New preprint! 🎉 How do populations adapt to a changing environment? We show how standing genetic variation enables polygenic adaptation, while the speed and magnitude of environmental change can determine whether populations adapt—or go extinct. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Standing genetic variation drives polygenic adaptation to different environmental shifts

Most organisms are well adapted to the environment they have been exposed to for many generations. However, changing environments pose existential threats to populations, unless they are able to adapt...

biorxiv.org

🫘Webinar Alert🥑 International Committee @aspbofficial.bsky.social announces @plantaeofficial.bsky.social Webinar "Crops of the Future: Revisiting Neglected & Underutilized Crops for Global Nutrition". Supported by @templetonfdn.bsky.social. Sept 1-2. Please register→ blog.aspb.org/crops-of-the...

Still time to apply: Postdoc position in our lab together with @meauxjuliette.bsky.social to combine Ecological models with quantitative genetics. Become part of a great community of Ecological Genetics. jobportal.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...

Within the @trr341.bsky.social JJ Szymanski has an interesting postdoc position for leading plant Ecological genetics AI recruiting.fz-juelich.de/jobposting/5...

Postdoctoral Researcher - Machine Learning for Plant Regulatory Genomics

recruiting.fz-juelich.de

Now online in #GENETICS with @genetics-gsa.bsky.social : 'Adaptive Dynamics of Quantitative Traits in a Steadily Changing Environment'. Integrating theory and forward-in-time simulations to understand quantitative trait evolution. Was inspiring to collaborate with my awesome physics colleagues.

We are hiring! The CRC TRR 341 "Plant Ecological Genetics" is looking for a new scientific coordinator for the next funding period🌱 Please find more information including how to apply here: jobportal.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...

Looking forward to Sam Yeaman's seminar about repeatability of adaptation on Thursday May 28 at 4 pm CET. Join us online!

PolyAdapt STN@polyadapt-stn.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Join us for another exciting seminar by Dr. Samuel Yeaman (University of Calgary) about the repeatability of adaptation? on 28th May, 2026, 4 pm CET. Zoom link here: polygenic-adaptation-network.org/seminars/

Where do plant pathogen effectors come from? @mesny.bsky.social shows how fungi turned shield 🛡️ into sword ⚔️ to end up with dual-function molecules to disrupt host immunity & protective host microbiota. @ceplas.bsky.social @mibinet.bsky.social @madfungi.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Plant-associated fungi co-opt ancient antimicrobials for host manipulation

Fungal effectors may have evolved from ancient antimicrobials, shaping plant microbiota and immunity during infection.

science.org

Happy to share this paper with @samyeaman.bsky.social, now published in Molecular Biology and Evolution! Using replicated hybrid zones, we explored patterns of local adaptation and introgression in spruce and found strong signals even at very fine geographical scales! doi.org/10.1093/molb...

Replicated hybrid zones reveal genomic patterns of local adaptation and introgression in spruce

Abstract. Hybridization between species can occur along repeated zones of contact, providing a natural laboratory for studying the interplay between migrat

doi.org

Was seed color in early crops really chosen for aesthetics? White seeds evolved repeatedly-not because humans preferred them, but because losing pigmentation reduced seed dormancy. Ecology, not intention, may have driven domestication. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #PlantScience #Domestication

🌾 We have an open postdoc position in Plant Genomics in our group at HHU Düsseldorf! If you enjoy computational biology, asking big questions, and the satisfaction of code working on the first try, check out schneebergerlab.org/career/ Apply by Mar. 31 | 3-year postdoc | German skills required

PhD position at Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, focusing on drought adaptation in Brassica rapa. Applications due by 02.03.2026. Details: https://www.plantecoevo.hhu.de. #phd

We published our open-access review on anthocyanins in BMC Plant Biology! 🌿🔬 From antioxidants to ecological roles in nature, these pigments are way more than pretty colors. Check it out👇 🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s128... 📸 Here is Nele celebrating this achievement! #PlantScience #Anthocyanins #OpenAccess

New preprint from the lab! Ella Ludwig assembled the first pangenome for grain amaranth and Tom mapped the genetic control of flowering time. Together it looks a lot like an insertion changing flowering time. If you are at #PAG don't miss Ella's talk on this! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The grain amaranth pangenome reveals domestication-associated changes in diversity and function of structural variation

Background: Grain amaranth is a nutritious pseudocereal from the Americas that was independently domesticated three times from a common wild ancestor. The three domesticated grain amaranths, their wil...

biorxiv.org

Have we been overstating the role of transposable elements in adaptation to local or rapidly changing environmental conditions? Happy to share my (somewhat unpopular?) opinion paper on this matter: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Thanks to those who already shared the link!

Blinded by the lights? Re-examining the adaptive role of transposable elements in plants with population genomics

Transposable elements (TEs) are ubiquitous components of the genome whose mobility can be triggered by environmental stress and influenced by genotype…

sciencedirect.com

The Clavel Group is recruiting a new postdoc for two possible projects dealing with plant-virus interactions and selective autophagy! More (wordy) details below ⬇️🌱🦠

A. thaliana has been pivotal in advancing our understanding of the bases of adaptation to past and ongoing environmental changes! A very nice review by @ahancock.bsky.social, Swan Portlier, Andrea Fulgione, @mgstetter.bsky.social and @meauxjuliette.bsky.social www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fu...

#PlantSciJobs #PlantSciJob PostDoc position: Plant genomics and quantitative genetics. In @mgstetter.bsky.social’s lab @unicologne.bsky.social + @ceplas.bsky.social-member Start: a.s.a.p. Deadline: 14 December 2025 www.deutsche-botanische-gesellschaft.de/stellenangeb...

TWO positions open in our group. 1 postdoc and 1 PhD position. Join us for some exciting evolutionary plant biology! #PlantSciJobs #PlantSciJob

Now out in its final version: 'Domestication shaped the chromatin landscape of grain amaranth' www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Domestication shaped the chromatin landscape of grain amaranth - Nature Communications

The interplay between the chromatin landscape and plant domestication remains unclear. Here, the authors report the genome assembly and chromatin landscape map of amaranth and reveal the association b...

nature.com

Two 4-year PhD positions available for Oct 2026 🪴 We're part of CNAP with 12 plant/microbe research groups combining excellent fundamental science with innovation. 1st - MAGIC Crops: Genomics to breed high yielding, resilient and nutritious amaranth for smallholder farmers tinyurl.tools/fa83da49

🌱 Postdoc position in Plant Genomics/Bioinformatics! Love genome plasticity, computational methods, and solving big questions in plant biology? Join our newly established Institute for Crop Biology at HHU Düsseldorf. More info on schneebergerlab.org/career/ Apply by Nov. 30 | 3-year position

Sad to miss #ESEB2025, but check out work from our lab. The poster of Tom Winkler (P01.272) on repeated evolution under ecological selection during domestication tonight. And the talk of Margarita Takou on the detection of polygenic selection from time series data on Tuesday 15:30.

If you’re at #SMBE2025 and want to know how polygenic adaptation to different environmental change scenarios proceeds, go see PhD student Yuna Zhang from my lab presenting today 17:10-17:15 in Symposium 22 #quantgen

How can climate distribution models help to harness crop diversity? We look at recent advances in grain amaranth genomics and breeding to suggest how leveraging genetic diversity of underutilized crops could contribute to resilient and sustainable cropping systems. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Assessing and mining grain amaranth diversity for sustainable cropping systems - Theoretical and Applied Genetics

Global challenges and new demands require adaptation of cropping systems. Plant genetic diversity can contribute to adapt and improve crops and create more sustainable agricultural systems. In order t...

link.springer.com

Now published. Led by Dr. Akanksha Singh, we studied what happened to grain amaranth once it arrived to India. Surprisingly differentiation stayed high and populations adapted individually. No gene flow, high diversity.

Evolutionary Applications@evolappjournal.bsky.social · last yr.

ntroduced populations can conserve lost genetic variation. The introduction of grain amaranth to India shows how crop evolution continued outside the domestication area and could enable future adaptation 🌱 w/ @mgstetter.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/eva.70124

Talking Biotech 459 - where did the key domestication mutations in corn come from? Were they present in resident gene pools waiting to be selected, or new mutations? I discuss with @jrossibarra and his student Regina Fairbanks. @aspb @ASHS_Hort @UF_IFAS share.transistor.fm/s/bed2ffa6

Forza CEPLAS 3!

New preprint from the lab: 'Domestication shaped the chromatin landscape of grain amaranth'. #domestication #chromatin #amaranth www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Domestication shaped the chromatin landscape of grain amaranth

Plant domestication has had profound impacts on the morphology and genetic diversity of crops. Beyond sequence diversity, changes in chromatin structure can play an important role in plant adaptation....

biorxiv.org

Cologne Spring Meeting starts with “Plant Ecological Genetics: From Lab to Nature and Back” talk by @meauxjuliette.bsky.social Exploring the bridge between laboratory insights and real-world plant ecology. #EcologicalGenetics #PlantScience