Ben Auxier
@benauxier.bsky.social
180 followers 170 following 74 posts
Fungal geneticist interested in how fungi recognize themselves, and each other. Asst. Professor at WUR
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benauxier.bsky.social
Ooh, this looks interesting!
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
If you saw my talk on the population structure of #Aspergillus flavus at Fungal Genetics in 2024, you might have heard someone ask "how does Aspergillus oryzae fit into the picture?"
If so, you heard my answer was "wait and see--we're working on this exact topic"
Well, the wait is over! Preprint ⬇️
biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social
Population-Specific Transcriptomic Shifts Underlie Secondary Metabolic Diversification in Aspergillus flavus and the Domestication of Aspergillus oryzae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.02.680074v1
Reposted by Ben Auxier
annemakerofhats.bsky.social
If you saw my talk on the population structure of #Aspergillus flavus at Fungal Genetics in 2024, you might have heard someone ask "how does Aspergillus oryzae fit into the picture?"
If so, you heard my answer was "wait and see--we're working on this exact topic"
Well, the wait is over! Preprint ⬇️
biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social
Population-Specific Transcriptomic Shifts Underlie Secondary Metabolic Diversification in Aspergillus flavus and the Domestication of Aspergillus oryzae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.02.680074v1
Reposted by Ben Auxier
talbotlabtsl.bsky.social
New pre-print from our group showing remarkable synchrony of proliferative growth and regulated cell death during plant infection- each conidial cell has a different fate - by the rice blast fungus. Led by Alice Eseola with @osesmir.bsky.social Lauren Ryder @danmaclean.bsky.social and Martin Egan
biorxiv-molbio.bsky.social
Synchronous spatio-temporal control of autophagy and organelle trafficking is necessary for appressorium-mediated plant infection by Magnaporthe oryzae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.06.680644v1
Reposted by Ben Auxier
artologica.net
Ink paintings of mitosis in drosophila embryos were a little too niche for the art festival crowd, but I know my Blooskies will love them #sciart 🧪🪰 www.etsy.com/shop/artolog...
ink painting of drosophila embryos ink painting of drosophila embryos ink painting of drosophila embryos
Reposted by Ben Auxier
chloegirard.bsky.social
1st desk rejection ! I am very proud of this paper and will persist nevertheless,

Wish me luck (and share the paper widely ! Yes, I am doing shameless self-promotion) !

💪
chloegirard.bsky.social
🚨 First pre-print from my team !!

TL;DR: presence of polymorphism (sequence differences between the homologous chromosomes) can *increase* the local rate of recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana, turning cold regions of the genome hot (purple v. grey) !
The recombination frequency (cM/Mb) along chromosome 4 of A. thaliana (female meiosis). 

In full hybrids (grey), where polymorphism is distributed all along chromosomes, most crossovers occur in the regions surrounding the Centromere (Cen), and very few at chromosome ends (Tel: telomeres). 

In lines where polymorphism is restricted to chromosome ends (purple), the local recombination rate increases drastically, at the expense of the non-polymorphic regions (yellow).
Reposted by Ben Auxier
minyaaa.bsky.social
And look at this graphic abstract….. 😱🤯
Reposted by Ben Auxier
mrjeffu.bsky.social
Video: a Japanese scientist was attacked by flies while giving the acceptance speech for his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research paper that proved painting Zebra-like stripes on cows led to a decrease in biting fly attacks.
Reposted by Ben Auxier
odedrechavi.bsky.social
"You're in charge of the autoclave"
Reposted by Ben Auxier
odedrechavi.bsky.social
Reviewers asking for additional experiments
Reposted by Ben Auxier
3rdreviewer.bsky.social
Scientists, DON'T USE LaTeX UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, DON'T GIVE LaTeX TO YOUR YOUNG CHILD FOR VIRTUALLY ANY REASON, BREAK UP THE .tex DOC INTO THREE TOTALLY SEPARATE DOCS (NOT MIXED!), TAKE [Underfull \vbox (badness 10000) has occurred]
Reposted by Ben Auxier
science.org
When harmful fungi invade their carefully cultivated crops, fungus-farming termites fight back with the precision of skilled gardeners, a new Science study reveals, smothering them in soil clumps enriched with microbial allies that inhibit fungal growth. https://scim.ag/4nsAqCu
Fungus-farming termites can protect their crop by confining weeds with fungistatic soil boluses
The symbiotic agriculture of fungus-farming termites can collapse if they fail to prevent invading weeds. Previous studies suggest a role for symbiotic fungistatic microbes in bringing about weed cont...
www.science.org
Reposted by Ben Auxier
evoldir.bsky.social
The Kronholm lab at the University of Jyväskylä is hiring a PhD student to study mutations in experimental evolution. Start date: Jan 2026. Apply by 31 Oct 2025. More info: https://tinyurl.com/mpp8rx7u #phd
Doctoral Researcher in Evolutionary Genetics
[The Department of Biological and Environmental Science](https://www.jyu.fi/bioenv/en) is seeking to recruit a doctoral researcher in evolutionary genetics to start in early January, 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter, on a fixed-term contract for a maximum of three years. The genetics, epigenetics, and evolution group lead by Ilkka Kronholm studies the properties of mutations and spontaneous epigenetic changes, and genetic architecture of complex traits. Our fundamental interest is in the properties of mutations, and how do they interact. Our research questions are focused on understanding how different intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect evolutionary adaptation. As model systems we use fission yeast and the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. We are currently working on a large experimental evolution study using fission yeast, with two postdocs and one other PhD researcher working on different questions. The larger project that this particular project is part of is funded by the ERC. The idea with this project is that we will be exploring how do different mutations that have arisen during adaptation affect different life-history and physiological traits, and how those changes affect fitness: so investigating the genotype – phenotype – fitness map and possible effects of epistatic interactions. Our system allows very detailed investigation of relationship between genotype and phenotype, since genetic variation is limited and we can leverage the full power of fission yeast genetics. However, in this project the candidate also has some freedom, so that exact questions can also be tailored to the candidates interests within the overall framework of the project. The doctoral researcher is expected to contribute to the current project, plan and perform research, write manuscripts and finally a PhD thesis. Participating in limited amount of teaching can also be arranged.
tinyurl.com
Reposted by Ben Auxier
verybadllama.bsky.social
I have taken
the Tylenol
that was in
the medicine cabinet

and which
they think probably
is the reason
you like trains

forgive me
but that’s bullshit
you got autism
from your dad
benauxier.bsky.social
Sounds very interesting. What books would you recommend?
benauxier.bsky.social
I am pretty familiar with bioinformatics, and I cannot follow the methods. Without a crystal clear understanding of biases/artifacts in this new method, there is not much point trying to parse the results. IMO Replication with other methods is essential before any serious consideration.
benauxier.bsky.social
If it is a big spike, maybe it is possible to localise if there is a particular set of regions that are enriched for this increased LD?
benauxier.bsky.social
You assume LD will decrease with increasing genomic distance. So the question is why you would have an increase at some intermediate distance. As a start, I would assume some kind of weird pattern in the variants coming from transposable elements or something?
benauxier.bsky.social
Oooh, name change to Mycological Society of the Americas in the future?
pchaverri.bsky.social
I am ecstatic to announce the new Latin American Chapter of the Mycological Society of America!! This is going to have a great impact on the Latin American mycological community. Please spread the word and join for only $15/year!
msafungi.org/latin-americ...
@msafungi.bsky.social
benauxier.bsky.social
Somehow, the cell machinery can make homozygous knockouts from a single transformation! Without a described sexual cycle, this is really important! If you only had heterozygous transformant, the molecular genetics would be very difficult. What a crazy result! 🤯
molecular diagram and gel evidence for absence of URA3 as heterozygote, and presence of hph in replacement
benauxier.bsky.social
Yes, indeed. But assuming all alleles have slightly different mutation rates, then if you can carefully measure these rates, it is going to be a 50:50 chance of higher or lower......