Marc Somssich
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somssich.bsky.social
Marc Somssich
@somssich.bsky.social
3.1K followers 660 following 2.5K posts
Trait Program Manager (Biotic Stress) @KWSGroup.bsky.social

Author @preLights.bsky.social
Editor @ThePlantCell.bsky.social

Web: https://linktr.ee/somssich

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Marc Somssich @somssich.bsky.social · Jun 6
𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 and 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞! 👋

Here's some content you might find interesting:

𝟏) My chapters of "𝐀 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞"
𝟐) My 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 threads
𝟑) My threads on 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬
𝟒) My Bluesky 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 & 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬
𝟓) Some info on 𝐌𝐲 𝐎𝐰𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡

See all compiled Below 👇🧵
Reposted by Marc Somssich
kwsgroup.bsky.social
Europe cannot afford to fall behind on innovation!
We join 25 EU agri-food organizations urging policymakers to conclude #NGTs trilogue talks now.
Science-based rules = resilient crops & global competitiveness. Act today! 🌱
euroseeds.eu/app/uploads/...
November 27, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
carolindelker.bsky.social
It was a pleasure to have you in our IRTG Scientific Training Lecture Series! It was a treat and really entertaining.
somssich.bsky.social Marc Somssich @somssich.bsky.social · 1d
Six months after leaving Academia, I am back giving a lecture on #PlantScience History as Guest Speaker of the @snp2prot.bsky.social Program @unihalle.bsky.social.

Thank you @carolindelker.bsky.social for inviting & hosting me.
It was a pleasure to talk about Arabidopsis History to the students. 🙂
Photo of a computer Screen showing the title slide of my presentation "A Short(ish) History of Plant Model Research" with the subtitle "120 Years of Arabidopsis Research". Above the slide, a small image of me, the host of the Seminar Series, Carolin Delker, and the official account of the SNP2Prot research consortium is visible.
November 26, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
snp2prot.bsky.social
Thanks @somssich.bsky.social for a truly fantastic lecture!
somssich.bsky.social Marc Somssich @somssich.bsky.social · 1d
Six months after leaving Academia, I am back giving a lecture on #PlantScience History as Guest Speaker of the @snp2prot.bsky.social Program @unihalle.bsky.social.

Thank you @carolindelker.bsky.social for inviting & hosting me.
It was a pleasure to talk about Arabidopsis History to the students. 🙂
Photo of a computer Screen showing the title slide of my presentation "A Short(ish) History of Plant Model Research" with the subtitle "120 Years of Arabidopsis Research". Above the slide, a small image of me, the host of the Seminar Series, Carolin Delker, and the official account of the SNP2Prot research consortium is visible.
November 26, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
steidele.bsky.social
New preprint of the "BarFus"-group @tum.de from the Chair of Phytopathology @huckelhovenr.bsky.social
biorxiv-plants.bsky.social bioRxiv Plant Bio @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 2d
Transcriptome and hormone regulations shape drought stress-dependent Fusarium Head Blight susceptibility in different barley genotypes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.23.689882v1
November 26, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
claudiavickers.bsky.social
Our new paper is out: we present a quantitative framework to assess how (bio)tech interventions in plant agriculture could meaningfully contribute to climate mitigation. This may be the most important paper I ever publish #SyntheticBiology #ClimateAction #Agriculture #Biochar doi.org/10.1093/plph...
Harnessing plant agriculture to mitigate climate change: A framework to evaluate synthetic biology (and other) interventions
The scale of plant agriculture can be used to mitigate climate change, and meaningful targets (synthetic biology and comparators) can be selected to increa
doi.org
November 27, 2025 at 5:16 AM
somssich.bsky.social
Six months after leaving Academia, I am back giving a lecture on #PlantScience History as Guest Speaker of the @snp2prot.bsky.social Program @unihalle.bsky.social.

Thank you @carolindelker.bsky.social for inviting & hosting me.
It was a pleasure to talk about Arabidopsis History to the students. 🙂
Photo of a computer Screen showing the title slide of my presentation "A Short(ish) History of Plant Model Research" with the subtitle "120 Years of Arabidopsis Research". Above the slide, a small image of me, the host of the Seminar Series, Carolin Delker, and the official account of the SNP2Prot research consortium is visible.
November 26, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
neil1808.bsky.social
When both sides of parliament work together, they can achieve a lot but it's not necessarily better than when they disagree.

Together the left-right coalition has managed to rid the country of #science.
#Auspol #CSIRO
somssich.bsky.social Marc Somssich @somssich.bsky.social · 2d
The dismantling of Science in #Australia continues...

I remember that hopes were high in 2022 that the new Labor Government would end the decade-long decline. We are now in the second #Albanese term, and things are worse than ever.

ABC News article: www.abc.net.au/news/science...

#PlantScience
A graph plotting the CSIRO funding as a percentage of GDP from 1978 to 2025. In 1980 it was around 0.17 %, since then it has sharply fallen to 0.03 %.
November 26, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
huckelhovenr.bsky.social
We deeply analyzed barley double stress responses and discovered this:
biorxiv-plants.bsky.social bioRxiv Plant Bio @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 2d
Transcriptome and hormone regulations shape drought stress-dependent Fusarium Head Blight susceptibility in different barley genotypes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.23.689882v1
November 26, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
annealiz1.bsky.social
CSIRO was responsible for so many wonderful plant science discoveries. This is so sad. When the pathogens win and we can’t grow enough food, these decisions will be viewed harshly
somssich.bsky.social Marc Somssich @somssich.bsky.social · 2d
The dismantling of Science in #Australia continues...

I remember that hopes were high in 2022 that the new Labor Government would end the decade-long decline. We are now in the second #Albanese term, and things are worse than ever.

ABC News article: www.abc.net.au/news/science...

#PlantScience
A graph plotting the CSIRO funding as a percentage of GDP from 1978 to 2025. In 1980 it was around 0.17 %, since then it has sharply fallen to 0.03 %.
November 25, 2025 at 10:31 AM
somssich.bsky.social
A new @newphyt.bsky.social Profile, this time on Roberto Solano:

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Interesting as always 👍

#PlantScience #PlantImmunity #Marchantia
November 25, 2025 at 10:35 AM
somssich.bsky.social
The dismantling of Science in #Australia continues...

I remember that hopes were high in 2022 that the new Labor Government would end the decade-long decline. We are now in the second #Albanese term, and things are worse than ever.

ABC News article: www.abc.net.au/news/science...

#PlantScience
A graph plotting the CSIRO funding as a percentage of GDP from 1978 to 2025. In 1980 it was around 0.17 %, since then it has sharply fallen to 0.03 %.
November 25, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
elife.bsky.social
We have an amazing opportunity for Early-Career Researchers to join our Board of Directors!

We're looking for someone with experience in leading #OpenScience projects to support and lead eLife in our mission to change research communication.

🔗 buff.ly/SZgtgVv
November 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
plantevolution.bsky.social
We (Nordborg & Weigel labs) need input on the next generation of genome browsers & data download modes for the #Arabidopsis #1001GenomesPlus project. We have now a curated collection of over 500 long read genomes.

Please help us by filling out this questionnaire: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Next generation of 1001 Genomes Plus browser and data download
Please indicate all features you would like to see in a browser that displays features of completely sequenced Arabidopsis thaliana genomes
docs.google.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
jxbotany.bsky.social
🪲 REVIEW 🪲

This review uncovers the critical role of the plant cell wall in pest defence, integrating structural, molecular, and genetic insights to highlight its emerging significance in plant–pest interactions during herbivory - Perez-Alonso et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.Schematic overview of pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) in plants upon pest infestation. Cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) secreted by herbivory disrupt cell wall integrity, releasing damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). The defence response is activated by the recognition of these DAMPs, as well as herbivore-associated molecular patterns (HAMPs), by pattern recognition receptor complexes (PRRs and co-PRRs). Elicitor binding to PRRs leads to a series of signalling events, such as membrane depolarization (Vm), activation of Ca2+ channels and influx of Ca2+ into the cytosol, burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS) via activation of RBOHD, membrane depolarization, and activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade. MAPK and Ca2+-dependent kinase (CDPK) cascades trigger transcriptional reprogramming, activating phytohormone (SA, JA, and ET) signalling, transcription regulatory factors, and synthesis of defensive compounds.
November 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
charlesmelnyk.bsky.social
“The ZAT14 family promotes cell death and regulates expansins to affect xylem formation and salt tolerance in Arabidopsis”. Now out in @theplantcell.bsky.social led by Ming Feng and colleagues. A 🌱 thread 👇 1/x
academic.oup.com/plcell/advan...
November 23, 2025 at 9:13 PM
somssich.bsky.social
More cool #Lignin and #PlantCellWall suff from @icesarino.bsky.social et al.
newphyt.bsky.social New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · 4d
#TansleyReview: Physiological roles of #lignins – tuning cell wall hygroscopy and #biomechanics

Pesquet, Cesarino, Kajita & Pawlowski
👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue
Fig. 1 Lignin accumulation in cell walls differentially covers the surface of polysaccharides and fills in the cell wall void spaces to dynamically adjust cell wall hygroscopic and mechanical properties.
November 23, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
rlberendsen.bsky.social
🎉 Check out the latest from Qin Gu’s team at Nanjing Agricultural University: “Keystone Pseudomonas species in the wheat phyllosphere” (Cell Host & Microbe) 👉 www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Keystone Pseudomonas species in the wheat phyllosphere microbiome mitigate Fusarium head blight by altering host pH
Fusarium graminearum (F. graminearum) pathogen induces wheat phyllosphere alkalinization, promoting the development of Fusarium head blight (FHB). Xu et al. show that host-acidifying Pseudomonas, sele...
www.cell.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
sashagusevposts.bsky.social
I wrote a little bit about the "missing heritability" question and several recent studies that have brought it to a close. A short 🧵
The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered
Not with a bang but with a whimper
theinfinitesimal.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
theplantcell.bsky.social
Convergence and constraint in glucosinolate evolution across the Brassicaceae (Amanda Agosto Ramos, Kevin A Bird, Annanya Jain, Gabriel Philip Sumo, Odinaka Okegbe, Lucy Holland, Daniel J Kliebenstein) doi.org/10.1093/plce... #PlantScience @aspbofficial
Convergence and constraint in glucosinolate evolution across the Brassicaceae
Studying a glucosinolate enzyme across the Brassicaceae shows evolution of plant specialized metabolism involves independent gene losses, distal duplicatio
doi.org
November 21, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
ekatrukha.bsky.social
Finally, the first public release of #BigVolumeBrowser, so after teasers, you can try it yourself. For details, please check the announcement post (1/2)
forum.image.sc/t/bigvolumeb...
BigVolumeBrowser: a new 3D multi volume/mesh/point clould (SMLM) data viewer
Hello everyone, I’d like to share with you another 3D viewer for FIJI, BigVolumeBrowser (full documentation link). It‘s a first initial public release, so there is still space for improvements. Le...
forum.image.sc
November 21, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
kenichitsuda.bsky.social
Finally published!
Our new study in Curr Biol @currentbiology.bsky.social analyzes how CYP707A1 promoter variation drives an evolutionary trade-off between stomatal defense and gas exchange across Brassicaceae species.
Free-access link:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1m7H93QW8S...
authors.elsevier.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
leibnizipk.bsky.social
A team led by @kit.edu and with significant participation from @leibnizipk.bsky.social has succeeded for the first time in specifically altering the chromosome number of Arabidopsis using CRISPR Cas - without adversely affecting plant growth.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
CRISPR-Cas–mediated heritable chromosome fusions in Arabidopsis
The genome of Arabidopsis thaliana consists of 10 chromosomes. By inducing CRISPR-Cas–mediated breaks at subcentromeric and subtelomeric sequences, we fused entire chromosome arms, obtaining two eight...
www.science.org
November 21, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
hendersi.bsky.social
CRISPR-Cas–mediated heritable chromosome fusions in Arabidopsis | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Very nice work from Holger Puchta & colleagues
CRISPR-Cas–mediated heritable chromosome fusions in Arabidopsis
The genome of Arabidopsis thaliana consists of 10 chromosomes. By inducing CRISPR-Cas–mediated breaks at subcentromeric and subtelomeric sequences, we fused entire chromosome arms, obtaining two eight...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 8:47 PM
somssich.bsky.social
I highly recommend the #MBP2026 #PlantScience Meeting in Hennef, especially if you're an ECR or #NewPI trying to connect to the German Plant Science Community.

It's interactive, fun and relaxed.

Unfortunately, I won't be there this year, but I'll be back in 2027 👍
plantsciencedbg.bsky.social German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social · 7d
👀 Early Career Researchers in #PlantSci:

There are only 4 days left ... if you want to join

Molecular Biology of Plants (#MBP2026) Conference in Hennef, Germany

Registration + abstract submission end on
🗓️ 23rd November 2025

www.pflanzen-molekularbiologie.de/en/conferenc...
The logo of the conference symbolises a plant cell, plant leaves, plant cell's organelles, and a bug. It also offers the details of the 39th Conference Molecular Biology of Plants (#MBP2026) taking place from 16th to 19th March 2026 in Hennef, Germany
November 20, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
huckelhovenr.bsky.social
TUM Offers a professorship in Crop Production. Geat opportunity!
portal.mytum.de/jobs/profess...
TUM - Professor in » Crop Production «
Studierenden- und Mitarbeiterportal der Technische Universität München
portal.mytum.de
November 20, 2025 at 3:49 PM