Delyan Zafirov
@delyan.bsky.social
Exploring translation control in plant stem cells @COS Heidelberg / Previously: chloroplast signaling @CNRS & plant virology @INRAE 🌱
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
🌱 SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORIAL 🌱
🔬 Plasmodesmata (PD) are membrane-lined channels in cell walls 🔬
In this editorial, Brunkard & Burch-Smith shift focus from "which molecules move through PD?" to "which molecules are *prevented* from moving through PD?" 🔎
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
🔬 Plasmodesmata (PD) are membrane-lined channels in cell walls 🔬
In this editorial, Brunkard & Burch-Smith shift focus from "which molecules move through PD?" to "which molecules are *prevented* from moving through PD?" 🔎
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
January 29, 2026 at 8:00 AM
🌱 SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORIAL 🌱
🔬 Plasmodesmata (PD) are membrane-lined channels in cell walls 🔬
In this editorial, Brunkard & Burch-Smith shift focus from "which molecules move through PD?" to "which molecules are *prevented* from moving through PD?" 🔎
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
🔬 Plasmodesmata (PD) are membrane-lined channels in cell walls 🔬
In this editorial, Brunkard & Burch-Smith shift focus from "which molecules move through PD?" to "which molecules are *prevented* from moving through PD?" 🔎
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Root growth in Arabidopsis depends on the amount of glutathione and not the glutathione redox potential academic.oup.com/jxb/article-... @jxbotany.bsky.social
Root growth in Arabidopsis depends on the amount of glutathione and not the glutathione redox potential
Abstract. Activity of the root apical meristem and hence plant growth strictly depends on glutathione homeostasis. Despite compelling evidence for this dep
academic.oup.com
January 17, 2026 at 12:12 AM
Root growth in Arabidopsis depends on the amount of glutathione and not the glutathione redox potential academic.oup.com/jxb/article-... @jxbotany.bsky.social
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Happy to share that our improved preprint
Functional Characterization of Target of Rapamycin (TOR) Signalling in Physcomitrella
has been accepted for publication. Stay tuned.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Functional Characterization of Target of Rapamycin (TOR) Signalling in Physcomitrella
has been accepted for publication. Stay tuned.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Functional Characterization of Target of Rapamycin (TOR) Signalling in Physcomitrella
Target of rapamycin (TOR) is a conserved protein kinase and an important signalling hub in eukaryotes. The moss Physcomitrella ( Physcomitrium patens ) is a model organism for plant physiology, develo...
www.biorxiv.org
January 9, 2026 at 9:22 AM
Happy to share that our improved preprint
Functional Characterization of Target of Rapamycin (TOR) Signalling in Physcomitrella
has been accepted for publication. Stay tuned.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Functional Characterization of Target of Rapamycin (TOR) Signalling in Physcomitrella
has been accepted for publication. Stay tuned.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
mRNA methylation at the crossroads of translation, transport, and decay in plant development and stress responses
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
mRNA methylation at the crossroads of translation, transport, and decay in plant development and stress responses
Modified nucleotides on RNAs have been investigated for over six decades for their potential role in regulating gene expression and protein synthesis …
www.sciencedirect.com
January 9, 2026 at 6:36 AM
mRNA methylation at the crossroads of translation, transport, and decay in plant development and stress responses
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Indeed a great story illustrating how the plant TOR kinase can control the balance between growth and defense against pathogens !
Great story of joing efford leaded by Fucheng Lin and Yan Liang (Hangzhou, China) and collabs include me :)) published in Molecular Plant. New actors in the TOR pathway, uncovered a phosphorylation circuit where pathogen recognition activates the a kinase LORE, a phosphatase LOPP to inactivate TOR.
December 27, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Indeed a great story illustrating how the plant TOR kinase can control the balance between growth and defense against pathogens !
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Excited to share our work about autophagy and raffinose. So proud of Sahar Magen for doing a great job and grateful for all the people who helped bring this work to light.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Raffinose induces autophagy to promote the growth of Arabidopsis Thaliana - BMC Plant Biology
Background Plant growth depends on the integration of environmental signals and nutrient availability. Under stress conditions, growth is often attenuated to prioritise defense, creating a trade-off b...
link.springer.com
December 18, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Excited to share our work about autophagy and raffinose. So proud of Sahar Magen for doing a great job and grateful for all the people who helped bring this work to light.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Great preprint by Liu, Blanford et al. (2025) on how trehalose 6-phosphate #T6P stimulates plant cell growth via #PlantTOR and is required for sucrose-induced TOR activation in #Arabidopsis by suppressing #SnRK1 in a dose-dependent manner, thereby mediating the antagonistic TOR–SnRK1 relationship.
December 16, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Great preprint by Liu, Blanford et al. (2025) on how trehalose 6-phosphate #T6P stimulates plant cell growth via #PlantTOR and is required for sucrose-induced TOR activation in #Arabidopsis by suppressing #SnRK1 in a dose-dependent manner, thereby mediating the antagonistic TOR–SnRK1 relationship.
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Timing of transcription controls the selective translation of newly synthesized mRNAs during acute environmental stress
Timing of transcription controls the selective translation of newly synthesized mRNAs during acute environmental stress
Under stress, cells adapt their gene expression programs through changes in transcription and translation. It is unclear how cells determine which mRNAs are translated or repressed. Zedan et al. show that the timing of mRNA production alone determines the selectivity of translation, thereby coupling the processes of transcription and translation.
dlvr.it
December 7, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Timing of transcription controls the selective translation of newly synthesized mRNAs during acute environmental stress
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Preprint alert! It is my great pleasure to announce the first manuscript from the lab, a story that started @gmivienna.bsky.social and was mainly accomplished by the intrepid @gesahoffmann.bsky.social at @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social. A brief thread with our findings
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
AGO5 restricts virus vertical transmission in plant gametophytes
The propagation of a viral infection from a host parent to its progeny is known as vertical transmission, or seed transmission in plants. It allows viral infections to rapidly spread locally via polle...
www.biorxiv.org
December 2, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Preprint alert! It is my great pleasure to announce the first manuscript from the lab, a story that started @gmivienna.bsky.social and was mainly accomplished by the intrepid @gesahoffmann.bsky.social at @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social. A brief thread with our findings
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
A synthetic transcription cascade enables direct in planta shoot regeneration for transgenesis and gene editing in multiple plants #resource #MolecularPlant cell.com/molecular-pl...
November 15, 2025 at 12:50 PM
A synthetic transcription cascade enables direct in planta shoot regeneration for transgenesis and gene editing in multiple plants #resource #MolecularPlant cell.com/molecular-pl...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Such a cool pre-print on making sentinel plants - so much potential!
Bioluminescent sentinel plants enable autonomous diagnostics of viral infections
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Bioluminescent sentinel plants enable autonomous diagnostics of viral infections
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Bioluminescent sentinel plants enable autonomous diagnostics of viral infections
Plants engineered with synthetic genetic programs can transform how we monitor and manage the extension of crop pests and diseases. Here, we establish a bioluminescent platform in Nicotiana benthamian...
www.biorxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Such a cool pre-print on making sentinel plants - so much potential!
Bioluminescent sentinel plants enable autonomous diagnostics of viral infections
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Bioluminescent sentinel plants enable autonomous diagnostics of viral infections
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
An important connection with the plant TOR signalling pathway!
IRE1 Regulates TOR Signaling via RIDD of RAPTOR1b to Coordinate Growth and Stress Adaptation www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
IRE1 Regulates TOR Signaling via RIDD of RAPTOR1b to Coordinate Growth and Stress Adaptation
Plant growth and stress resilience depend on integrating diverse signals into coordinated cellular responses. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress sensor IRE1 maintains ER homeostasis and modulates T...
www.biorxiv.org
November 1, 2025 at 9:10 AM
An important connection with the plant TOR signalling pathway!
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
In vivo RNA structure influences the translation and stability of plant long noncoding RNAs #research #PlantCommunications cell.com/plant-commun...
October 28, 2025 at 9:35 AM
In vivo RNA structure influences the translation and stability of plant long noncoding RNAs #research #PlantCommunications cell.com/plant-commun...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Out First Release in @science.org this week:
The development of a directed evolution strategy with proof of concept in plant immune protein engineering.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The development of a directed evolution strategy with proof of concept in plant immune protein engineering.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Engineered geminivirus replicons enable rapid in planta directed evolution
Directed evolution can rapidly generate genetic variants with new and enhanced properties, yet efficient platforms for performing such evolution directly in plant cells have been lacking. We developed...
www.science.org
October 7, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Out First Release in @science.org this week:
The development of a directed evolution strategy with proof of concept in plant immune protein engineering.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The development of a directed evolution strategy with proof of concept in plant immune protein engineering.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
FRET sensor for SA developed. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
SALICYLIC ACID SENSOR1 reveals the propagation of an SA hormone surge during plant pathogen advance
Salicylic acid (SA) is a key phytohormone that orchestrates immune responses against pathogens, including Pseudomonas syringae bacteria. The timing and extent of SA accumulation are tightly controlled...
www.science.org
October 9, 2025 at 9:11 PM
FRET sensor for SA developed. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
✨ Paper spotlight ✨
(🧵 1/8) Could photoperiodic responses have evolved prior to the emergence of circadian clocks?
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
(🧵 1/8) Could photoperiodic responses have evolved prior to the emergence of circadian clocks?
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
October 6, 2025 at 10:01 AM
✨ Paper spotlight ✨
(🧵 1/8) Could photoperiodic responses have evolved prior to the emergence of circadian clocks?
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
(🧵 1/8) Could photoperiodic responses have evolved prior to the emergence of circadian clocks?
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
And now for something completely different in co-translational targeting: Molecular Cell www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
And now for something completely different in co-translational targeting
In two recent papers in Cell, Zhu et al. and Luo et al. use selective ribosome profiling
to identify the substrates and timing of co-translational protein targeting to mitochondria.
The results sugges...
www.cell.com
October 6, 2025 at 4:41 AM
And now for something completely different in co-translational targeting: Molecular Cell www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Happy to share our review on the Interplay between RNA-protein interactions and RNA structures. The open access article can be accessed here: doi.org/10.1002/2211...
FEBS Press
Methodological advances in mapping transcriptome-wide RNA-protein interactions and RNA structures have started to uncover the potential of RNP conformations in gene regulation. Competing RNA–RNA, RNA...
doi.org
September 12, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Happy to share our review on the Interplay between RNA-protein interactions and RNA structures. The open access article can be accessed here: doi.org/10.1002/2211...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
RNA-binding proteins orchestrating immunity in plants onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
RNA‐binding proteins orchestrating immunity in plants
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play a central role in plant immunity by controlling the form, function and fate of RNA and are directly targeted by pathogens to promote susceptibility. This review exami...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 16, 2025 at 9:17 AM
RNA-binding proteins orchestrating immunity in plants onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Look at this crazy thing!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature
In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Look at this crazy thing!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
Restricted edition of ALS is required during co-edition in order to maintain normal tomato development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.27.672575v1
August 30, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Restricted edition of ALS is required during co-edition in order to maintain normal tomato development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.27.672575v1
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
"Large-scale single-cell profiling of stem cells identifies redundant regulators of shoot development and yield trait variation"
From: www.cell.com/developmenta...
#PlantScience
From: www.cell.com/developmenta...
#PlantScience
Large-scale single-cell profiling of stem cells identifies redundant regulators of shoot development and yield trait variation
Xu et al. performed large-scale single-cell RNA-seq of maize and Arabidopsis shoot
stem cells, identifying conserved regulators and candidate stem cell genes through
mutant analysis. They linked stem ...
www.cell.com
August 29, 2025 at 10:11 PM
"Large-scale single-cell profiling of stem cells identifies redundant regulators of shoot development and yield trait variation"
From: www.cell.com/developmenta...
#PlantScience
From: www.cell.com/developmenta...
#PlantScience
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
My lab's very first manuscripts are out!!!!
- We identified nearly 60 conserved RNA structures in plastids #chloroplast #RNA
- We found that transcriptional response to warm temperatures in whole seedling is confounded by response at organ level #thermomorphogenesis
Link to both preprints below
- We identified nearly 60 conserved RNA structures in plastids #chloroplast #RNA
- We found that transcriptional response to warm temperatures in whole seedling is confounded by response at organ level #thermomorphogenesis
Link to both preprints below
August 25, 2025 at 7:09 AM
My lab's very first manuscripts are out!!!!
- We identified nearly 60 conserved RNA structures in plastids #chloroplast #RNA
- We found that transcriptional response to warm temperatures in whole seedling is confounded by response at organ level #thermomorphogenesis
Link to both preprints below
- We identified nearly 60 conserved RNA structures in plastids #chloroplast #RNA
- We found that transcriptional response to warm temperatures in whole seedling is confounded by response at organ level #thermomorphogenesis
Link to both preprints below
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
New OA Article: "Assembly-dependent translational feedback regulation of photosynthetic proteins in land plants" rdcu.be/eBbQ6
Algae fine-tune protein synthesis to assembly demands of photosynthetic complexes. In land plants, this feedback control varies or is absent.
Algae fine-tune protein synthesis to assembly demands of photosynthetic complexes. In land plants, this feedback control varies or is absent.
August 18, 2025 at 10:54 AM
New OA Article: "Assembly-dependent translational feedback regulation of photosynthetic proteins in land plants" rdcu.be/eBbQ6
Algae fine-tune protein synthesis to assembly demands of photosynthetic complexes. In land plants, this feedback control varies or is absent.
Algae fine-tune protein synthesis to assembly demands of photosynthetic complexes. In land plants, this feedback control varies or is absent.
Reposted by Delyan Zafirov
We’re looking for curious, innovative science leaders at EMBL Heidelberg! 🔬🧬🦠
Join a vibrant, interdisciplinary community where collaboration and innovation are nurtured at all levels.
Take a look at these four open positions 👇
Join a vibrant, interdisciplinary community where collaboration and innovation are nurtured at all levels.
Take a look at these four open positions 👇
August 7, 2025 at 8:28 AM
We’re looking for curious, innovative science leaders at EMBL Heidelberg! 🔬🧬🦠
Join a vibrant, interdisciplinary community where collaboration and innovation are nurtured at all levels.
Take a look at these four open positions 👇
Join a vibrant, interdisciplinary community where collaboration and innovation are nurtured at all levels.
Take a look at these four open positions 👇