Ppwox13lc mutant with three sporophytes on the same shoot (right).
Phil Carella@philcarella.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Check out our latest pre-print on the evolution of TIR activity/signalling: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

Elenor Kennedy@ebkennedy.bsky.social · 3mo ago

@khongsamchia.bsky.social Extremely excited to share the first pre-print from my PhD project in the Carella lab, co-first authored with @khongsamchia.bsky.social 🎉 (Thread below ⬇️) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Huge thanks to all co-authors and the #CarellaCapybaras for all the support 😊

Facundo Romani@fromani.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Another cool liverwort genome by Szövényi group. #PlantScience link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Genome assemblies of the liverwort Blasia pusilla uncover a well-defined pseudoautosomal region on homomorphic UV sex chromosomes - Genome Biology

Background Sex chromosomes evolve from autosomes and are expected to be initially homomorphic, though they may become heteromorphic over time. In diploid systems, one sex chromosome often degenerates,...

link.springer.com

Juan Carlos De la Concepcion@delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Excited to have started my group @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social through the @dfg.de Emmy Noether program. In this project we will be looking at the mechanisms of host invasion by fungal pathogens 🍄🌱 Check it out and drop me a line if you are interested! uni-tuebingen.de/en/universit...

New Emmy Noether research group on fungal infections in plants

uni-tuebingen.de

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft@dfg.de · 3mo ago

Good News!📢 Die DFG hat vom 1. Januar bis 31. März 2026 insgesamt 43 Wissenschaftler*innen in die Programme der #Einzelförderung aufgenommen. Mehr zu den Projekten, Personen und ihren Einrichtungen: ➡️ www.dfg.de/de/aktuelles...

Tafel mit Auflistung unter der Überschrift: 43 Personen neu in der DFG-Förderung 25 im Emmy Noether-Programm 15 im Heisenberg-Programm 3 in die Reinhart Koselleck-Förderung
Plant & Cell Physiology@plantcellphysiol.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A comprehensive database for #Marchantia research Tanizawa et al. present the new improved MarpolBase #database - a central resource for M. polymorpha #genomics with near-telomere-to-telomere reference male Tak-1 and female Tak-2 genomes (ver. 7.1) 🆓 doi.org/10.1093/pcp/... #PlantScience

[Important notice] To maintain nomenclature consistent and systematic, we strongly recommend that gene names/symbols should be registered before publications and presentations.

marchantia.info

Thea Kongsted@theakongsted.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Although the red pigments made by flowering plants and liverworts are produced by distinct chemical pathways, here we found that they are induced by homologous complexes of transcription factors. @currentbiology.bsky.social

Replicated repurposing of an ancestral transcriptional complex in land plants

Kongsted et al. find that, while the red pigments produced in liverworts and seed plants are distinct, they are regulated by homologous MYB-bHLH transcriptional complexes. They also find that in liver...

cell.com

Trends in Plant Science@cp-trendsplantsci.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Bryophytes: natural incubators of new gene evolution #plantscience

Bryophytes: natural incubators of new gene evolution

De novo gene origination from noncoding regions is a major source of genetic innovation. Dong et al. [1] (Nat. Genet. 2025; 57:2562–2569) reveal that bryophytes harbor an exceptionally high abundance of such genes, establishing them as a new and key system for studying the mechanisms and evolutionary consequences of new gene emergence in plants.

dlvr.it

Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge@camplantsci.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The research, led by Dr Edith Forrestier whilst at the @jimhaseloff.bsky.social lab @camplantsci.bsky.social is published in ‘Communications Biology’: tinyurl.com/ypfd54xr @fromani.bsky.social @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk #PlantsAtCambridge

Spatial distribution of isoprenoid enzymes and MpABCG1 transporter influences sesquiterpene accumulation in Marchantia polymorpha oil bodies - Communications Biology

A study maps terpene biosynthesis in Marchantia polymorpha oil bodies and identifies the ABC transporter MpABCG1 as a key factor for endogenous sesquiterpene accumulation in oil bodies, informing future metabolic engineering strategies.

tinyurl.com