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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · 6d

🍀We have an open phd position in our new Plant-PATH center. You will be doing biophysics and structural biology on plant hormone transporters in a great and international team.🌟
See details below👇👇

Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · 22d

Interested in structural biology, membrane proteins, biophysics and working to understand hormone transport in plants?☘️🔬👩‍🔬🧪
We have an open PhD position:
- 3 years fully funded.
- Details and application link: www.linkedin.com/posts/plant-...
Please repost 💚

🚀 Exciting PhD opportunity in structural biology & plant science! 🌱 PhD Position – Structural and Functional Studies of Plant Membrane-Protein Transporters 📍 Molecular Biology & Genetics -… ...

🚀 Exciting PhD opportunity in structural biology & plant science! 🌱 PhD Position – Structural and Functional Studies of Plant Membrane-Protein Transporters 📍 Molecular Biology & Genetics - Aarhus Un...

www.linkedin.com

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · 22d

Interested in structural biology, membrane proteins, biophysics and working to understand hormone transport in plants?☘️🔬👩‍🔬🧪
We have an open PhD position:
- 3 years fully funded.
- Details and application link: www.linkedin.com/posts/plant-...
Please repost 💚

🚀 Exciting PhD opportunity in structural biology & plant science! 🌱 PhD Position – Structural and Functional Studies of Plant Membrane-Protein Transporters 📍 Molecular Biology & Genetics -… ...

🚀 Exciting PhD opportunity in structural biology & plant science! 🌱 PhD Position – Structural and Functional Studies of Plant Membrane-Protein Transporters 📍 Molecular Biology & Genetics - Aarhus Un...

www.linkedin.com

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 14

A Good Day in the lab 🤩:

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

9/ Funded by @dg.dk @erc.europa.eu @novo-nordisk.bsky.social @ias-tum.bsky.social @dfg.de and Independent Research Fund Denmark.

@embo.org YIP
@molbiolau.bsky.social

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

9/ Together with our recent work on PIN-based cellular EXPORT of herbicides (www.nature.com/articles/s41...), we now have a much improved understanding of how these molecules are distributed in plant tissues. A new next step towards more sustainable agriculture.

Transport of phenoxyacetic acid herbicides by PIN-FORMED auxin transporters - Nature Plants

PIN transporters are key players in distributing phenoxyacetic acid herbicides. Mutagenesis and cryo-EM structures elucidate substrate specificity and transport mechanisms, paving the way for improved...

www.nature.com

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

8/ We also show that AUX/LAX proteins transport auxin-like herbicides. These compounds account for 20% of worldwide herbicide usage in agriculture🌽🌾🍞.

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

7/ After that we worked tirelessly to get all the data needed to support this initial structural breakthrough.

LAX3 turns out to be a very high affinity importer with a Km in the nanomolar range, as compared to the PIN exporters that have a Km in the micromolar range.

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

6/ AND this is also a cautionary tale to follow-up on experiments. Running 100's of processing jobs🖥️ we missed the solution. It was sitting on the cluster for ~2 months unnoticed before a routine check by Lam before deleting old jobs caught the solution. This was around Xmas 2023🎄. A perfect gift🎁.

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

5/ Notably LAX3 is a monomeric 47 kDa membrane protein totally embedded in detergent micelles on the EM grids, and Lam managed, by very careful computational analysis🤖 to extract high resolution structures from this, pushing our ability to solve structures of small membrane proteins using cryo-EM.🤯

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

4/ LAX3 and AUX/LAX proteins belong to the APC super family (think LeuT-fold for you structure aficionados out there🤓).

We managed to get 4 structures in 3 different conformational states with 3 different substrates and inhibitors.😅🤩

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

3/ PAT is defined by cellular export🔼 by the PIN family, and by cellular auxin IMPORT⏬ by the AUX/LAX family.

This paper target how AUX/LAX proteins recognize auxin and drive import. We use the protein LAX3 for this purpose, central for development of lateral roots (nutrients and water).

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

2/ Auxin is the central growth regulating hormone in plants. We have over the years worked on the molecular foundation of “Polar Auxin Transport”. PAT is a central mechanism for auxin distribution in vascular plants. Key to regulate growth in response to environmental and developmental cues🌱☀️🌧️.

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

1/ A real tour de force by ⭐@unglam.bsky.social (now starting a group at IPBS-Toulouse) with a lot of support from a whole range of people from our newly started DNRF Center of Excellence Plant-PATH (plant-path.au.dk). Especially our close collaborator and center partner @uhammes.bsky.social.

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Aug 13

Best thing is to come back from ⛰️vacation☀️ to find a manuscript has metamorphosed into a published paper, so..

🚀 Check out our paper on hormone import⏬ into plant cells in @natplants.nature.com 🌱👇

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Bjørn Panyella Pedersen

Plantae.org @plantaeofficial.bsky.social · Jul 7

Plant Science Research Weekly -- PIN auxin transporters facilitate polar transport of synthetic phenoxyacetic acid herbicides (Nature Plants) @lukas-schulz.bsky.social‬ @uhammes.bsky.social‬ @bjornppedersen.bsky.social‬
(Summary by Jerry González Cantoral @phytojerry.bsky.social)

PIN auxin transporters facilitate polar transport of synthetic phenoxyacetic acid herbicides | Plantae

Synthetic herbicides are widely used in agriculture to control weeds, often by targeting the physiological pathways regulated by auxins, plant hormones that induce root growth and development.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Bjørn Panyella Pedersen

Naomi Pollock @naomilpollock.bsky.social · Jun 20

A beautiful time of year to visit Denmark, and always a pleasure to be at @au.dk looking very closely at proteins in the Physics Dept basement, and meeting @bjornppedersen.bsky.social and his group.

View over central Aarhus from a rooftop garden.

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · May 13

Just had our 2025 Lab Retreat 🥳. Great science🌱 and interactions 🐛🐝 at Aarhus Harbour🏊‍♀️🛥️ in the nice weather🌞.

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Apr 28

7/
Funded by @erc.europa.eu @novo-nordisk.bsky.social @scholarsatrisk.bsky.social

@molbiolau.bsky.social

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Apr 28

6/
🔬We now understand more about sugar transport and Sugar Transport Proteins, and the results are a next step towards improved pathogen resistance🐛🐜 and energy utilization in agriculture.🌱🌽🌾

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Apr 28

5/
Ultimately we show that we can swap the affinity of fructose and glucose by moving a single methyl group!🤓

This highlights that very minute structural differences that manifest during transport are sufficient to modify transport selectivity.🤯

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Apr 28

4/
👀 relevant for transporter aficionados, we have tested 3 different methodologies to derive apparent affinities (Km) and show that biophysical parameters are highly dependent on protein environment and methodology..
If you compare transport between protein isoforms and methodologies ⚠️BEWARE⚠️

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Apr 28

3/
this is relevant because the main sugar derived from photosynthesis is sucrose🍭 which is equal parts glucose🍬 and fructose 🍡.

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Apr 28

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🍬 bite-sized breakdown:

🧑‍🔬 We looked into the mechanics of sugar transport proteins STP6 and STP10. Turns out that despite having a virtually identical binding site, STP6 can transport fructose and glucose, while STP10 remain highly selective for glucose.

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Apr 28

1/
💎💎💎💎 💎💎💎💎
sitting drop membrane protein CRYSTALS 💓
Look at that packing..💖

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Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · Apr 28

🚀 Check out our latest paper on the selectivity of sugar transport in plants👇
Amazing work initiated by ⭐Laust Bavnhøj and spearheaded by 💫Camilla Andersen:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Also
💎💎💎💎 CRYSTALS💎💎💎💎

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