The Week in Botany July 7
I didn’t get to Tahiti for my holiday. Instead, I ended up experimenting with text editors. I’ve found IA Writer allows you to paste text in with attribution. I think this will be handy with the press release posts, so I can see if I’m adding something to the press release instead of reproducing it verbatim. It also seems to have some editing functions similar to Hemingway that I like.
One news topic seems to have dominated discussion this week, so I’ve cheated and put in a couple of stories that got fewer shares, but aren’t about American politics.
There will be another email of the papers and the news stories you’re sharing on Mastodon and Bluesky next week. Until next time, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
The Secret Life of Nectar: How Colour and Chemistry Shape Plant–Pollinator Relationships
Have you ever wondered what’s inside a flower? It might look delicate and simple, but inside, they are busy running a secret operation.
Kenji Suetsugu: Combining Childhood Curiosity with Scientific Rigour
Botany One interviews Dr Kenji Suetsugu, a Japanese plant ecologist fascinated with plants that completely abandoned photosynthesis.
Mapping Microclimates Could Transform Pollinator Conservation
Researchers discovered that tiny temperature differences within single farm fields can be more important than entire landscapes for bee foraging success.
Researchers find social bonds grow in the soil of Warsaw’s gardens
Polish researchers discovered the secret to thriving urban gardens isn't green thumbs or good soil, it's the social networks gardeners build together.
…and last’s week’s Week in Botany with Rocío Deanna on the importance of staying curious, the switch to agriculture in the Andes was neither fast nor furious, how caterpillars can be so injurious, and more...
News & Views
Trump cuts subscriptions to Springer Nature journals
Other publishers appear unscathed in recent actions.
See also: Nature.
Solar eclipses and ‘talking trees’
Nigel Chaffey on a recent paper, the peer-review process, and the strong criticism the paper has received.
Danforth Plant Science Center Adds Two New Faculty Members
The Donald Danforth Plant Science Centertoday announced two new faculty members. Justin Conover, PhD, joined as assistant member and Erin Sparks, PhD, joined as associate member at the Danforth Center and associate professor and Bond Life Sciences Center principal investigator at the University of Missouri – Columbia (MU), a joint hire between the Danforth Center and MU.
Turmoil at US science academy as Trump cuts force layoffs
Efforts by leaders of the US national academies to adjust to the new political reality have spurred member concerns about capitulation and censorship.
Nature under Hitler
Nature under the editorship of Sir Richard Gregory (1919–39) was banned in Nazi Germany. For some reason, this feature from 2007 where Uwe Hossfeld and Lennart Olsson explore the clash between science and national socialism got a lot of shares this week.
The Impacts of U.S. Federal and State Policies on Science
This website hosts information about the impacts of federal and state policies since January 20, 2025 on the fields of ecology, evolution, marine science, and environmental science in the USA.
Call for Support: Secure the Future of BHL
The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) – the world’s largest open-access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives – is seeking partnership opportunities to support its operational functions and technical infrastructure. This Call for Support follows the Smithsonian Institution’s decision to conclude its long-standing role as BHL’s host on 1 January 2026.
Scientists warn US will lose a generation of talent because of Trump cuts
Political interference and chaotic cuts to staff, programs and grants at the National Science Foundation are producing ‘devastating consequences’.
The International Mycorrhiza Society
The International Mycorrhiza Society has a new logo and website featuring current award winners, all our newsletters, searchable program abstracts from past ICOMs, info on future ICOMs, and beauty shots of fungi from our community.
New Handbook Aims to Protect Scientists From Autocratic Threats
Scientists, experts say, need to help protect democracy, “the system of government in which science, health and humanity are most likely to thrive.”
‘Tipping points’ experts issue urgent message to world leaders
World leaders must take “immediate, unprecedented action” to prevent devastating climate tipping points, experts say.
Scientific Papers
Manipulating condensation of thermo-sensitive SUF4 protein tunes flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana (FREE)
Meyer et al investigate the role of temperature-sensitive phase separation using the intrinsically disordered proteins and flowering-time regulator SUPPRESSOR OF FRIGIDA 4 (SUF4). SUF4 plays a well-defined role in seasonal flowering by activating the floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC).
A TNL receptor mediates microbiome feedbacks in Arabidopsis (FREE)
While microbiome feedbacks are well documented, the mechanisms by which plants perceive and mediate these feedbacks remain unclear. van Rensburg et al established a framework using two distinct microbiomes in the same soil, where one led to enhanced growth of the Arabidopsis thaliana accession Col-0. Screening 410 accessions revealed substantial variation in growth feedbacks, which they used for genome-wide association mapping.
Proposed EU NGT legislation in light of plant genetic variation (FREE)
The European Commission (EC) proposal for New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) of July 2023 specifies that Category 1 NGT (NGT1) plants, which are considered equivalent to conventional plants, that is those obtainable by conventional plant breeding or mutagenesis, may differ from the recipient or parental plant by no more than 20 insertions, which cannot be longer than 20 bp; deletions can be no more than 20 but of any size. Schulman et al examine the proposed 20/20 NGT1 limit against the background of the theoretical considerations and older data used to frame it and in light of recent data from highly contiguous long-read assemblies for reference genomes and pangenomes.
In situ foliar augmentation of multiple species for optical phenotyping and bioengineering using soft robotics (FREE)
İlman et al developed a soft robotic leaf gripper and stamping-injection method to improve foliar delivery of nanoscale synthetic and biological probes. This allows for nondestructive, in situ, multispecies applications.
Cell-type-specific execution of effector-triggered immunity (FREE)
Effector-triggered immunity (ETI) is a central component of host defense, but whether all cell types execute ETI similarly remains unknown. Chhillar et al combined chemically imposed immune activation with single-cell transcriptomics to profile ETI responses across all leaf cell types in Arabidopsis. Despite uniform ETI perception, they find striking divergence between transcriptional outputs: a core set of defense genes is broadly induced, while distinct cell types activate specialized immune modules.
Floral innovation through modifications in stem cell peptide signaling (FREE)
Jones et al show that capitulum evolution paralleled decreases in CLAVATA3 (CLV3) peptide signaling, a conserved repressor of stem cell proliferation. We trace this to novel amino acid changes in the mature CLV3 peptide which decrease receptor binding and downstream transcriptional outputs.
Plants monitor the integrity of their barrier by sensing gas diffusion (FREE)
Iida et al report that periderm integrity in Arabidopsis roots is sensed by diffusion of the gases ethylene and oxygen. Following injury of the periderm, ethylene leaks out through the wound and oxygen enters, resulting in attenuation of ethylene signalling and hypoxia signalling.
Vacuolar signaling, biogenesis, and quality control in plants (FREE)
Julian & Dadas discuss the vacuole's multifaceted roles in ion sequestration, lipid trafficking, mechanosensing, and signal transduction, highlighting its central role in preserving cellular homeostasis.
In AoBC Publications
Careers
Note: These are posts that have been advertised around the web. They are not posts that I personally offer, nor can I arrange the visa for you to work internationally.
PLOS Biology Associate Editor- FTC, UK
This position is fully remote/home based. Applications will be accepted from candidates based in the UK. This is a 12 month FTC.
Research Fellow (Fixed term), Nottingham
Applications are invited for a Research Fellow to work on a BBSRC funded project which aims to discover how roots adapt to water stress. In this BBSRC project, we seek to identify novel targets, genes, and pathways involved in sensing water in the model plant Arabidopsis. Building on our previous work (Mehra et al., Science, 2022), we aim to understand how hormone-driven pathways help roots to adapt to transient water stress conditions. This position is especially suited for candidates with an interest in root development and molecular cell biology. All the technologies required for the project are currently performed in our laboratory.
Assistant Professor in Environmental Science, Dublin
The School of Natural Sciences and the Discipline of Botany seek to appoint a tenure track position of Assistant Professor in Environmental Science at Trinity College Dublin. This is an open search for a candidate with experience in any aspect of environmental science involving plants, algae and/or fungi and their interactions with the environment from the molecular to individual plant scales.
Ingénieur en expérimentation et production végétales H/F, Strasbourg
La personne recrutée effectuera des expériences dans le cadre d’un projet de recherche centré sur l’analyse de la diversité chimique et génétique d’une plante d’intérêt agronomique, le houblon. La personne développera des protocoles de culture in vitro du houblon, de préparation d’acides nucléiques et de constructions de banques en vue du séquençage pour des études génomiques, développera des protocoles de génotypage.
M/F Researcher in plant development biology, Lyon
The researcher will work at the interface between mechanical modeling and image analysis to study the impact of cell division orientation on tissue-scale mechanical stress and root morphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana, and develop innovative tools and methodologies for quantitative 3D analysis of cell division plane orientation.
M/F Researcher in plant development biology, Lyon
The researcher will work within a team of biologists and computer scientists at the ENS de Lyon to test the role of temporal information provided by auxin in controlling cell identities and the timing of organogenesis in the shoot apical meristem in plants.
PhD Assisted Migration, Zürich
The Plant Ecology Group at ETH Zürich is seeking an enthusiastic PhD candidate to study the factors underlying the success of assisted migration of mountain plants that are threatened by climate change. The PhD candidate will be based in the Plant Ecology Group at ETH Zürich (Prof. Jake Alexander), and work collaboratively with the Ecology Group at University of Basel (Prof. Sabine Rumpf), and the Flore-Alpe Alpine Botanical Garden (Prof. Christophe Randin).
PhD Candidate - Research specialist - Plant regeneration and development, Brno
The position is open for a 3-year contract under the supervision of Mgr. Markéta Pernisová, Ph.D., to join the TowArds Next GENeration Crops (TANGENC) project focused on new breeding techniques for crop improvement. The research will mainly concern the hormonal regulation of plant regeneration and shoot development. The Researcher will also participate in developing molecular tools and protocols for genome editing, transformation, and plant regeneration.
Associate Senior Lecturer in plant physiology with focus on plant embryo development, Umeå
The department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology within the Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) is a world-leading environment integrating experimental plant biology and forest biotechnology research. UPSC has strong platforms for plant growth, microscopy, metabolomics and conifer genomics. UPSC has one of the largest facilities in the world for tree transformation, including a facility for somatic embryogenesis and transformation of Norway spruce, important tools for all basic research connecting genes to gene function.
Senior Lecturer / Lecturer in Genomics, Melbourne
Monash University are seeking a dedicated academic to join our School of Biological Sciences as a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Genomics. In this role, you will coordinate and deliver innovative research and teaching programs in the field of Genomics, contributing to the advancement of the School’s academic and professional objectives.
Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Ecology (2 positions), Melbourne
Monash University are seeking two dedicated academics to join our School of Biological Sciences as a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Ecology. In these roles, you will coordinate and deliver innovative research and teaching programs in the field of ecology, contributing to the advancement of the School’s academic and professional objectives.
Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution, USA
The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecology and evolution, we are particularly interested in interdisciplinary research that jointly considers processes on both ecological and evolutionary timescales, or that links studies of ecology and evolution to other STEM fields, including physics, computer science, mathematics, chemistry and other areas of biology, especially genetics.