Inspiring talk by Reem Aboukhaddour @reemwheat.bsky.social on how giant starships and other transposons have shaped the evolution of the fungal toxin ToxB #BSPP26 #planthealth

👋 Transposon lovers: registration is now open for the CSHL TE meeting! We have a 🔥 lineup of invited speakers and many slots for short talks selected upon abstract across all areas of TE biology. 🧬➰🧬 #TEsky Abstract deadline: July 10 meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.asp...

It is with great sadness that we announce J. Craig Venter has died. 🧪🧬 www.jcvi.org/media-center...

J. Craig Venter, genomics pioneer and founder of JCVI and Diploid Genomics, Inc., dies at 79

La Jolla, California—April 29, 2026—The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) announced that J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., the Institute’s founder, board...

jcvi.org

ACADEMIC WORD OF THE DAY Today's word (28/04/2026) is DOMAIN: an area (physical or intellectual) over which a person (or group) has control. More at www.writing.support/academic-wor... #AcWri #AcademicWriting #TESOL #AcademicSky #EduSky

Recursive Repeat Extender (RRE): A recursive approach to automatically extend repeat element models https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.14.718546v1

Hiding in plain sight! 2.3M conserved non-coding sequences traced back 300M years across 284 plant species Ground-breaking study out in First Release @science.org from labs of @madelaineb.bsky.social, @idane.bsky.social & Zach Lippman ▶️ doi.org/10.1126/scie... ▶️ www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/hiding-...

Transposable element activity and polymorphisms drive structural variability within and between individual in bivalves https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.10.705023v1

Transposons as genetic switches for plant defense 🌿 The January 2026 @theplantjournal.bsky.social Editor’s Choice by @gwenkirschner.bsky.social shows how CRK8 expression enhances pathogen resistance in Arabidopsis; with trade-offs. Read now: www.sebiology.org/resource/jan...

January 2026 TPJ Editor choice: Transposon toggle: Flipping the switch on CRK8 expression for pathogen defense

Discover the Plant Journal editor's choice by Gwendolyn Kirschner

sebiology.org

CONGRATS to team @effectomics.bsky.social and @steidele.bsky.social . Transcriptional Response of Magnaporthe oryzae Towards Barley-Microbiome Derived Bacteria | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/...

Transcriptional Response of Magnaporthe oryzae Towards Barley-Microbiome Derived Bacteria | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions®

The composition of the plant microbiome is shaped not only by the host plant and abiotic environmental factors, but also by inter-microbial cooperation and competition. Plant pathogens, therefore must...

apsjournals.apsnet.org

Now officially published in Current Biology 🥳🥳 @mfseidl.bsky.social @binfutrecht.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...

Extensive horizontal transfer of transposable elements shapes fungal mobilomes

Romeijn et al. reveal that horizontal transposon transfer is widespread in fungi, contributing up to 70% of transposon content in some taxa. The authors uncover thousands of events across diverse line...

cell.com

Josje Romeijn@jromeijn.bsky.social · last yr.

The first paper of my PhD is now available as a preprint! 🎉 Transposable elements (TEs) don't just jump within fungal genomes, they also move extensively between species. In this study, we screened over 1,300 fungal genomes and found a conservative estimate of 5,500+ horizontal transfer events.

We dive into the dynamics of #starships 🚀 in a fungal pathogen to ask: how might these giant #transposons impact human health? We find they drive genome-wide variation, encode clinically-relevant traits and even transpose within the same strain! 🍄🧪 out today in mBio #goteam doi.org/10.1128/mbio...

Giant transposons promote strain heterogeneity in a major fungal pathogen | mBio

No “one size fits all” option exists for treating fungal infections in large part due to genetic and phenotypic variability among strains. Accounting for strain heterogeneity is thus fundamental for d...

doi.org

The virulence gene ToxB is both amplified and disrupted by transposons in the wheat pathogen Pyrenophora tritici-repentis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.13.688278v1

Save the date: 20 Nov 2025 at 17h. Megan McDonald will present: Jumping Genes and Pathogenic Schemes: the diverse roles that transposons play in pathogen evolution. A must for the pathology community! Info here: www.wheatinitiative.org/new-events/m... @karchuntan.bsky.social @ReemWheat.bsky.social

The first paper of my PhD is now available as a preprint! 🎉 Transposable elements (TEs) don't just jump within fungal genomes, they also move extensively between species. In this study, we screened over 1,300 fungal genomes and found a conservative estimate of 5,500+ horizontal transfer events.

TEs aren’t just genomic parasites, they’re also engines of genomic novelty. Our new study with ~2,000 Z. tritici genomes shows repeated TE mobilization waves during global expansion. With @danielcroll.bsky.social & @guidopuccetti.bsky.social 🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #TEworldwide

Historic transposon mobilisation waves create distinct pools of adaptive variants in a major crop pathogen - Nature Communications

In this study, the authors analysed a large genomic dataset to trace how jumping genes shaped the global spread of a major wheat pathogen and reveal bursts of activity over decades that drove adaptati...

nature.com

James D. Watson, whose co-discovery of the twisted-ladder structure of DNA in 1953 helped light the long fuse on a revolution in medicine, crimefighting, genealogy and ethics, has died, according to his former research lab. He was 97. https://to.pbs.org/4qPbNSp

James D. Watson, scientist who co-discovered DNA's double-helix shape, dies at 97

The breakthrough -- made when the brash, Chicago-born Watson was just 24 -- turned him into a hallowed figure in the world of science for decades. But near the end of his life, he faced condemnation and professional censure for offensive remarks, includ...

pbs.org

🪰 🧬16th #DrosEU2026 Workshop & Satellite #DrosophilaSuzukii Meeting Conference will take place 13–17 April 2026 in #Montpellier, France 🇫🇷. We look forward to connecting with colleagues across Europe to discuss new research in #Drosophila #genomics #evolution & #CitizenScience +info 👉 droseu.net

Excited to share my talk at the EMBL John Kendrew Award ceremony about what transposons taught me about science, life, and change along the way. Big thanks to my mentors, the @embl.org Alumni community, and my current scientific home @maxperutzlabs.bsky.social 💛 youtu.be/NwIikKS7EWE?...

Irma Querques - 2025 John Kendrew Award Recipient

YouTube video by EMBL Alumni

youtu.be

EMBL’s 2025 Kendrew alumni award recipient may know how to make fairy tales come true. Irma Querques (@irmaquerques.bsky.social) repurposed the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ transposon as a genetic tool for new therapeutics, particularly against cancer. www.embl.org/news/people-...

A new subgroup of #CRISPR-associated transposons, V-K_V2, has been discovered in Nostocales #cyanobacteria by @cyanolab.bsky.social & colleagues 🧬. Its unique features suggest genetic mobility and V2 tracrRNAs are now included in the updated CRISPRtracrRNA tool. buff.ly/gioIfEB

Kicked off a series on #Drosophila TE discovery and naming. The first post covers elements that predate the term "mobile element", and more. artemilin.dev/posts/te_nam...

🎓 Sharpen your RNA-seq skills at EuroBioC2025 Workshops! 📍 Barcelona | Bulk & Single-cell RNA-seq 📅 Sept 15–16 | Hands-on training 🎟️ Limited spots. Register now: eurobioc2025.bioconductor.org #Bioinformatics #EuroBioC2025

🧬Happy Transposon Day! 🎉Each year on the 16th of June we commemorate the birthdate of the founder of transposable element research, Barbara McClintock (1902-1992). #TransposonDay2025 #MobileDNAjournal

Join our team as a postdoc and explore the exciting world of transposable elements and developmental biology with us! @imbavienna.bsky.social @vbcscitraining.bsky.social

Pre-registration is now open for our second (free) course on phylogenomic data analysis and visualization using ETE, funded by @cziscience.bsky.social First time to cover new ETE4 features: Interactive viz of huge tree, profiling... In Madrid, April 21-25. Travel fellowships available!

Please register for the course on Transposable elements in #genomics and #datascience. We will be sharing the magic of #nanopore long reads for #transposon expression #tesky