We are searching for an Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology! Looking for colleagues asking fundamental questions relating to evolutionary processes and drivers of evolutionary patterns. If you think it is you, please do apply! And please repost. facultypositions.stanford.edu/jobs/assista...

Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology - Stanford University, California, United States

The Department of Biology at Stanford University seeks applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology. A successful candidate will conduct research that asks fundamental que...

facultypositions.stanford.edu

1/17 Submissions are now open for the 2027 Microbial Population Biology GRC! We expect this meeting to be extraordinarily oversubscribed. If you want to come, time is of the essence--apply ASAP! June 27–July 2 • Andover, NH www.grc.org/microbial-po...

A new preprint from the lab! "Green algal symbionts are stably retained and provisioned in the dark despite a clear physiological cost" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Green algal symbionts are stably retained and provisioned in the dark despite a clear physiological cost

Photosymbioses, or associations between heterotrophs and photoautotrophs, are widespread and indispensable in today's ecosystems. The chloroplasts of algae and land plants, which are at the heart of m...

biorxiv.org

Happy to finally see this as a preprint in bioRxiv Genetics. We were able to disrupt a target effector gene using CRISPR/Cas9 in Zymoseptoria tritici for the first time. Thanks to our collaborators from @w-u-r.bsky.social who shared and contributed all their knowledge and experience!

bioRxiv Genetics@biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Development of a CRISPR/Cas9-mediated transformation procedure for the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.27.728285v1

We just published our new paper about an active Helitron transposon in wheat 🌾🧬 We found that it can be mobilised by heat stress when DNA methylation is reduced. We document its full lifecycle: RNA -> circular DNA -> integration www.nature.com/articles/s41... #TEsky

An active Helitron transposon family in wheat - Nature Plants

Helitrons are a recently identified category of transposons. This study reveals that heat stress combined with reduced DNA methylation can mobilize a Helitron family in wheat. Its mobilization is gene...

nature.com

Our paper "Gene ancestries reveal diverse microbial associations during eukaryogenesis.” is finally out in Nature. Eukaryogenesis was likely a gradual process shaped by multiple microbial partners and virus-mediated gene transfer, rather than a single binary symbiosis. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

New Publication: Molecular mimicry of a pathogen virulence target by a plant immune receptor (2026) www.tsl.ac.uk/publications...

Molecular mimicry of a pathogen virulence target by a plant immune…

Plants and animals respond to pathogen attack by mounting innate immune responses that require intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins. These immune receptors detect…

tsl.ac.uk

I'm looking for an enthusiastic student to join my team as a PhD candidate on archaeal genome evolution 🦠💻 Work in beautiful Utrecht, at @binfutrecht.bsky.social, an international group full of caring, amazing scientists, and with frequent cake breaks! www.uu.nl/en/organisat... Please share! 🙏

Interested in working on the evolution of photosynthetic endosymbioses? Come join us! I have 2 open positions in my new group @cemess.bsky.social in Vienna 3yr postdoc info: tinyurl.com/4emkjpn4 4yr PhD info: tinyurl.com/mtxmsjpy Apply by 1st June! Please share/repost #Protists #Symbiosis #PhD

Very honored to be featured in this spotlight of #ISMPMI Interactions for first authors. After a lot of work I'm happy that our paper is now published and I can share additional thoughts about this work and about my career through this interview. www.ismpmi.org/Community/In...

Very happy to be Assistant Feature Editor of MPMI Journal. Excited to contribute to science communication, stay connected with our scientific community, and highlight the research findings in Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions and the amazing scientists behind them. www.ismpmi.org/Community/In...

How much protein diversity can Life on Earth actually generate? With DIAMOND DeepClust, we show how billions of proteins across the tree of life can be clustered at low-identity for downstream analytics tasks. 📚Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 💻Code: github.com/bbuchfink/di...

Need to annotate transposons in fungal genomes? 🧬 Good news #MycoMobilome is now live! Check it out here: doi.org/10.1093/narg... Access the sequences through our Zenodo community (you can also contribute seqs with credit), and synchronisation with @dfam.bsky.social! w/ @danielcroll.bsky.social

MycoMobilome: a community-focused non-redundant database of transposable element consensus sequences for the fungal kingdom

Abstract. Transposable elements (TEs) are found in nearly all eukaryotic genomes. Despite significant advances in the sequencing of genomes, TE resources r

doi.org

Check the most recent publication from my Ph.D. work published in Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions Journal! Happy to contribute to understanding the Zymoseptoria infection strategy and see this finally out for the community!

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® (MPMI)@mpmijournal.bsky.social · 7mo ago

To investigate infection phase-specific gene expression in #Zymoseptoria tritici, Sandra V. Gomez-Gutierrez et al. analyzed gene expression during infection of susceptible and resistant wheat cultivars, as well as the nonhost species barley: https://doi.org/10.1094/MPMI-07-25-0090-R

Fun new paper out today - a collaboration led by @stephkoe.bsky.social and @ettema.bsky.social found lots of new Euk-like proteins in Asgard Archaea www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling - Nature Microbiology

A structural catalogue of the Asgard archaeal pangenome reveals hundreds of eukaryotic-like proteins that suggest a higher degree of cellular complexity in the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes.

nature.com

Join the online course on Computational Pangenomics, 13-16 April. Learn to build and analyze pangenome graphs with expert-led sessions and hands-on exercises. Details at https://www.physalia-courses.org/courses-workshops/computational-pangenomics/ #course

👋 Hi #AcademicSky! Together with @smbe-idea.bsky.social I’m organizing a symposium at #SMBE2026 (Copenhagen) 🇩🇰 🌈 Our mission is to 𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 & 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 📣 Call for abstracts 𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗡 ⏰ Deadline: 𝗙𝗲𝗯 𝟯 ✨ Hope to see you there! 😉 @official-smbe.bsky.social

SMBE IDEA taskforce@smbe-idea.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Join us for the IDEA Symposium at SMBE 2026 (June 28–July 2) in Copenhagen! We celebrate SMBE’s commitment to inclusion, equity, and diversity by addressing systemic inequities in molecular biology and evolution. 💬 Like to participate? Abstract deadline is February 3rd! smbe2026.org/symposia/

New preprint reveals bacteria can't just collect all resistance genes like Pokemon cards. We found mutually exclusive evolutionary pathways to multidrug resistance in E. coli & P. aeruginosa - some resistance mechanisms actively prevent others from coexisting www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Genomic constraints shape the evolution of alternative routes to drug resistance in prokaryotes

Background Variation within the prokaryotic pangenome is not random, and natural selection that favours particular combinations of genes appears to dominate over random drift. What is less clear is wh...

biorxiv.org

We are very happy to share that our paper on Comparative Transcriptomics of Zymoseptoria tritici during host and non-host interactions was accepted for publication in @mpmijournal.bsky.social journal and was just released in the first look section! doi.org/10.1094/MPMI...

Comparative Transcriptomic Analysis of Zymoseptoria tritici Reveals Interaction-Specific Gene Expression Patterns During Susceptible, Resistant, and Non-Host Interactions | Molecular Plant-Microbe Int...

Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria tritici blotch which significantly reduces yields of wheat. To investigate infection phase-specific gene expression in the pathogen, we analyzed gene expression du...

doi.org

Maybe extinction isn't so bad after all...

This determined dino’s got big problems and unfortunately, tiny arms.

Happy to share our latest preprint! We show that two Z. tritici effectors trigger necrosis in Nicotiana, and that ROS modulation by some effectors depends on the presence of a signal peptide. These findings highlight that effector function can go beyond predictions based only on expression profiles.

bioRxiv Molecular Biology@biorxiv-molbio.bsky.social · last yr.

Functional Characterization of Zymoseptoria tritici Candidate Effectors Reveals Their Role in Modulating Immunity in Nicotiana benthamiana https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.20.655180v1

Exciting day travelling to Wageningen to examine the very impressive work of Anouk C. van Westerhoven, co-supervised by Gert H. J. Kema and @mfseidl.bsky.social! Also, looking forward to get again dressed fancy in some borrowed gown 🎓😉

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Rhizobium rhizogenes A4‐derived strains mediate hyper‐efficient transient gene expression in Nicotiana benthamiana and other solanaceous plants

Agroinfiltration, a method utilizing agrobacteria to transfer DNA into plant cells, is widely used for transient gene expression in plants. Besides the commonly used Agrobacterium strains, Rhizobium ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

One week ago, I successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation! I'm deeply grateful to my advisors, mentors, and all the amazing scientists whose insights and support shaped this journey. And of course, thanks to Zymoseptoria—such a fascinating fungus to study! ☺️

Very excited with @tobybarilbio.bsky.social to share this preprint about his latest work on TEs! We knew that TEs were very pretty active in this global fungal pathogen of wheat. Now with nearly 2000 Illumina genomes available, we could finally ask questions about historic TE activation waves.

Toby Baril@tobybarilbio.bsky.social · 2y ago

Excited to share our latest preprint 🥳 Historic transposon mobilisation waves create distinct pools of adaptive variants in a major crop pathogen @danielcroll.bsky.social #TESky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Excited to share the latest issue of InterConnections from IS-MPMI, where I interview Dr. Achal Rastogi, who I met during my internship at Corteva. I learned a lot from his perspective and advice for the young scientists. Bridging Academia and Industry - Interactions www.ismpmi.org/Community/In...

IS-MPMI

International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

ismpmi.org

Wheat Pathogens webinar, March 20th! Dr. Daniel Croll, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, will talk about “Understanding mechanisms of crop pathogen emergence using large genome panels”. Please share! buff.ly/45ttOjL @karchuntan.bsky.social @ReemWheat

PhD position in Yeast Evolutionary Genomics at Stockholm University. Research focuses on climate adaptation, genetic architecture, and pathogenicity. Apply by April 22, 2025. More info: https://su.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:798314/ #phd

Abstracts are invited for the ESEB Symposium S14 on species range margins, August 17-22, 2025, in Barcelona. Submit by April 25, 2025. More info: https://eseb2025.com/call-for-abstracts/ #conference