Fabulous film about @jenmcgaley.bsky.social's work in the @paszkowskilab.bsky.social. Jen has captured arbuscular mycorrhiza in motion for the first time. Find out more 👉https://tinyurl.com/yc2brzcu 🧪 @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social

University of Cambridge@cam.ac.uk · last mo.

What if one organism could copy itself and merge with others, weaving vast living networks? Meet the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi 🦠 Cambridge researcher Dr Jennifer McGaley from @camplantsci has filmed these fungi in action for the very first time. Find out more 👉 https://bit.ly/4ghAynD

What if one organism could copy itself and merge with others, weaving vast living networks? Meet the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi 🦠 Cambridge researcher Dr Jennifer McGaley from @camplantsci has filmed these fungi in action for the very first time. Find out more 👉 https://bit.ly/4ghAynD

Congratulations to Uta Paszkowski - recognised as a 2026 Top Agri-food Pioneers by the World Food Prize Foundation. We're proud to see Uta's work celebrated as one of 40 leaders transforming food systems worldwide! tinyurl.com/2paku43x @paszkowskilab.bsky.social @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social

Very happy this is now published in full! Symbiotic phosphate transporter dynamics in rice expose functional plasticity of the arbuscules www.nature.com/articles/s41... A thread of some of our findings (and timelapses) below 🧵🔬🎥

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄 Some hyphae, arbuscules and vesicles of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inside the root of a bramble, collected during a workshop at Wilburton Primary School, Cambridgeshire. And this was just the tip of the iceberg! #mycosky #microsocpy #fungi

Huge congratulations to Beverley Glover & Uta Paszkowski on being elected Fellows of the @royalsociety.org - a wonderful recognition of their significant contributions to plant sciences! 🎉 Read more: tinyurl.com/3vetucr4 @beverleycubg.bsky.social @paszkowskilab.bsky.social 🧪

Could fungi help grow rice more sustainably? Read about Emily Servante @camplantsci.bsky.social's work with Tilda & Indian basmati farmers to develop a more environmentally-friendly way of growing rice. 👉https://tinyurl.com/y7tscabt @paszkowskilab.bsky.social @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social 🌾🧪

University of Cambridge@cam.ac.uk · 3mo ago

Could fungi help grow rice more sustainably? 🍚 At the Crop Science Centre, Cambridge researcher Dr Emily Servante is working with Tilda and basmati farmers in India to develop a more environmentally friendly way of growing rice. Find out more: https://bit.ly/4dCvKWS 📸 Studio Charuau

The first publication from the Dallaire and Kameoka labs is out! A forward-looking review on the status of mycorrhiza research in 2026, with emphasis on AM fungi doi.org/10.1111/nph.... @newphyt.bsky.social @ulaval.ca 🇨🇦

Status of mycorrhiza research in 2026

Mycorrhizal symbiosis improves the nutrition of most land plants and plays key roles in nutrient cycling and ecosystem function. To understand and leverage the biology of mycorrhizal symbioses for su...

doi.org

At the bottom of the image above you can see the spore-like 'auxiliary cells'. It becomes clear where this fungus gets it name when you find a true spore!

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄 A visit from an artist yesterday was the perfect excuse to spend some time admiring this very beautiful arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus: 𝘎𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢 (pictured here colonising rice roots) #mycosky #fungi #microscopy

From the Crop Science Centre in Cambridge to farmers' fields in India: check out the translational work of Cereal Symbiosis Lab member Emily Servanté, just published in THE CONVERSATION theconversation.com/how-im-helpi... @cropscicentre.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social

How I’m helping rice farmers in India harness the power of fungi in the soil

By boosting beneficial microbes, researchers hope to increase crop resilience while reducing the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers.

theconversation.com

🧵 Just out in Cell after more than 10 years in the making! 🎓 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Plants and animals evolve radically different body plans. Do they also operate under fundamentally different molecular evolutionary constraints during organ formation? @cellpress.bsky.social

La Forêt hyperconnectée avec Francis Martin 🍄🌳 👉A retrouver en rediffusion : www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhEh...

WEBINAIRE : La forêt hyperconnectée

YouTube video by Etats Sauvages

youtube.com

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄 A tangentially-festive sample this week: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonising the root cells of Ivy 🌿🎄☃️ #mycosky #festive #fungi

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄 Motivated by a seminar from @tomthirkell.bsky.social, I've delved back into my image archives of mycorrhizal fungi in random plant species. This beautifully bunchy fungal arbuscule in a buttercup root needed sharing!🔬🏵️ #mycosky #fungi #microscopy #outreach

Had a great visit to @cropscicentre.bsky.social and @camplantsci.bsky.social, and a very nice stay at St John’s college. Thanks to @paszkowskilab.bsky.social for hosting me!

IN BRIEF: Aeschynomene’s Shortcut: A Receptor-Like Cytoplasmic Kinase Drives Nod-Independent Nodule Formation (Min-Yao Jhu, Chai Hao Chiu) doi.org/10.1093/plce... #PlantScience @aspbofficial

Aeschynomene's shortcut: A receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase drives nod-independent nodule formation

Legume crops can grow without added nitrogen fertilizers thanks to a remarkable partnership with rhizobia, soil bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen with

doi.org

"Innovation should serve all, not just those who can afford it." Hear how Crop Science Centre researchers @cam.ac.uk & partners are rethinking how we grow food for a sustainable future. #COP30 @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social @paszkowskilab.bsky.social @jmhibberd.bsky.social

WebsEdge Science@websedgescience.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Innovation should serve all, not just those who can afford it. @camplantsci.bsky.social brings together scientists, partners, and innovators to rethink how we grow food, creating a fairer, more resilient, and sustainable future for farming. @cgiar.org #sustainablefarming #foodsecurity #COP30

It's been a busy time in the Paszkowski lab! First, a pre-print on how rice distinguishes friend (AM fungi)🍄 from foe (pathogens)👾: doi.org/10.1101/2025... And second, a review on single-cell omic approaches to understand the spatially and temporally complex AM symbiosis 🔬: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

Defining the pre-symbiotic transcriptional landscape of rice roots

Plants interact with a plethora of organisms in the rhizosphere, with outcomes that range from detrimental to beneficial. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is the most ubiquitous beneficial plant ...

doi.org

🍄 Fungi Field Day is almost here! 🍄 Save the date: Saturday 4 October 🍄 Come along from 10am to 4pm Celebrate all things fungi with art, crafts, face painting, talks, forays and games - there's something for everyone! We look forward to welcoming you! 🌿 #CUBG #FungiFieldDay #CambridgeEvents

I’m super happy to present the first discoveries of the RIKEN-Cambridge Joint Crop Symbiosis Research Team, based in Japan 🇯🇵 doi.org/10.1101/2025... A thread 👇

Reductive evolution of the DNA replication machinery in endosymbiotic fungi

The molecular machinery for replicating and repairing DNA accurately is critically important for life and highly conserved across the Tree of Life. Here we show that two major lineages of fungi, Glome...

doi.org

I'll be presenting Wed 17th 11:30 at IMMM2025 in Munich in our labs work on the role of the D14L-SMAX1 module in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis, and why we think it operates in two distinct roles (regulating the common symbiosis pathway and independent of it in the cortex). #immm2025

🍄 One month until Fungi Field Day 2025!! 🍄 Held on UK Fungus Day (4th October) @cubotanicgarden.bsky.social, this event celebrates the fungal kingdom, featuring science, games, walks, talks, face-painting and much more for all ages. Please spread the word! www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/fun...

The arum type arbuscules

Beautiful microscopy of beautiful arbuscules

Takeshi Sentoku (千德 毅)@cl93.bsky.social · last yr.

The arum type arbuscules

She also plugged this innovation: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... The AMSlide for noninvasive time‐lapse imaging of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis - McGaley - 2025 - Journal of Microscopy - Wiley Online Library

The AMSlide for noninvasive time‐lapse imaging of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis

In most soils across the globe, you will find arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. AM fungi act like an extended root system, foraging in the soil for nutrients and delivering them back to their plant-....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Uta Paszkowski expands on the arbuscular mycorrhizal theme with a cool spatial transcriptome method to better resolve dynamics during colonization of rice. Can see key transporter transcripts accumulating in arbuscules. #2025ISMPMI

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄 From a primary school workshop: a mystery arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus in mystery plant. Sometimes fun to have no information about what you are looking at 🚸 #outreach #mycosky #fungi

I'll be at @ipgsa2025.bsky.social in 10 days time - come find me at poster 102 to discuss what we've learned in rice about the role of KL & its negative regulator SMAX1 in root development, mycorrhizal symbiosis and germination, as well as our efforts to take chemical control of this pathway.