Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

Aileen Berasategui @berasymbionts.bsky.social · Sep 8

🚨 Save the date! Thrilled to be co-organizing the next iteration of the @embl.org Symposium on the Cellular Mechanics of Symbiosis (📅 March 17-20), w/ @floravincent.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social & Tom Richards.
www.embl.org/about/info/c...
#EESSymbiosis #Symbiosis #SymbioSky #MicroSky 🦠

The cellular mechanics of symbiosis: sensing friend from foe

www.embl.org

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

Justin Stewart @thecrobe.bsky.social · Sep 2

Over 70% of Earth's ecoregions have yet to be sampled for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

By analyzing eDNA sample locations, we found most soils are unsampled. Drylands are especially overlooked despite covering almost 1/3 of the Earth's terrestrial land.

academic.oup.com/femsle/artic...

Map of unsampled ecosystems for AM fungal eDNA from the GlobalAMFungi database.

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

Matthias C. Rillig @mrillig.bsky.social · Aug 21

Celebrating the small wins in academia….a reminder to myself (and maybe you….)

Please share with someone you think might also need this reminder :)

open.substack.com/pub/matthias...

Celebrating the small wins in academia

A little reminder...

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · Jun 4

#Viewpoint: Bring back the #phenotype

César Marín & Michael J. Wade 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue #PlantScience

Text reads: 'life is more than machinery and genetic information'.

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

International Mycorrhiza Society @mycorrhizaims.bsky.social · Jul 23

Our new newsletter is now published!
Dig into the latest updates on IMS’s 20th anniversary, ICOM2026 preparations, our new website & logo, top 10 research papers, and upcoming events. Read more at mycorrhizas.org/news. Stay connected! #Mycorrhiza

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · Jul 23

Who lives underground?

Find out now in our new paper published in @nature.com.

Key finding: 90% of predicted mycorrhizal biodiversity hotspots lie outside protected areas.

Read here: buff.ly/WmDqAP3 🧵

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Adam Frew @frewecologist.bsky.social · Jul 17

The database of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Australia is out!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

You can access data summaries via the website www.ausamf.com

We have data from 610 sites with data from another 500 locations to be added by the end of the year!

Thanks to all collaborators

AusAMF: The Database of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities in Australia

Motivation Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are central to plant nutrient acquisition, soil carbon dynamics, and ecosystem resilience. Yet, their biogeography remains incompletely characterised, pa...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Timo Mendez @timomendez.bsky.social · Jul 14

I found a cool cordyceps on a stink bug the other day! Pretty rad! What do you think?

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IFBC_2025 @ifbc-2025.bsky.social · Jul 5

🚨 Final days to register! ⌛️
Don’t wait until the last minute ⏰ —secure your spot and get ready to connect with scientists from around the world in stunning Crete! 🌍🧫

Let’s advance fungal biology together!
🔗 ifbc2025.maich.gr
📣 REGISTER NOW!

🔁 Share to reach the whole myco-community!

#IFBC25

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

International Mycorrhiza Society @mycorrhizaims.bsky.social · Jul 3

🌱 Hello, BlueSky! 👋
We’re excited to join this space and connect with new communities!
To celebrate, we’re launching our new logo and completely redesigned website
Now available in English, Spanish & French
Take a look 👉 mycorrhizas.org
We’re just getting started here — follow us for updates!

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

Adam Frew @frewecologist.bsky.social · Jul 2

New paper out! @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social
Led by @aguilart.bsky.social

We argue mycelial network connectivity can define functional groups of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. We explore how different fungi balance efficiency vs. resilience.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Connecting the dots: Network structure as a functional trait in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Soil health and sustainable land management are critical to addressing global challenges such as food security, climate resilience, and biodiversity loss. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form under...

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · Jul 1

July issue of @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social is now online, with our review by @xinmingxu.bsky.social @neftalyl.bsky.social on Composing a microbial symphony and a matching cover illustration by @lizahaart.bsky.social

#SynCom #PlantMicrobiome #MicrobiomeEcology at #LeidenBiology

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Manjeet Dhull @manjeet786.bsky.social · Jul 1

Spent last week at the microscope 🔬✨, and seeing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi up close for the first time—hyphae, arbuscules, vesicles—was absolutely mind-blowing. Small but mighty partners of plant roots 🌿. Sharing a few of my favourite shots.
#Mycorrhiza #fungi

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Carlos Aguilar-Trigueros @aguilart.bsky.social · Jul 1

Measuring physical properties of fungal network has never been easier and with that, an opportunity to re-define fungal functional diversity. Check our contribution on this issue for AMF: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

As always, a fun collab with @frewecologist.bsky.social

Connecting the dots: Network structure as a functional trait in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Soil health and sustainable land management are critical to addressing global challenges such as food security, climate resilience, and biodiversity loss. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form under...

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

Nature Plants @natplants.nature.com · Jun 26

‘Wildest thing’: solar-powered slug steals chloroplasts and stores them for emergencies
doi.org/10.1038/d415...

A comment on this @cellpress.bsky.social paper: "A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis"
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

Dr. Bala Chaudhary @balachaudhary.bsky.social · Jun 25

Excited to share that I am taking on a new role as Editor in Chief of npj Soil Ecology, a new journal dedicated to communicating high-quality research and scholarship exploring all aspects of the ecology of soils from gene to ecosystem scales.

www.nature.com/npjsoilecol/

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Alexandra Dallaire @alexdallaire.bsky.social · Jun 23

So happy I had a chance to contribute to this review! Nice summary and thoughts on past, present and future attempts to transform #arbuscular #mycorrhizal #fungi 🍄🧬

Vasilis Kokkoris @vkokkoris.bsky.social · Jun 20

🧪🧬Should we reignite genetic manipulation attempts on #arbuscular #mycorrhizal #fungi? Our review in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social suggests the time is ripe.

With: Midge Woodward @paszkowskilab.bsky.social @alexdallaire.bsky.social

Open access🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

#scicomm

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Vasilis Kokkoris @vkokkoris.bsky.social · Jun 20

🧪🧬 We outline key research gaps and offer a roadmap toward the ultimate goal: successful genetic modification of #arbuscular #mycorrhizal #fungi.

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Vasilis Kokkoris @vkokkoris.bsky.social · Jun 20

🧪🧬 We examine how the atypical #arbuscular #mycorrhizal fungal cell (e.g., #multinucleate, #coneocytic, obligate symbiont) rendered past transformation attempts unsuccessful — and propose solutions to overcome these challenges.

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Vasilis Kokkoris @vkokkoris.bsky.social · Jun 20

🧪🧬Should we reignite genetic manipulation attempts on #arbuscular #mycorrhizal #fungi? Our review in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social suggests the time is ripe.

With: Midge Woodward @paszkowskilab.bsky.social @alexdallaire.bsky.social

Open access🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

#scicomm

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Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · Jun 16

What you always wanted to know about fungal sex, but were afraid to ask...

🍄❤️🍄 from our #fungi special by Sheng, Sun Marco Coelho, Márcia David-Palma, Jun Huang, Zhuyun Bian and Joe Heitman

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Fungal sexual reproduction and mating-type loci

Sun et al. highlight the tremendous diversity of fungal reproductive modes and the underlying genetics, in particular the organization and function of mating-type loci.

www.cell.com

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Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · Jun 19

The "dark" #biodiversity of ectomycorrhizal #fungi

Epic review in our 🍄 special issue by Laura van Galen @laura-vangalen.bsky.social and many many others!

www.cell.com/current-biol...

The biogeography and conservation of Earth’s ‘dark’ ectomycorrhizal fungi

In this review, van Galen et al. use global soil metabarcoding databases to evaluate current estimates of the total number of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal species on Earth, outline the current state o...

www.cell.com

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Vasilis Kokkoris @vkokkoris.bsky.social · Jun 13

Thank you @frewecologist.bsky.social 😊

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Reposted by Vasilis Kokkoris

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · Jun 12

The scope of #fungi #biodiversity is only beginning to be fathomed.

Every day almost ten new species are described. 🍄🤯

David Hibbett László Nagy and Henrik Nilsson introduce the fungal tree of life. www.cell.com/current-biol...

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Jen McGaley @jenmcgaley.bsky.social · Jun 12

Mid-week #mycorrhiza 🍄
Just a particularly pretty arbuscule in a rice root cell colonised by the mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis, with a cool view down an intercellular hypha. Stained with WGA-Alexafluor488, imaged by CLSM, false-coloured by depth in root 🔥

#microscopy #mycosci #fungi

Thick fungal hyphae around a cells with an arbuscule inside the cell, false-coloured with 'fire' colours to depict 3D structure.

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