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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
apmahonen.bsky.social
By combining molecular genetics with cell-ablation experiments, we found that vascular cambium stem cells and xylem-identity cells form an interchangeable unit, a stem cell niche. Meticulous work by @xixizhang9001.bsky.social, Ondrej Smetana, Jing Zhang & Xiaoyu Wang 1/x www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Auxin transport positions stem cells in the vascular cambium during normal development and regeneration | PNAS
The vascular cambium contains bifacial stem cells producing secondary phloem in one and secondary xylem to the opposite direction. In Arabidopsis r...
www.pnas.org
November 14, 2025 at 9:30 AM
somssich.bsky.social
This week we welcomed @galofir.bsky.social from @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social at @kwsgroup.bsky.social for our #PlantScience R&D Lecture.
It was a pleasure to finally meet, learn about his #PlantImmunity & #ImmunoGenomics work to uncover evolutionary conserved defense mechanisms, & talk plant science. 👍🤓
Gal Ofir at the KWS Headquarters. He is standing in front of a large world map, which shows KWS' Research Centres and Stations. Behind him, below the map, are four silos containing sugar beet seeds in different stages of processing, from raw, to cleaned, processed and final product. It is visible that the volume filles get's smaller and smaller and with each processing step.
November 14, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
thesainsburylab.bsky.social
Today is a big day as the Precision Breeding Act comes into force 🌱

@kamounlab.bsky.social: “This is a milestone for UK science and innovation. We now have the regulatory framework to translate discovery into impact — improving crops, strengthening food security, and benefiting society” 🌿
Photo of tomatoes and plants with text reading "Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 comes into force today"
November 13, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
botbml.bsky.social
#straya

Bin Chicken: targeted metagenomic coassembly for the efficient recovery of novel genomes.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bin Chicken: targeted metagenomic coassembly for the efficient recovery of novel genomes - Nature Methods
By developing a strategy of metagenomic coassembly and prioritizing divergent marker gene sequences, Bin Chicken efficiently recovers more than 77,000 microbial genomes with high novel diversity, ther...
www.nature.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
vitorfalavigna.bsky.social
Honoured to have participated in this amazing story uncovering novel #florigen roles in #Arabidopsis Congrats to @HeGao @NaDing and collaborators!!
Check it out @nature.com
🌱 🌸 🧬 🔬

#bZIP #proteinphosphorylation @mpipz.bsky.social
rdcu.be/ePPjS
Florigen activation complex forms via multifaceted assembly in Arabidopsis
Nature - In flowering plants, DNA–FD–14-3-3 recruits FT to the florigen activation complex both through DNA–FT interactions and by reducing liquid phase condensation of FD...
rdcu.be
November 14, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
grandpahiro.bsky.social
@mpipz.bsky.social Scientists uncover new roles for the florigen protein in flowering www.mpipz.mpg.de/pr-coupland-...
Scientists uncover new roles for the florigen protein in flowering
www.mpipz.mpg.de
November 13, 2025 at 1:41 PM
somssich.bsky.social
"The expanding world of plant NLR pairs"

Cheng-Wei Sang, Yan-Mei Zhang, Sai-Xi Li, Jian-Qun Chen, and Zhu-Qing Shao in @cp-trendsplantsci.bsky.social.

#PlantScience #PlantImmunity

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The expanding world of plant NLR pairs
Three recent studies, by Zhu et al.,Klymiuk et al., and Hu et al., identified paired nucleotide-binding site–leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) in w…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
pauformosa.bsky.social
Check out our story in @plosbiology.org about how a nonrandom, clustered giant cell pattern forms in the sepal and leaf epidermis! It has been a great journey with @gweissbart.bsky.social, Frances Clark, Xihang Wang, @roederlab.bsky.social and co-authors.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
A common pathway controls cell size in the sepal and leaf epidermis leading to a nonrandom pattern of giant cells
Arabidopsis leaf epidermal cells have a wide range of sizes and ploidies, but the mechanisms patterning their size and spatial distribution remain unclear. This study shows that the pathway controllin...
journals.plos.org
November 12, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
rstam.bsky.social
Two really cool PhD positions available with Christina Barragan on Plant Pathogen evolution!

Our dept. just moved to a brand new building with great facilities and we have an absolutely amazing team!
cbarragan.bsky.social Cristina Barragan @cbarragan.bsky.social · 12d
My new Emmy Noether Group is recruiting!

🔬 Two PhD positions in plant pathogen evolution

🧬 Start: April 2026 (flexible)

📍 Dept. of Phytopathology & Plant Protection @rstam.bsky.social @uni-kiel.de

⏰ Apply by 15 Dec 2025

🔗 More info: www.uni-kiel.de/personal/de/...

Do get in touch or share 😊
Aktuelle Ausschreibungen
Aktuelle Ausschreibungen
www.uni-kiel.de
November 11, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
kaspervangelderen.bsky.social
The new lab website is online 🤩🥰
www.photobodies.com
Please have a look 😊

So new and shiny, much info!
Thanks Freddy for your contribution :)
Main Page | Photobodies
The homepage for the Light Signaling and Cell Biology lab of Dr. Kasper van Gelderen.
www.photobodies.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
brittanytrang.com
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
matthewcobb.bsky.social
If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.
November 8, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
volcanologist.bsky.social
The Double Helix shenanigans are getting a lot of discussion following Watson's death. This article is DJing the rounds. It's a really interesting read. But I'm interested in people's take on it.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
botbml.bsky.social
Lottery before peer review is associated with increased female representation and reduced estimated economic cost in a German funding line | Nature Communications share.google/Ygkz9JGBF06d...
Lottery before peer review is associated with increased female representation and reduced estimated economic cost in a German funding line - Nature Communications
The authors show evidence from a German funding line that a lottery-first approach followed by peer review is accompanied by increased female representation both at the submission stage and among fund...
share.google
November 8, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
raphmercier.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Latest from the lab. The conclusion is in the title!
Basically, we found that the KMN complex (outer kinetochore) is fully conserved between plants and fungi/animals, showing deep origin. (reminder, you are closer to a mushroom than a mushroom is to a plant.)
The composition and structure of the outer kinetochore KMN complex is conserved across kingdoms - Communications Biology
Affinity purification in Arabidopsis identified all key subunits of the outer kinetochore KMN complex. Functional analyses revealed a striking conservation of its composition and organization across k...
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
kwsgroup.bsky.social
Once dismissed as a nuisance, this humble weed is now at the center of cutting-edge science 🌱
Researchers are using Arabidopsis as a model organism to boost crop resilience, fight climate stress, and even inspire new biotech innovations. 🔬

knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
How a humble weed became a superstar of biology
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.
knowablemagazine.org
November 7, 2025 at 9:20 AM
somssich.bsky.social
Rick van de Zedde was here at @kwsgroup.bsky.social to talk about his work making sense of the tons of data generated by the #PlantScience NPEC phenotyping platform run by @wurplant.bsky.social & @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social. Very interesting work, including producing smartphone apps for easy use.
Rick van de Zedde on stage at KWS showing an overview image of the NPEC, including the open field, Greenhouse, high-throughput chamber, ecotron, plant-microbe interaction and multi environment modules. A slide showing the publication "Pitfalls and potential of high-throughput plant phenotyping platforms" on how to set up a platform. Have a look here: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2023.1233794/full Rick on stage showing the MoRPH app, created by Wageningen University and Lizard Global to phenotype fruit simply by using a smart phone. In the example shown, an apple is photographed, and the app automatically gives a phenotypic description, including size, shape, colours.
November 7, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
naascarabidopsis.bsky.social
YAY! this is excellent! From Knowable Magazine: How Arabidopsis thaliana, a humble weed, became a superstar of plant biology | Knowable Magazine knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
How a humble weed became a superstar of biology
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.
knowablemagazine.org
November 4, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
rachelscience.bsky.social
Arabidopsis, a little weed in the mustard family, joined the celebrity ranks of Drosophila, E. coli and other model organisms in the 1980s. There was a lot of pushback-- in some circles it was referred to as the "A-word" (!)
knowablemag.bsky.social Knowable Magazine @knowablemag.bsky.social · 10d
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.

✍️ Rachel Ehrenberg

knowmag.org/4hImL8e
How a humble weed became a superstar of biology
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.
knowmag.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
katharinamel1.bsky.social
1/ It is my pleasure to share the latest preprint of the team: "Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants"

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Here, we identified and functionally validated a novel master regulator of intracellular symbioses!

A thread ...
#PlantScience
Symbiotic diversification relies on an ancestral gene network in plants
Symbioses have been fundamental to colonization of terrestrial ecosystems by plants and their evolution. Emergence of the ancient arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis was followed by the diversification o...
doi.org
November 4, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
knowablemag.bsky.social
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.

✍️ Rachel Ehrenberg

knowmag.org/4hImL8e
How a humble weed became a superstar of biology
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.
knowmag.org
November 4, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
A very good historical perspective why you want to work on the weed…
knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
How a humble weed became a superstar of biology
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.
knowablemagazine.org
November 4, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
roseamarks.bsky.social
new paper! this one holds a special place in my heart--it's the project that brought me to South Africa--just a short 6 years later, we have a product

Myrothamnus is a resurrection plant with deep cultural roots. it's been a privilege to study this iconic species that survives with so little.
November 3, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by Marc Somssich
plantphys.bsky.social
Guns in rosettes: The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal (Marc Somssich, Daniel J Kliebenstein, Tonni Grube Andersen) doi.org/10.1093/plph... #PlantScience @aspbofficial
Guns in rosettes: The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal
Arabidopsis remains one of the best-studied models today and has a number of remarkable chemical defense systems which actively engage, interact, and preve
doi.org
November 3, 2025 at 4:22 PM