Joel Masanga
masangaj.bsky.social
Joel Masanga
@masangaj.bsky.social
Postdoc at Penn State. Interested in trait discovery in crop-parasite systems. "Non nobis solum nati sumus" ~Cicero
Reposted by Joel Masanga
Population genomic structure of sorghum landraces across landscape, environment and culture https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.02.686151v1
November 4, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Joel Masanga
Determining presence-absence variation (PAV) across reference genomes is a major goal of pangenome analysis. It turns out that A LOT of gene PAV is due to methodological artifacts.

We explore the causes of this in soybean and cotton datasets in our recent preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 18, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Our preprint on the interaction between root-exuded plant metabolites and fungal community assemblages under altered environments is now online.
Legacy of warming and microbial treatments shape root exudates and rhizosphere fungal communities of a tropical tree
Plant metabolites play a pivotal role in shaping rhizosphere microbial communities, yet how plant and microbial functions respond to environmental change remains poorly understood. We combined ecometa...
www.biorxiv.org
August 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Joel Masanga
Very happy to share our preprint on sorghum strigolactone diversity! 🌱

Sorghum naturally varies in strigolactones, plant hormones that can sometimes protect against the parasitic plant Striga.

We asked if this diversity could be connected to potential trade-offs in host resistance strategies.
Strigolactone effects on Sorghum bicolor ecophysiology and symbioses https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.07.669140v1
August 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Joel Masanga
Developing future resilience from signatures of adaptation across the sorghum pangenome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.01.667986v1
August 6, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Joel Masanga
🚨 We're looking for a #postdoc to join our team at the Center for Bioenergy Innovation at Oak Ridge National Labs, TN 🚨

Project: Advance poplar bioenergy by understanding adaptive trait/genomic variation — breeding/pop gen/bioinformatics

Apply by 18-Aug

Apply here: jobs.ornl.gov/job/Oak-Ridg...
Postdoctoral Research Associate - Plant Systems Biology & The Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI)
Postdoctoral Research Associate - Plant Systems Biology & The Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI)
jobs.ornl.gov
July 21, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Joel Masanga
Ancient pangenomic origins of noncanonical NLR genes underlying the recent evolutionary rescue of a staple crop https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.11.648396v1
April 12, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Reposted by Joel Masanga
Patrick Cramer, president of the German Max-Planck Society, tries to recruit top US scientists for his institution after anti-science campaign of new administration.

www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft...
(S+) Deutschland und Donald Trump: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft wirbt um US-Spitzenforscher
Ist Deutschland am Ende Nutznießer von Trumps Feldzug gegen die Wissenschaft? Die Max-Planck-Gesellschaft meldet viel mehr Bewerbungen aus den USA als früher. Präsident Patrick Cramer will dort geziel...
www.spiegel.de
February 8, 2025 at 10:15 PM