✨ Mark your calendars! ✨ The Plant Computational Biology Workshop 🌱💻 is back—10th edition! 🎉 Sept 7–11 | Lyon, France | FREE ✓ Registration mandatory Limited to 70 researchers (spots filling fast!) Learn more & Register : pcbw.inria.fr

New insights into cell fates of the Arabidopsis inflorescence meristem @sebamorenor.bsky.social generated the most detailed map to date of this critical stem cell niche, identifying 18 distinct cell type clusters, including precursors to cortex & vascular tissues www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/new-ins...

🌺 How does a hibiscus flower pattern its petals? A new computational model reveals hidden "boundary" cells can spontaneously emerge during flower development, helping to create stable petal patterns. Prediction confirmed experimentally! 🔗 www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/how-hib... #PlantsInTheSpotlight

New research in Science reveals that the Venus flytrap's snap is triggered by a rapid softening of the epidermal cell walls, uncovering the physical mechanism behind this remarkable movement. Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/4fXQ9sn

If life builds order from heterogeneity while never completely eliminating it, is heterogeneity merely a byproduct or could it be part of the means by which biological order is generated? Check out Lanxi Hu's review www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Very excited to share our paper "Nitrate modulates pectin metabolism and cell wall mechanics during cell expansion in Arabidopsis" 🌱 doi.org/10.1111/tpj.... Plant Systems Biology Lab (PUC) collaboration with UNAB and @slcuplants.bsky.social 🔬 Now published in @theplantjournal.bsky.social!

Nitrate modulates pectin metabolism and cell wall mechanics during cell expansion in Arabidopsis

Nitrate increases HG abundance and reduces PME activity via NRT1.1- and NLP7-dependent pathways. Enhanced pectin methylesterification softens the cell wall, facilitating cotyledon cell expansion. Thi...

doi.org

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Mechanical forces & cell shape guide how plant stomata form🥬👄 @leoserra.bsky.social & Euan Smithers from @robinsonsci.bsky.social's team uncover how the interplay between cell shape & mechanical stress influences the orientation of stomata doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/mechani...

Supercoiling not only brings DNA to life (and makes it dance) but also changes how key proteins such as #CRISPR interact with it. Thanks @qmsmith.bsky.social for the brilliant collaboration, Sylvia for developing an amazing new #imageanalysis pipeline & @eddierollins.bsky.social for beautiful #AFM.

Quentin Smith@qmsmith.bsky.social · 4mo ago

1/11 In our story out today in @nature.com , we showcase the molecular mechanisms that enable Cas9 to bind and cleave negatively supercoiled ((-)SC) off-targets! 🧬🧵 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #CRISPR #Cas9 #DNATopology #AFM #CryoEM #SingleMolecule #Biophysics

Register Now! #SLS26 Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium | 22-24 Sept 2026 | Cambridge, UK Theme - Shaping Life: Mechanisms of Morphogenesis! If you are into Plant Development - join us! In-person + livestream Limited fee waivers www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/sls

Registrations now open for #SLS26 Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium 2026 in Cambridge, UK — Shaping Life: Mechanisms of Morphogenesis! Join us explore how cellular, genetic & mechanical forces sculpt plant form 📅 22–24 Sept 2026 In-person + livestream Limited fee waivers www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/sls #plantsi

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/JAIVZX... Excited to share my latest work in @newphyt.bsky.social. Here, we used TurboID proximity labeling with CLAVATA receptors FEA3 and BAM1D in maize meristems to better understand the signaling pathways important for meristem regulation. #PlantScience

Launch your own independent research group! 2x David Sainsbury Career Development Fellowships at @slcuplants.bsky.social 📆 Apply by 30 Jan 2026 More info: 👉 www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/careers/grou... Job details: 👉 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/david-s... Please share this post #PlantSciJobs #PlantSciJob

Won best thesis award with this video! 4 years of research and play in 3 minutes :') youtu.be/so0fPlK1-LM

Smart microscopy, computer vision, and controlling cells with light -- my PhD thesis in 3 minutes

YouTube video by Pertz Lab

youtu.be

🧵 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

Project Name: DIY Plant Walls: Engineering Plant Cell Size and Material Strength using Fungal Proteins Supervisors: @dromius.bsky.social & @robinsonsci.bsky.social Application Deadline: 5pm Monday 19 January 2026 Start Date: 1 October 2026 More details: www.findaphd.com/phds/project... 2/3🧵

Thrilled to have our paper out in @science.org. Cell division guides plant cell wall formation. Does the reverse hold? We show that bimodal pectin methylesterification, via PME5 mRNA nuclear sequestration, influences plant cell division and cell plate orientation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cell wall patterning regulates plant stem cell dynamics

The plant cell wall regulates development through spatiotemporal modulation of its chemical and mechanical properties. Pectin methylesterification is recognized as a rheological switch controlling wal...

science.org

We are delighted to announce the 2025 Accelerate – @c2d3.cam.ac.uk funded projects! 🎉 Projects will catalyse discoveries to accelerate scientific progress & create AI tools capable of delivering benefits for science & society. Find out more: bit.ly/4rpvSiy

Very excited to advertise 15 plant engineering biology PhD projects @biologyatyork.bsky.social @camplantsci.bsky.social @slcuplants.bsky.social @johninnescentre.bsky.social & University of Bristol. 🪴 🥬 🔧 🧬 Come join this new Plant BioDesign community! www.findaphd.com/phds/?Keywor...

Roses don’t just defend themselves. Their prickles are geometrically ideal for gripping surfaces, supporting vertical growth, and, when needed, creating lacerations that deter herbivores. Students - join us to investigate how biological form and physical law work together!

Final, edited version of the paper now available www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Hormonal regulation of cell fate plasticity of xylem-pole-pericycle lineage in Arabidopsis roots

In Arabidopsis roots, xylem-pole-pericycle (XPP) cells exhibit dual cell fates by contributing to both lateral root (LR) and cambium formation. Despit…

sciencedirect.com

Ari Pekka Mähönen@apmahonen.bsky.social · 11mo ago

🌱 What happens when lateral root primordia (LRPs) fail to emerge? Using our new lineage tracing tool LRTracker, Xin discovered that arrested LRPs don’t just disappear—they gradually switch fate and become part of the cambium, contributing to secondary growth.1/x www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New pre-print from the team! The manuscript is @emma-raven.bsky.social's PhD work showing that whether a leaf is a carbon sink or a carbon source influences how they execute immune responses. Have a read! #PlantScience @johninnescentre.bsky.social

bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Primary metabolism underpins the execution of immune responses in different tissues of the same plant https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.11.681807v1

I was tremendously lucky to be in @xanderjones.bsky.social's lab to watch @bijuntang.bsky.social move from technician to PhD to Postdoc and produce this magnum opus. #SalicS1 is the just reward for years of brilliance and hard work.Well done Bijun, Xander, Jing, and everyone involved! #SalicylicAcid

Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU)@slcuplants.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Salicylic acid biosensor, SalicS1, tracks the plant immune hormone salicylic acid in real time - revealing propagation of hormone surge during plant pathogen advance Latest biosensor from @xanderjones.bsky.social team In Science doi.org/10.1126/scie... Summary www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/new-bio...

While the first image showed the outside edge of surface mature Arabidopsis root cell, this second image from the same experiment shows the border between two root cells. The large plastid (blue due to chlorophyll autofluorescence) is squashed between the two membranes. #arabidopsis #cellbiology

🧪🌾News - How do seedlings straighten when emerging from the soil?🔬 @srobertgroup.bsky.social & collaborators have identified a protein that promotes this seedling straightening via the plant hormone auxin. Read more about the story published in @pnas.org here👇: www.upsc.se/about-upsc/n...

Here it is! Epidermal cells in the root can figure out if they are covered by the root cap or not using mechanical signals! Thanks to @ckirchhelle.bsky.social, @moritznowack.bsky.social, @nathan-german.bsky.social Annamaria Kiss and all the others!

bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Plant cells at the organ surface use mechanical cues to activate a specific growth control programme https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.25.672229v1

We have two open Post-Doc positions in my group at the interface with: 1- @ataly.bsky.social for molecular dynamics 2- Bruno Guillotin from protein mobility Apply by sending CV, two ref letters and a short motivation letter to me : emmanuelle.bayer@u-bordeaux.fr. Deadline 15 sept.

The maintenance of plant cell wall integrity involves complex molecular interactions. In this review, preetmanchanda.bsky.social summarizes the pivotal roles of RALF, LRX, and FERONIA as well as their interactions in different cell and tissue systems. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Cell-to-cell translocation of florigen is inhibited by low ambient temperature through abscisic acid signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.... #plantscience

How plants sense injury in their barrier tissue, periderm? Painstakingly detailed and amazing work by post doc Hiroyuki Iida shows that wounding is sensed by the diffusion of two gases: ethylene and oxygen. @treebiocoe.bsky.social‬ @erc.europa.eu‬ 1/x 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Plants monitor the integrity of their barrier by sensing gas diffusion - Nature

A study using Arabidopsis shows that plants can monitor the integrity of their outer barriers by sensing gas diffusion, enabling them to initiate wound repair to prevent water loss and pathogen entry.

nature.com