Eirik Lågeide
@eiriklag.bsky.social
Doctoral researcher at MPI Tübingen 🇩🇪🇳🇴 - Plant biology, immunity, virology, evolution 🌱🧬 Plant immunogenomics group
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
New preprint: 🚀🧬 Starship in the genome of the lichen fungus Xanthoria. Discovery of giant transposons Starships challenged what we thought we knew about fungal genomes. But what about Starships in #lichen fungi? Let us present Tangerine! 🖥️ 🧪 🦠 🧫 #SymbioSky doi.org/10.1101/2025...
November 28, 2025 at 2:20 PM
New preprint: 🚀🧬 Starship in the genome of the lichen fungus Xanthoria. Discovery of giant transposons Starships challenged what we thought we knew about fungal genomes. But what about Starships in #lichen fungi? Let us present Tangerine! 🖥️ 🧪 🦠 🧫 #SymbioSky doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
🧬🛡️How are new immune mechanisms created?
We show how Lamassu antiphage system, originated from a DNA-repair complex and evolved into a compact and modular immune machine, wt Dinshaw Patel lab in @pnas.org.
👏 @matthieu-haudiquet.bsky.social, Arpita Chakravarti & all authors!
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
We show how Lamassu antiphage system, originated from a DNA-repair complex and evolved into a compact and modular immune machine, wt Dinshaw Patel lab in @pnas.org.
👏 @matthieu-haudiquet.bsky.social, Arpita Chakravarti & all authors!
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
November 27, 2025 at 9:35 AM
🧬🛡️How are new immune mechanisms created?
We show how Lamassu antiphage system, originated from a DNA-repair complex and evolved into a compact and modular immune machine, wt Dinshaw Patel lab in @pnas.org.
👏 @matthieu-haudiquet.bsky.social, Arpita Chakravarti & all authors!
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
We show how Lamassu antiphage system, originated from a DNA-repair complex and evolved into a compact and modular immune machine, wt Dinshaw Patel lab in @pnas.org.
👏 @matthieu-haudiquet.bsky.social, Arpita Chakravarti & all authors!
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
1/5
🚨🚨 preprint alert! 🚨🚨
I wish to introduce CARDIB, not the singer, but the protein.
CARDIB=CARD Inhibitory Binding protein.
In our new work we discover this antiviral protein that is found in all Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals 🪸) but not in other animals.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🚨🚨 preprint alert! 🚨🚨
I wish to introduce CARDIB, not the singer, but the protein.
CARDIB=CARD Inhibitory Binding protein.
In our new work we discover this antiviral protein that is found in all Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals 🪸) but not in other animals.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
An ancient anthozoan protein reveals an alternative evolutionary path of antiviral signaling
How antiviral immunity first arose in animals is a central question in evolutionary biology. Using the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, we identify CARDIB, a previously uncharacterized gene located...
www.biorxiv.org
November 25, 2025 at 12:06 PM
1/5
🚨🚨 preprint alert! 🚨🚨
I wish to introduce CARDIB, not the singer, but the protein.
CARDIB=CARD Inhibitory Binding protein.
In our new work we discover this antiviral protein that is found in all Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals 🪸) but not in other animals.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🚨🚨 preprint alert! 🚨🚨
I wish to introduce CARDIB, not the singer, but the protein.
CARDIB=CARD Inhibitory Binding protein.
In our new work we discover this antiviral protein that is found in all Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals 🪸) but not in other animals.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
"I was (...) surprised to learn about the #childcare #grants available through EMBO. Not many other institutions provide these opportunities (...)” says Sheila Roitman, EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow at Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: https://www.embo.org/people/a-resilient-journey-through-science/ 🧪 #funding
November 18, 2025 at 12:20 PM
"I was (...) surprised to learn about the #childcare #grants available through EMBO. Not many other institutions provide these opportunities (...)” says Sheila Roitman, EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow at Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: https://www.embo.org/people/a-resilient-journey-through-science/ 🧪 #funding
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
New Article: "Pathogen-induced condensation of the guard cell RNA-binding protein SAIR1 fine-tunes translation for immunity" rdcu.be/eP4kN
SAIR1 forms phosphorylation-regulated condensates in guard cells, which link PAMP–MPK3/6 signalling to stomatal immunity.
SAIR1 forms phosphorylation-regulated condensates in guard cells, which link PAMP–MPK3/6 signalling to stomatal immunity.
November 15, 2025 at 12:10 PM
New Article: "Pathogen-induced condensation of the guard cell RNA-binding protein SAIR1 fine-tunes translation for immunity" rdcu.be/eP4kN
SAIR1 forms phosphorylation-regulated condensates in guard cells, which link PAMP–MPK3/6 signalling to stomatal immunity.
SAIR1 forms phosphorylation-regulated condensates in guard cells, which link PAMP–MPK3/6 signalling to stomatal immunity.
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
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. 👍🤓
It was a pleasure to finally meet, learn about his #PlantImmunity & #ImmunoGenomics work to uncover evolutionary conserved defense mechanisms, & talk plant science. 👍🤓
November 14, 2025 at 3:31 PM
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. 👍🤓
It was a pleasure to finally meet, learn about his #PlantImmunity & #ImmunoGenomics work to uncover evolutionary conserved defense mechanisms, & talk plant science. 👍🤓
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Our nuclease-protease story is out! We explored a fascinating case of coevolution and modularity in prokaryotic immune systems: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
Recurrent acquisition of nuclease-protease pairs in antiviral immunity
Antiviral immune systems diversify by integrating new genes into existing pathways, creating new mechanisms of viral resistance. We identified genes encoding a predicted nuclease paired with a trypsin...
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Our nuclease-protease story is out! We explored a fascinating case of coevolution and modularity in prokaryotic immune systems: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
This is really cool!!
Excited to introduce Auxenochlorella as a new algal reference organism for fundamental plant science and bioengineering. A paper in two parts: a genetic toolkit for site-specific genomic manipulation, paired with the most unusual genome I’ve ever worked on
academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...
academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...
Targeted genetic manipulation and yeast-like evolutionary genomics in the green alga Auxenochlorella
Auxenochlorella, green algae shaped by evolutionary forces acting on vegetative diploids, are amenable to discovery research and bioengineering via efficie
academic.oup.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:28 PM
This is really cool!!
Agreed with Sophien, I think discoveries and solutions for real life problems such as emerging plant disease should be shared as quickly as possible
"I [still] have a beef with the way that research is typically done. We need a fundamentally new approach to sharing genetic data for emerging plant diseases" #MemoryLane #OpenScience phys.org/news/2016-04...
Scientists issue rallying cry for wheat blast research
A team of scientists in the UK and Bangladesh are turning to the combined knowledge of the global scientific community to address an emerging threat to Asian agriculture.
phys.org
November 12, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Agreed with Sophien, I think discoveries and solutions for real life problems such as emerging plant disease should be shared as quickly as possible
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Asaf finishes on plasmids, prophages, and defense system being depleted in plant microbiota genomes
‼️ not only in genomes, but also in metagenome datasets similar trend observed
See their Genome Biology paper
genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
#PMS2025
‼️ not only in genomes, but also in metagenome datasets similar trend observed
See their Genome Biology paper
genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
#PMS2025
Plasmids, prophages, and defense systems are depleted from plant microbiota genomes - Genome Biology
Plant-associated bacteria significantly impact plant growth and health. Understanding how bacterial genomes adapt to plants can provide insights into their growth promotion and virulence functions. He...
genomebiology.biomedcentral.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Asaf finishes on plasmids, prophages, and defense system being depleted in plant microbiota genomes
‼️ not only in genomes, but also in metagenome datasets similar trend observed
See their Genome Biology paper
genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
#PMS2025
‼️ not only in genomes, but also in metagenome datasets similar trend observed
See their Genome Biology paper
genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
#PMS2025
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Pumpkin carving contest 2025🎃
Creative pumpkins from labs across @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
Our lab's @plantevolution.bsky.social "Carveolution" evolved it's way to 1st place 🏆
Creative pumpkins from labs across @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
Our lab's @plantevolution.bsky.social "Carveolution" evolved it's way to 1st place 🏆
November 1, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Pumpkin carving contest 2025🎃
Creative pumpkins from labs across @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
Our lab's @plantevolution.bsky.social "Carveolution" evolved it's way to 1st place 🏆
Creative pumpkins from labs across @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
Our lab's @plantevolution.bsky.social "Carveolution" evolved it's way to 1st place 🏆
I started my term as PhD rep for the doctoral students at @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social this month! Excited to be a representative voice for the around 80 students here ☺️
October 30, 2025 at 8:26 AM
I started my term as PhD rep for the doctoral students at @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social this month! Excited to be a representative voice for the around 80 students here ☺️
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
That merely being “under review” by a Nature family journal is offered as a quality proxy for a paper is a tragic illustration of the extent to which academia is addicted to brands and outsources evaluation
October 25, 2025 at 6:37 PM
That merely being “under review” by a Nature family journal is offered as a quality proxy for a paper is a tragic illustration of the extent to which academia is addicted to brands and outsources evaluation
Wow, I can really relate to John's early life. RIP legend.
October 20, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Wow, I can really relate to John's early life. RIP legend.
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase
Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 5:22 PM
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Membrane contact sites between chloroplasts and the pathogen interface underpin plant focal immune responses (Enoch Lok Him Yuen, Zachary Savage, Vojtěch Pražák, et al) doi.org/10.1093/plce... #PlantScience
Membrane contact sites between chloroplasts and the pathogen interface underpin plant focal immune responses
Chloroplast tethering to the pathogen interface via membrane contact sites promotes focal callose deposition and strengthens plant immunity.
doi.org
October 16, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Membrane contact sites between chloroplasts and the pathogen interface underpin plant focal immune responses (Enoch Lok Him Yuen, Zachary Savage, Vojtěch Pražák, et al) doi.org/10.1093/plce... #PlantScience
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Our latest work is out! We set out to see if we could recreate soil-nurturing plant growth in vitro. The plants looked happy and we see microbiome-induced cell-type-specific responses! A modest step but a fun challenge 😁
Artificial Soil (ArtSoil): recreating soil conditions in synthetic plant growth media https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.09.681539v1
October 12, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Our latest work is out! We set out to see if we could recreate soil-nurturing plant growth in vitro. The plants looked happy and we see microbiome-induced cell-type-specific responses! A modest step but a fun challenge 😁
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Lost & found: Reconstituting PRR immune function through co-receptor transfer
@isabelmonte.bsky.social highlights work revealing cross-species co-receptor transfer can overcome restricted taxonomic functionality in rice, pointing to strategies for crop protection
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
@isabelmonte.bsky.social highlights work revealing cross-species co-receptor transfer can overcome restricted taxonomic functionality in rice, pointing to strategies for crop protection
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Lost and found: Reconstituting PRR immune function through co-receptor transfer
Plant immune receptors hold great promise for engineering broad-spectrum disease resistance,
but their effectiveness is very limited by restricted taxonomic functionality (RTF).
In this issue of Cell ...
www.cell.com
October 9, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Lost & found: Reconstituting PRR immune function through co-receptor transfer
@isabelmonte.bsky.social highlights work revealing cross-species co-receptor transfer can overcome restricted taxonomic functionality in rice, pointing to strategies for crop protection
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
@isabelmonte.bsky.social highlights work revealing cross-species co-receptor transfer can overcome restricted taxonomic functionality in rice, pointing to strategies for crop protection
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
My favorite nucleus stain
Also I just learned that the dye is from Höchst outside Frankfurt, not in fact Austria where this is. But the sign is blue!
Also I just learned that the dye is from Höchst outside Frankfurt, not in fact Austria where this is. But the sign is blue!
October 8, 2025 at 9:37 PM
My favorite nucleus stain
Also I just learned that the dye is from Höchst outside Frankfurt, not in fact Austria where this is. But the sign is blue!
Also I just learned that the dye is from Höchst outside Frankfurt, not in fact Austria where this is. But the sign is blue!
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Your regular reminder that plant genomes are messy. Good luck getting your shortbread data to recapitulate this:
October 7, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Your regular reminder that plant genomes are messy. Good luck getting your shortbread data to recapitulate this:
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Very nice work from @geminiteamlab.bsky.social
showing that challenging old assumptions with new technologies can broad our understanding of viral infection strategies. Pervasive splicing increases the protein repertoire of a plant DNA virus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
showing that challenging old assumptions with new technologies can broad our understanding of viral infection strategies. Pervasive splicing increases the protein repertoire of a plant DNA virus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Pervasive splicing in a plant DNA virus
Viruses maximize their limited coding space through strategies that increase transcript and protein diversity. In mammalian viruses, splicing is a well-established mechanism for proteome expansion, ye...
www.biorxiv.org
October 3, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Very nice work from @geminiteamlab.bsky.social
showing that challenging old assumptions with new technologies can broad our understanding of viral infection strategies. Pervasive splicing increases the protein repertoire of a plant DNA virus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
showing that challenging old assumptions with new technologies can broad our understanding of viral infection strategies. Pervasive splicing increases the protein repertoire of a plant DNA virus
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Very excited to share that our paper "A RALF-brassinosteorid signaling circuit regulates Arabidopsis hypocotyl cell shape" is now published in @currentbiology.bsky.social !
Enjoy reading it!!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Enjoy reading it!!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 1, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Very excited to share that our paper "A RALF-brassinosteorid signaling circuit regulates Arabidopsis hypocotyl cell shape" is now published in @currentbiology.bsky.social !
Enjoy reading it!!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Enjoy reading it!!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Here's 123 new bryophyte genomes for you!
Apparently, bryophytes time and again include microbial genes in their genomic repertoire, and occupy a langer gene space than vascular plants.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Apparently, bryophytes time and again include microbial genes in their genomic repertoire, and occupy a langer gene space than vascular plants.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bryophytes hold a larger gene family space than vascular plants - Nature Genetics
A super-pangenome analysis incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte genomes reveals that bryophytes exhibit a larger number of unique and lineage-specific gene families than vascular plants.
www.nature.com
September 25, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Here's 123 new bryophyte genomes for you!
Apparently, bryophytes time and again include microbial genes in their genomic repertoire, and occupy a langer gene space than vascular plants.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Apparently, bryophytes time and again include microbial genes in their genomic repertoire, and occupy a langer gene space than vascular plants.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Eirik Lågeide
Color changing flowers 🧬🎨- attempt #2
Older flowers (bottom) show dark red/ orange tints whereas young buds (top) display strong fuchsia color. Getting closer..
Older flowers (bottom) show dark red/ orange tints whereas young buds (top) display strong fuchsia color. Getting closer..
September 21, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Color changing flowers 🧬🎨- attempt #2
Older flowers (bottom) show dark red/ orange tints whereas young buds (top) display strong fuchsia color. Getting closer..
Older flowers (bottom) show dark red/ orange tints whereas young buds (top) display strong fuchsia color. Getting closer..
Thanks Farid and @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social for inviting us from @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social this year! I had a great time listening to the great talks from my peers at ZMBP and enjoyed the discussions and feedback about my work ☺️ see you again next year!
Yesterday, we celebrated the 9th #ZMBP PhD Symposium, where our PhD students (and some from @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social) presented their work as chalk talks, posters and longer talks. Thanks everyone for the scientific discussions on #plantscience!
September 20, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Thanks Farid and @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social for inviting us from @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social this year! I had a great time listening to the great talks from my peers at ZMBP and enjoyed the discussions and feedback about my work ☺️ see you again next year!