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Paszkowski Lab @paszkowskilab.bsky.social · 9d

It's been a busy time in the Paszkowski lab!

First, a pre-print on how rice distinguishes friend (AM fungi)🍄 from foe (pathogens)👾: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

And second, a review on single-cell omic approaches to understand the spatially and temporally complex AM symbiosis 🔬: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

Defining the pre-symbiotic transcriptional landscape of rice roots

Plants interact with a plethora of organisms in the rhizosphere, with outcomes that range from detrimental to beneficial. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is the most ubiquitous beneficial plant ...

doi.org

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Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge @camplantsci.bsky.social · 6d

Job opportunity!

We are recruiting got a Horticultural Technician:
- Crop Science Centre
- Fixed term
- Closes on Friday 31 October

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/horticu...

#plantscijobs #plantsciences

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Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge @camplantsci.bsky.social · 5d

Celebrating 200 years since John Stevens Henslow became Professor of Botany at Cambridge.

It's almost 200 years to the day since Henslow took an oath before the Vice Chancellor as 'King's Reader in Botany' on 10 October 1825.

Find out more about his legacy: tinyurl.com/4stzwhz9

@cam.ac.uk

Geological map of Anglesey from J.S. Henslow's 1822 article Geological Description of Anglesea. Credit: Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Henslow's botanical drawings. Credit: University of Cambridge.

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Engineering Biology Interdisciplinary Research Centre @engbioirc.bsky.social · 2d

A week to go... #EngBio ECRs Meetup returns on 20 Oct. Join us to hear great talks from Konstantina Beritza and
Caroline Faessler 🌱 Don't miss it!
@camplantsci.bsky.social

Sign up here👉 www.tickettailor.com/events/engin...

#plantsciences #marinemicroalga #Nicotianabenthamiana

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CRASSH @crasshlive.bsky.social · 6d

🌱 Join us for the first event by the 'Decolonising Plant Knowledge' research network on 15 October

This interdisciplinary seminar series explores aspects of Rau as a crucible of creative epistemic frictions between botanical narratives and colonised plant worlds

2-5pm, Pembroke College, CB2 1RF

Decolonising Plant Knowledge Term Card.
15 October, Decolonising Plant Knowledge: Thinking around ‘Rau’.
22 October, Plant knowledge in plantation economies.
12 November, Reclaiming indigenous history from Amazonian soil and palaeobotany.
19 November, Toxicity, plant animacy and blurred categories.

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Gesa Hoffmann @gesahoffmann.bsky.social · 5d

It was wonderful to have Bijun with us @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social & @incavirus.bsky.social to finally "use our microscope to its full potential" as our core-facility put it! 🔬

Congrats to all, esp. @bijuntang.bsky.social and @xanderjones.bsky.social ! Super happy to be a part of this great story!

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Marco Incarbone @incavirus.bsky.social · 5d

Thrilled to see this out! SalicS is a beautiful new tool to monitor salicylic acid activation live in plants.

Kudos to @xanderjones.bsky.social and @bijuntang.bsky.social for spearheading this work and to @gesahoffmann.bsky.social at @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social for using SalicS in viral infections🌱

Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 5d

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...

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 5d

SalicS1 may also have implications for human health. SA is the natural compound behind aspirin, one of the world’s most widely used medicines, and the team says their biosensor variant that also detects aspirin could be adapted to study aspirin metabolism in human cells.

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 5d

The ability to measure SA reversibly and without damaging plant tissues opens up exciting opportunities to address long-standing questions in plant biology, particularly how plants deploy SA in response to both pathogenic threats and environmental stressors.

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 5d

SalicS1 visualised surges of SA accumulation spreading from the site of pathogen invasion. First author @bijuntang.bsky.social said: “With SalicS1 we can watch SA as it rises and falls in real time, inside living tissues, and even track how it spreads from cell-to-cell during infection.”

Arabidopsis thaliana leaf under mock (left) versus infection (right) 20 hours after infection: The right leaf shows salcylic acid (SA) accumulation spreading from the site of pathogen invasion. Images by Bijun Tang.

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 5d

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...

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Zoe Nahas @zoenahas.bsky.social · 19d

Check out the link below for a summary of our recent paper on how plants coordinate their branching architecture, via @slcuplants.bsky.social 🌱

Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 26d

🌱From Bud to Branch🌱
New model reveals how local & systemic signals combine to regulate shoot branching.
"...by modulating #auxin transport, local #BRC1 expression in each bud could contribute to the systemic control of branching." @zoenahas.bsky.social
🔗 dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
@plosbiology.org

Axillary buds are located at the base of each leaf. Initially dormant, each can grow into a branch. To study how branching is regulated by local signalling within each bud and by systemic signalling from other buds, we used stem sections with two axillary buds and their associated leaves (left). This signalling network influences, for example, whether one bud grows and rapidly inhibits the other (middle), or whether both buds grow simultaneously (right).

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Xander Jones @xanderjones.bsky.social · 12d

Only a few days left to apply!

My group is looking for a postdoc to engineer and deploy new tools to precisely manipulate and decode how auxin coordinates plant morphogenesis.

@starmorph-syg.bsky.social

Research Associate - Reprogramming Development (closes 7 October 2025)

www.cam.ac.uk

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Sebastian Schornack @dromius.bsky.social · 14d

Job Advert - Russell R. Geiger Professorship of Crop Science @camplantsci.bsky.social @cropscicentre.bsky.social www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/russell...

Russell R. Geiger Professorship of Crop Science

The Board of Electors to the Russell R. Geiger Professorship of Crop Science invite applications for this Professorship from persons whose work falls within the general field of the Professorship to

www.cam.ac.uk

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School of Biological Sciences @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social · 20d

Unlock your potential with a Master's at the University of Cambridge! 🔬 Our MPhil in Biological Sciences offers a unique opportunity for cutting-edge, lab-based research at a world-leading institution.

Explore and apply: www.mphil.bio.cam.ac.uk

#Cambridge #BiologicalSciences #Postgraduate

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Cambridge Philosophical Society @camphilsoc.bsky.social · 22d

The next Research Café: Science Communication will take place on 30th September 2025 @ 11:30am-2:30pm at @West Hub, Cambridge.

We have limited places, sign up here!

For details and to sign-up:
www.tickettailor.com/events/thewe...

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Alex Webb Lab @alexwebblab.bsky.social · 14d

@camplantsci.bsky.social here in Cambridge is wonderful place to work. Great colleagues. Some very good science and a vibrant city. If you are a world-leading crop scientist wanting to lead a thriving centre, we would like you to join us
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/russell...

Russell R. Geiger Professorship of Crop Science

The Board of Electors to the Russell R. Geiger Professorship of Crop Science invite applications for this Professorship from persons whose work falls within the general field of the Professorship to

www.cam.ac.uk

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Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge @camplantsci.bsky.social · 13d

From space science to dinner plates: the future of farming indoors - on the new paper from an international team reimaging the way we grow food into the future.

Read more at: tinyurl.com/3edf6b93

@aligill.bsky.social @alexwebblab.bsky.social @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social

Dr Alison Gill from the University of Adelaide looks over a crop grown in a controlled environment. Photo credit: Lieke Van Der Hulst.

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Zoe Nahas @zoenahas.bsky.social · 19d

Happy to share slightly late that the main work of my PhD is now published! How do plants regulate the number + location of growing branches 🌳🌲? We used experiments and mathematical modelling to study how local and systemic signals are integrated during shoot branching regulation. A thread:

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 28d

How do #plants dynamically modulate their shoot branching for optimal returns? ‪@zoenahas.bsky.social‬ &co show that BRC1 modulates bud competitiveness by reducing #auxin efflux, integrating hormonal cues to fine-tune branching patterns @plosbiology.org @slcuplants.bsky.social 🧪 plos.io/4pnrwY2

2-node explants capture key properties of bud regulation. Top left: A stem segment with two axillary buds illustrates two regulatory hubs controlling shoot branching (i) local expression of the transcription factor BRC1, a repressor of bud activation, and (ii) systemic regulation of the auxin transport network. A canalization-based model of shoot branching postulates that bud activation requires the establishment of canalized auxin transport from the bud into the main stem, the dynamics of which is influenced by autocatalytic feedback in auxin flow between the bud and the stem, and the relative auxin source and sink strengths of the bud and stem, respectively. The relationship between BRC1- and auxin-transport-mediated regulation is not known. Bottom left: Arabidopsis bud activation occurs in at least two phases: a slow-growing lag phase, then a switch to rapid outgrowth. Typical timescale 10–12 days. Right: Diagram illustrating the four possible growth outcomes for bud activation on 2-node explants, and their representation in a Mitchison plot. Mitchison plots present the length of the top bud versus that of the bottom bud over time in each explant. Explants where at least one bud grows are termed active, otherwise, they are inactive. Within active explants, there are three possible outcomes: both buds grow, or only either the top or the bottom bud activates.

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Nick Desnoyer @nickdesnoyer.bsky.social · Sep 12

Friday Flower 004: Hibiscus trionum 🌺✨

Hibiscus trionum displays a dark bullseye in the center that acts as a landing pad for pollinators 🎯

The bullseye is made by a developmental boundary delineating distinct cell shapes and pigments.

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 26d

“Plants have extraordinary flexibility in their growth, and branching is a key part of this adaptability. The unified model we have developed will help us to understand how plants integrate multiple sources of information to determine where to invest in growth.” -Ottoline Leyser

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 26d

The model not only predicted outcomes under various genetic and hormonal conditions, but also incorporated new data on a previously unknown region of the #PIN1 auxin transporter that mediates its response to #strigolactone, offering fresh molecular insight into hormonal control of bud growth."

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 26d

“This work brings together experiments and modelling to show how local and systemic signals can interact to control bud growth. What’s striking is that such a simple model can capture the range of branching behaviours we see experimentally.” -James Locke

Fig 3. Branching behaviors of 2-node explants can be captured by a model with self-activating and mutually-inhibiting buds.
(A) and (B) Model conceptualization and mathematical formulation. The interaction between two buds in a 2-node explant can be considered as a set of self-activating and mutually-inhibiting feedbacks on auxin efflux. Each bud promotes its own auxin efflux and inhibits efflux from the other bud. The auxin efflux E and F from the top and bottom bud, respectively, is influenced by three components (i) a basal rate of auxin efflux v0, (ii) a Hill function which creates a positive feedback on auxin efflux, where v sets the maximum rate of auxin efflux, S the strength of auxin efflux, K the Hill saturation coefficient, n the degree of non-linearity of the Hill function, D the strength of the mutual inhibition between the auxin efflux of the two buds, and (iii) a linear decrease in auxin efflux, the strength of which is set by µ. E and F influence bud lengths N and M, respectively. The relationship between auxin efflux and growth rate is a Hill function, where m influences the degree of nonlinearity, and Q is the saturation coefficient. (C) Steady state growth rate as a function of the steady state of auxin efflux, for different values of Q and m. Three grey vertical lines mark three steady states of auxin efflux at 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75. (D) and (E) Three stochastic simulations illustrating the model behaviors. Each set of simulations is represented with a different color. (F) Deterministic simulation showing the change in auxin efflux E over time for 5 different values of v0: 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, and 0.09. Scripts of simulations underlying this figure can be found at https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.120831.

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 26d

Scientists from @slcuplants.bsky.social combined experiments & modelling to demonstrate how local signals in plant buds link up with whole-plant hormone flows to control branching.
Research summary
www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/bud-to-...

(A) A stem segment with two axillary buds illustrates two regulatory hubs controlling shoot branching (i) local expression of the transcription factor BRC1, a repressor of bud activation, and (ii) systemic regulation of the auxin transport network. A canalization-based model of shoot branching postulates that bud activation requires the establishment of canalized auxin transport from the bud into the main stem, the dynamics of which is influenced by autocatalytic feedback in auxin flow between the bud and the stem, and the relative auxin source and sink strengths of the bud and stem, respectively. The relationship between BRC1- and auxin-transport-mediated regulation is not known. (B) Arabidopsis bud activation occurs in at least two phases: a slow-growing lag phase, then a switch to rapid outgrowth. Typical timescale 10–12 days. Modified from Nahas and colleagues [46]. (C) Diagram illustrating the four possible growth outcomes for bud activation on 2-node explants, and their representation in a Mitchison plot. Mitchison plots present the length of the top bud versus that of the bottom bud over time in each explant. Explants where at least one bud grows are termed active, otherwise, they are inactive. Within active explants, there are three possible outcomes: both buds grow, or only either the top or the bottom bud activates. All graphics were drawn by hand using Adobe Illustrator by Zoe Nahas.

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 26d

🌱From Bud to Branch🌱
New model reveals how local & systemic signals combine to regulate shoot branching.
"...by modulating #auxin transport, local #BRC1 expression in each bud could contribute to the systemic control of branching." @zoenahas.bsky.social
🔗 dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
@plosbiology.org

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