Ben Long
@botbml.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.2K following 320 posts
Cyclist. Scientist. Synthetic biology in plants. Carboxysomes and chloroplasts. Ally 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 He/him Group leader: Biological CO₂ Capture Lab Awabakal and Worimi country ⬛🟡🟥 University of Newcastle, Australia. https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/ben-long
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Reposted by Ben Long
80incognito.bsky.social
"In 1774, Joseph Priestley ran an experiment that seemed simple — but changed everything...

From a candle, a mouse, and a plant, humanity began to glimpse one of nature’s greatest truths: plants sustain life on Earth."

web.facebook.com/share/p/1EM2...
Reposted by Ben Long
inrng.com
RedBull and Decathlon working on the front of the bunch #ilLombardia
Reposted by Ben Long
jxbotany.bsky.social
🌱 SPECIAL ISSUE RESEARCH 🌱

26S proteasome disassembly occurs during leaf senescence. While proteasomal subunit genes are up-regulated, proteasome protein levels do not increase. However, cytokinin application enhances proteasome activity - Wang et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 3 (shortened, full legend in paper): Regulation of proteasomal subunits during proteotoxic stress and leaf senescence. (A) Transcriptional response to proteotoxic stress of genes coding for proteasome subunits as assayed by promoter–GUS lines. Seedlings grown for 10 d on half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with or without 15μM MG132 were stained for GUS activity and imaged. (B) Proteasomal subunit abundance during proteotoxic stress. Total protein extracts from 10-day-old wild-type seedlings treated for 2 d with either 30 μM MG132, 2 μM bortezomib, or DMSO were assessed by western blotting using protein-specific antibodies. Coomassie Brilliant Blue- (CBB) stained gels were used as loading control. (C) Expression of proteasomal subunit genes during leaf senescence as visualized by promoter–GUS reporter lines. Shown are the results for the first leaf pair, harvested from either 15-day-old plants (young) or 43-day-old plants (old).
Reposted by Ben Long
jxbotany.bsky.social
🌱 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🌱

Jeran et al discuss the trafficking of plastid-targeted proteins, focusing on regulatory bottlenecks and mislocalization. PSBO, a PSII subunit, may link proplastid-to-chloroplast differentiation with plastid quality control 🔬

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 3.Chloroplast quality control and degradation pathways. Accumulation of damaged proteins within chloroplasts triggers the nuclear expression of cpUPR-related genes, encoding plastid-targeted chaperones and proteases, in an attempt to restore chloroplast proteostasis. However, the prolonged presence of faulty proteins and aggregates, exacerbated by ROS and other stressors, activates chloroplast-dismantling mechanisms. These include whole-chloroplast autophagosome-mediated degradation (chlorophagy), chloroplast vesiculation-mediated pathways (CV), or fission-type microautophagy, similar to those observed in mitochondria. Ubiquitin (light blue circles, Ub) and ATG8-dependent pathways (ATG8 purple circles; autophagosome depicted in blue) play crucial roles in marking chloroplasts for degradation. Ultimately, the accumulation of damaged chloroplasts within the cell leads to vacuole-mediated programmed cell death.
Reposted by Ben Long
drdemography.com
University governance is broken, and it’s breaking people.
 
University governance and associated regulatory structures assume the most powerful senior office holders will behave in accordance with the high standards benefiting their station.
Reposted by Ben Long
asps-oz.bsky.social
⏰ Final reminder: ASPS 2025 registration.
Early bird and abstract registration closing TODAY!

Register: bit.ly/4p25OJ0

#ASPS2025 #PlantScience
botbml.bsky.social
... and what a beautiful alarm clock to wake up to!
botbml.bsky.social
Good morning #straya
Photo of a kookaburra in a eucalyptus tree, siloetted by the morning light.
Reposted by Ben Long
kheyduk.bsky.social
Anna has some cool results from a pretty bonkers hybrid system - hit her up if you're looking for a speaker in your PAG workshop!
annapardo-phd.bsky.social
Are you organizing a talk session at PAG 33? I would love to speak about my postdoc work on the genomics of variable facultative CAM photosynthesis in a hybrid Yucca species! Possible workshop topics include: hybrid genomics, abiotic stress, non-model species. Please DM me if you're interested!
botbml.bsky.social
Straight to Nature
kheyduk.bsky.social
This is super cool!!
j2huss.bsky.social
One day in the lab, we accidentally discovered that the spines of a cactus 🌵 straighten when exposed to fog. I was intrigued and so were my collaborators. How does this work and what can be gained from it? Here are some of the answers in our new preprint:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Ben Long
elife.bsky.social
Inside a thylakoid membrane

The molecular architecture of the thylakoid membrane in a vascular plant has been determined with single-molecule precision.
buff.ly/U9TzrOh
Reposted by Ben Long
extremetemps.bsky.social
EAST ASIA HISTORIC HEAT
MINIMUMS
25.2 Jeju,25.1 Sogwipo
HOTTEST OCTOBER NIGHT IN KOREAS

Record High max:30.5 Wando

In CHINA Absolute madness
October Record High Minimums:
27.0 Shanghai
27.8 Hangzhou
28.9 Jinhua
28.5 Nanchang
27.2 Fuzhou
Shaoxing, Jiaxing,Ningde...
Reposted by Ben Long
selimlab.bsky.social
Plz re-post

A wonderful place to be...
Come and join us a group leader position in „Phage Biology & Biotechnology“.

www.fz-juelich.de/de/karriere/...
Get in touch with @frunzkelab.bsky.social for more information
Reposted by Ben Long
wa-orchids.bsky.social
After examining 10,494 herbarium specimens of the orchid genus Caladenia, new Australian research suggests there’s been a >60% decline in orchid pollination since 1977 with sexually deceptive orchid species more impacted

#orchids #ozflora #wildoz #pollination

www.abc.net.au/news/science...
One hundred years of Australian flower data reveals pollination drop
Researchers behind a new study examining thousands of flower specimens collected over the past century say temperature increases could be behind a pollination decline in native orchids.
www.abc.net.au
Reposted by Ben Long
jxbotany.bsky.social
📖 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 📖

In this review, Wang et al. describe the protease, chaperone-like, and substrate processing working modes of plant FtsH, and summarize the role of FtsH in organelle protein homeostasis 🔄 🌱

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Box 1. Key developments in understanding FtsH functions for organelle protein homeostasis in Arabidopsis The schematic illustration shows the primary and 3D structure of FtsH (A–C) and highlights recent advances in understanding the roles of plant FtsHs localized in chloroplasts (D, E, and H) and mitochondria (F and G). 
See paper for full description of Box 1.
Reposted by Ben Long
botbml.bsky.social
Wet commute on the Dirty Mongrel this morning
Photo of a gravel bike in an academic office. The bike has an Ass Saver for wet weather riding.
Reposted by Ben Long
thepallavisingh.bsky.social
**Please Repost**

Pallavi Singh Lab is looking for two Postdocs to join our team studying how plants balance carbon, water, and resilience in a changing climate.

PlantPlug PDRA: vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

REVOLUTION PDRA: vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

Deadline: October 15.
Reposted by Ben Long
drdemography.com
Just got home from three days at the @nteunion.bsky.social 2025 council conference. Together we are strong! Proud to be Union! Talk of governance dominated the conference. Grand things are coming. Watch this space. @nteuact.bsky.social 💪🏽✊🏽
Liz selfie in a lift. Wearing a proud to be union tee.