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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Mia Levine @levine-lab.bsky.social · 4d

Check out this new Levine-Lampson collaboration, led by the talented Hyuk-Joon Jeon.

We explored the consequences of inheriting long telomeres from dad and short telomeres from mom. Or the reciprocal. Turns out, parent-of-origin matters (in mice, at least).

authors.elsevier.com/c/1loW-3QW8S...

authors.elsevier.com

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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Lukas Fiedler @lukyfiedler.bsky.social · 6d

Previously on BioRxiv, and now a final version of our paper is out! What a great lesson in plant self-organization: Auxin targets its own transporter through a cell-surface kinase complex in a positive feedback loop www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

ABP1/ABL3-TMK1 cell-surface auxin signaling targets PIN2-mediated auxin fluxes for root gravitropism

In gravistimulated roots, gravity perception in the columella redirects the flow of the plant hormone auxin toward the lower root side, where it inhibits cell elongation for downward root bending. Thi...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Héctor Montero @hectormontero.bsky.social · 12d

Learn about loss and retention of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in carnivorous plants in our latest publication in @newphyt.bsky.social ! nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Nick Talbot @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social · 11d

The great Claudio Scazzocchio- fungal geneticist and polymath - giving keynote first talk in Chania - on the evolution of nitrogen utilization in eukaryotes #IFBC25

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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Frances Pitsillides @francespi.bsky.social · 22d

Very excited to share that my first 1st author publication is available at the journal of #NewPhytologist !

Congratulations to the entire team that worked on this project including the #KewFungarium Team. 👏 🍄‍🟫

If you are interested in the topic, feel free to read it here: doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Whole genome sequencing of historical specimens from the world's largest fungal collection yields high‐quality assemblies

High-throughput molecular studies of museum specimens (museomics) have great potential in biodiversity research, but fungal historical collections have scarcely been examined, leading to no comprehe...

doi.org

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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Christian Landry @christianlandry.bsky.social · 28d

Really excited to share our latest paper led by @simonaube.bsky.social. Fascinating results examining whether regulatory mutations can lead to adaptation as fast as coding mutations do. #mevosky #evobio #evoSky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Adaptation is less accessible through mutations in promoters than in coding sequences when large effect sizes are needed

Mutations within promoters and coding sequences are both involved in adaptation, but their relative contributions remain to be compared directly. Using the fungal enzyme cytosine deaminase, we examine...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Navin B. Ramakrishna @navinbr.bsky.social · 26d

Excited to share our Review on human PGC development covering the latest in vivo observations & in vitro developments, esp. in the last 5 years. Have a read! journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
From: @astar-gis.bsky.social @ki.se Warwick University, @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social

Emerging principles and models of human primordial germ cell development

Summary: This Review examines recent insights into early human germ cell development and how these regulatory principles guide stem cell-derived models aiming to reconstitute human gametogenesis in vi...

journals.biologists.com

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · 26d

We have the same questions! I imagine it could have been beneficial for some of the ancestors to become mutators. I'd love to compare genome stability across the different lineages 🤓

Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · 28d

New preprint! 🐛 Root-knot nematodes hijack root cells, turning them into feeding sites and making plants very sick. Using a cross-species scRNA-seq approach we mapped this process and show how this knowledge can be used to engineer resistant crops.🌱 A summary🧵 :
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 7

The fatty acid synthase was lost at the origin of the Glomeromycotina lineage. All species have delta, and only the Glomeraceae family lost epsilon

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 6

doi.org/10.1111/tpj....

doi.org/10.1126/scie...

doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 6

Thank you, and yes, l'd love to find out if delta is compensating! I also wonder how cell cycle entry is regulated. I suspect carbon and phosphate availability are key, which is interesting to think about given their reliance on hosts for fatty acids, and that their 'job' is to mine Pi from the soil

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

Also the word is out: I’m starting my own research group in my scientific hometown, Quebec @ulaval.ca 🇨🇦 More soon!

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

Many thanks to all co-authors Tania, Samik, Tomoko, to Uta @paszkowskilab.bsky.social, who made this adventure possible, @hectormontero.bsky.social and to our dear neighbours @RIKEN, the Hayashi Team

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

We welcome all feedback, and we’re looking forward to discussing this work (and more!) at upcoming conferences #IMMM2025 and @ifbc-2025.bsky.social

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

For AM fungi, this has implications for developing host-free culture and genetic transformation methods. Evolutionarily speaking, it’s fascinating that 2 lineages of endosymbiotic fungi experienced similar genes losses. This kind of convergent reduction is also observed in endosymbiotic bacteria 🦠

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

Our findings point to a higher level of integration between AM fungi and plants than previously appreciated, and suggest the existence of a regulatory and/or functional contribution provided by a host to the fungal cell cycle 🧬🍄

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

In symbiosis with a host, we detect regularly-spaced nuclei pairs that appear to be mitotic. We find paired nuclei in spores germinated in vitro much less frequently. This suggests that the Glomeraceae cell cycle is active in planta, coinciding with the up-regulation of replication gene expression.

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

This raises the question of how these fungi can replicate DNA. We grew the model species R. irregularis in vitro for 3 weeks without a host, and detected no increase in chromosomal DNA amount – if anything, it decreases. This suggests that the cell cycle is inactive in asymbiotic spores.

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

The Glomeraceae family of AM fungi has an unexpectedly reduced replisome, lacking the leading strand DNA polymerase and associated co-factors.

AM fungi have therefore experienced reductive evolution beyond the loss of the fatty acid synthase.

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

In this study, we found that two major lineages of endosymbiotic fungi have lost DNA polymerase genes.

In AM fungi, DNA polymerase losses are lineage-specific.

Microsporidia lost the same DNA polymerases and accessory co-factors as AM fungi, but in a slightly different order.

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Sep 3

I’m super happy to present the first discoveries of the RIKEN-Cambridge Joint Crop Symbiosis Research Team, based in Japan 🇯🇵

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

A thread 👇

Reductive evolution of the DNA replication machinery in endosymbiotic fungi

The molecular machinery for replicating and repairing DNA accurately is critically important for life and highly conserved across the Tree of Life. Here we show that two major lineages of fungi, Glome...

doi.org

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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

ICOM 2026 @icom2026.bsky.social · Aug 26

The call for #ICOM2026 Symposia applications is now open until October 15.

Please see:
icom2026.org/symposia/

ICOM2026 – Call for Symposia

Call for Symposia The Call for Symposia at ICOM2026 is open! Download Application Form below Deadline for submission: 15 October 2025 Decision: 1 November 2025 ICOM2026 will host a series of sympos…

icom2026.org

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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution @official-smbe.bsky.social · Jul 28

We are excited to announce the SMBE Fellows Program! ✍️

Designed to provide networking and mentorship opportunities to early-career researchers through scientific writing in evolutionary biology for @molbioevol.bsky.social and @genomebiolevol.bsky.social

📆 Aug. 31

🔗 smbe.org/smbe-fellows-program

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Reposted by Alexandra Dallaire

Matthias C. Rillig @mrillig.bsky.social · Jul 31

Very happy to share this paper, out in Nature, written with Henning, whom I met during my sabbatical at @oistedu.bsky.social

From bench to big boss: mitigating the widening gap between PI and lab

An important topic....would be curious to hear your thoughts...

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

From bench to big boss: mitigating the widening gap between PI and lab

Laboratory dynamics can change as the age and experience of the principal investigator increase. But there are ways to combat this.

www.nature.com

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