How does a geminivirus replicate its genome using a pick&mix strategy with host proteins? 🦠🦠🌱🧬 Our new preprint identifies plant proteins repurposed by geminiviruses to carry out rolling-circle replication. Congrats @chaonan123.bsky.social , who spearheaded this work! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

‼️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...

Obrigado Brasil!! Grateful to be part of such an inspiring global #IS3DV community. Thank you all for making these days so special and unforgettable. See you in 2029 in Málaga! 🦠💚

GeminiTeamLab@geminiteamlab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

What an amazing #IS3DV conference (isdv2026.com) in Ilhéus, Brazil! A big thanks to Murilo Zerbini&team for the fantastic organization — we’re looking forward to IS3DV 2029 in Málaga! (ssDNA virus enthusiasts, stay tuned!) @lauramepul.bsky.social @huangtan.bsky.social

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

After USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school

Move comes after Roger Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs

scim.ag

Kick-off meeting of our GreenRobust cluster of excellence last week. Exciting times ahead for plant sciences by bringing together an extraordinary bunch of enthusiastic scientists and human beings!

Alternative splicing in viruses adds another regulatory layer that hugely increases the complexity of virus-host interaction. Congrats @delphinem-p.bsky.social @geminiteamlab.bsky.social and all involved!

GeminiTeamLab@geminiteamlab.bsky.social · 6mo ago

RNA splicing generates a functionally specialized Rep protein isoform in geminiviruses — enabling timely control of the viral cycle. Strikingly, similar strategies might have evolved in DNA viruses infecting different kingdoms: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Spearheaded by @delphinem-p.bsky.social!

Cool story from @meristemania.bsky.social lab on growth-defense tradeoff at the shoot apical meristem www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Please share! My group at @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social is offering a post-doctoral position (4 years). We look for a structural biologist with experience in Cryo-EM/Cryo-ET to investigate the mechanisms of host invasion by pathogenic fungi. Deadline February 28th! uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

Please share! We are looking for a postdoctoral scientist (2 years, extension possible) starting from 01/05/2026 at @ipbhalle.bsky.social! The project focuses on plant immune receptor biochemistry and structural biology. Deadline 09/03/2026. Apply at: ipb-halle.mhm.jobs/11-postdocto...

Postdoctoral position in biology (m/f/d) (2/2026)

Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (Halle) offers a Postdoctoral position in Biology

ipb-halle.mhm.jobs

Please share! We are looking for a PhD student (4 years) starting from 01/05/2026 at @ipbhalle.bsky.social! If you are interested in plant immunity, receptor biochemistry and evolution, consider applying! Deadline 09/03/2026. Application portal: ipb-halle.mhm.jobs/10-phd-posit...

PhD position in biology (m/f/d) (1/2026)

Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (Halle) offers a PhD position in Biology

ipb-halle.mhm.jobs

🚀 Calling all ssDNA virologists! 🔬✨ Join the International Symposium on ssDNA Viruses (IS³DV 2026) isdv2026.com 📅 15–19 June 2026 📍 Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil 🇧🇷 Whether you’re a P.I., postdoc, ECR, or student, this is your stage to connect, share, debate and push the frontiers of ssDNA virology.

GeminiTeamLab@geminiteamlab.bsky.social · 7mo ago

What could be better than discussing single-stranded DNA viruses with an international community of experts and a trans-kingdom perspective — at an affordable prize? Doing it in Bahia, Brazil! 🌴🌊☀️ Join us for IS3DV, June 15-19! isdv2026.com

Deadline approaching Do Not Forget to join us !!! Beautiful Science program 👍🏻 👇🏼 isdv2026.com

Why are so many plant viruses phloem-restricted? New work from Xueping Zhou’s lab reveals how this tissue tropism is determined in a geminivirus — and why phloem confinement can turn out to be an evolutionary advantage! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🌱🦠🚷🅿️🛫🌱

Preprint alert! It is my great pleasure to announce the first manuscript from the lab, a story that started @gmivienna.bsky.social and was mainly accomplished by the intrepid @gesahoffmann.bsky.social at @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social. A brief thread with our findings www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

AGO5 restricts virus vertical transmission in plant gametophytes

The propagation of a viral infection from a host parent to its progeny is known as vertical transmission, or seed transmission in plants. It allows viral infections to rapidly spread locally via polle...

biorxiv.org

What an incredible 10 years! Here’s to another 10 and beyond! 🥳🎉👏🏻CONGRATULATIONS, @geminiteamlab.bsky.social 💚🦠🌱 #plantvirus #postdoclife #virology #labretreat

GeminiTeamLab@geminiteamlab.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The GT goes to Stuttgart! A (brief) trip, nice scenery, good food, a touch of (mostly fictitious) science, and excellent company! What else could one wish for in a lab retreat? (Ah — it was also the 10th anniversary of the lab!) 🎂🌱🦠

Great talk by @delphinem-p.bsky.social from @geminiteamlab.bsky.social yesterday: “Hijacking the Plant #Spliceosome” on how alternative splicing drives #viral infection and #tomato fruit development 🍅 Thanks to our host @incavirus.bsky.social for organizing this insightful seminar! 👏

Engineering the C-tail of the versatile Arabidopsis immune receptor RLP23 enhances pathogen resistance in rice and poplar! Congrats to Andrea Gust and her group at #ZMBP 👏👏👏 #MPMI #EvoMPMI #plantsci

Nature Biotechnology@natbiotech.nature.com · 10mo ago

Engineered pattern recognition receptors enhance broad-spectrum plant resistance - @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social go.nature.com/474nnA9

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Splicing was discovered in adenoviruses, but was thought to be only anecdotal in plant viruses... We may need to revisit plant viral transcriptomes and proteomes!

GeminiTeamLab@geminiteamlab.bsky.social · 11mo ago

How do geminiviruses maximize their limited coding capacity? Our recent preprint uncovers splicing of viral transcripts as one more strategy used by this viral family. We show that RNA splicing is prevalent in the geminivirus TYLCV — and required for infectivity! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

How do geminiviruses maximize their limited coding capacity? Our recent preprint uncovers splicing of viral transcripts as one more strategy used by this viral family. We show that RNA splicing is prevalent in the geminivirus TYLCV — and required for infectivity! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Pervasive splicing in a plant DNA virus

Viruses maximize their limited coding space through strategies that increase transcript and protein diversity. In mammalian viruses, splicing is a well-established mechanism for proteome expansion, ye...

biorxiv.org

Congratulations, DOCTOR @chaonan123.bsky.social !!! What a wonderful PhD!!! 🫶🏻👏🏻💪🏻

GeminiTeamLab@geminiteamlab.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Incredibly happy and proud of our Chaonan Shi (chaonan123.bsky.social ), who successfully defended her doctoral thesis yesterday at the @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social ! (And what a brilliant defence it was!) 🥳🥳🥳 Congratulations, Dr Shi!!! 🍾🥂🍋‍🟩🌶️ We are so lucky to have you in our team ❤️

#HiringCBGP ‼️ 🌱 The Center for Plant Biotechnology & Genomics (CBGP, UPM-INIA/CSIC) is #hiring! We’re seeking a Head of the Translational Biology Unit/Knowledge Transfer Office to drive innovation, IP protection & industry partnerships. 📍 Apply now: shorturl.at/wI8IW

🌱 ¿Quieres realizar tu tesis doctoral desarrollando un atlas del transcriptoma single-cell y la caracterización funcional de reguladores del desarrollo y maduración del fruto de fresa? Ofrecemos un contrato de la convocatoria FPI asociado al proyecto PID2024-155863OB-I00

‼️Vacancy for an Assistant Professor in Microbiome Engineering‼️ Join us at the Swammerdam Institute in Amsterdam 🦠🧠💻🌱 werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Vacancy — Assistant Professor in Microbiome Imaging and Functional Analysis

Are you pioneering molecular tools and applying advanced imaging strategies to uncover how microbial communities are organized and interact in space and time? If so, we invite you to join The Swammerd...

werkenbij.uva.nl

📢 A Junior Professorship (W1, tenure track) is open at the Center for Plant Molecular Biology at Uni Tübingen (@zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social) — to work on plant protein biochemistry (composition, structure, dynamics, or regulation of protein complexes). 🌱 Great opportunity — Apply by Oct 17th!

📢 Job alert! #PlantSciJob We are opening a Professorship (W1-TT) in Plant Biochemistry at the ZMBP @unituebingen.bsky.social Apply by October 17th Please spread the word! More info 👇 uni-tuebingen.de/fakultaeten/...

Happy to share the new article from my former lab at IBMCP — the final chapter of my PhD! We optimized geminivirus-based vectors for the controlled expression of recombinant proteins in plants, using autobioluminescence as a real-time reporter 💡🧬🌱 If you’re curious… 👀: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Exciting opportunities to establish your group at JIC! Come join our vibrant research community in Norwich! 🔹 Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions (path to tenure-track) tinyurl.com/yk576jms 🔹 GL in Discovery Plant Sciences (tenure-track or tenured) tinyurl.com/mwbs4dhn

Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions | John Innes Centre

An exciting opportunity for an Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions has arisen at the John Innes Centre. To read the full job description for this role…

jic.ac.uk

Our latest article is now online! @PlantBiotechnologyJournal Expression of Arabidopsis FLS2 in N. benthamiana confers responsiveness to Ralstonia flg22 and activation of anti-bacterial immunity doi.org/10.1111/pbi.... By Meng Li, Yujiao Chen, and Yali Wei

It was great to be part again and see you soon!!

GeminiTeamLab@geminiteamlab.bsky.social · last yr.

Such an intense and enjoyable week at #2025MPMI!