Marcelle Johnson, PhD 🇿🇦 🇸🇪 🇳🇱

A colorful start to 2026! 🌿 #ImageOfTheMonth
M. Batsale (Plant Virology team, @inrae-bfp.bsky.social ) captured a Nicotiana benthamiana cell infected with turnip mosaic virus — peroxisomes (yellow), viral vesicles (magenta) & chloroplasts (blue).

Someone got Cas9-Turbo to work. It's like basically Y1H but with proteomics. It however requires transgenic plant expressing Cas9-Turbo and gRNAs, which is still cumbersome for many plants that are not Arabidopsis. #PlantSciences

Plant Virology Satellite | American Society for Virology ORGANIZER: Anna Whitfield, North Carolina State University, Councilor For Plant Virology A satellite symposium featuring key topics in plant virology spanning molecular mechanisms of gene expression…

I hope to see lots of plant virologists at the American Society for Virology Meeting. asv.org/2025/05/09/p...

Grains, trade and war in the multimodal transmission of Rice yellow mottle virus: An historical and phylogeographical retrospective Author summary Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) poses a major threat to rice production in Africa. We explored through a multidisciplinary approach the links between the history of rice in East Africa ...

🌾🦠 Trade, war, and viral rice

A new study traces how Rice yellow mottle virus spread across Africa via caravan trade, seed exchange – and even WWI troop movements.

Plant virus history is human history too.

🔗 doi.org/10.1371/jour...

#PlantPathology #Rice #SciComm 🧪

Wondering how plant virus detectives work? Ask our expert Paolo Margaria at #BookAScientist.
appointments: www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de/ueber-uns/ne...

#sequencing #plantvirus #hightroughput

News from the battle between plants and viruses – our expert Samar Sheat summarises the success of fighting cassava diseases.
book your session: www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de/ueber-uns/ne...

#cassava #plantvirus #pathogens #food

RNA function follows form – why is it so hard to predict? AlphaFold’s highly accurate structural models transformed protein biology,but RNA lags behind.

AlphaFold’s highly accurate structural models transformed protein biology. Nature reports on the efforts to create a similar system for RNA and why it’s a tougher nut to crack. #RNAsky 🧪

Next week 200 virologists will arrive in Murcia, Spain for 'International Advances in Plant Virology 2025' :)
- You can join us online to catch up on the science!
- Thanks to our sponsors @bspp.bsky.social Loewe Diagostics and BIOREBA
- Register as online delegate here -> cvent.me/mNNvzA

We cordially invite you to the Experimental Plant Biology conference #PSEBP2025 which will be held at the University of Warsaw.

I will chair, together with Magda Krzymowska, a session on Plant Biotic Interactions.
Registration opens in a few days.

#plantsci
psepb2025.pl

📢 Research engineer / Postdoc opportunity! Join our team to study plant-virus interactions in cereals. Gain expertise in plant molecular biology, advanced microscopy, CRISPR, and crop improvement. Apply here (jobs.inrae.fr/en/ot-25488), or contact Syed Zaidi (syed.zaidi@inrae.fr).

On the 8th of April, our #EUFunded #VIRTIGATION project will host a session on how to control the devastating #ToBRFV #PlantVirus at the prestigious #IAPV25 conference of @aabiologists.bsky.social. Join us at this key #PlantHealth conference in #Murcia: www.rtds-group.com/news/iapv-25...

I am very happy to announce that we solved the in-virus #cryoEM structure of the #HIV matrix protein. The structure helped us to resolve a long mystery in HIV biology. A🧵1/5
Read more in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪

Some think, ‘I’m from a blue town/state, so writing an article won’t help.’ But it will. Explaining the local impacts of funding cuts gives supporters clear, concrete talking points so they can help advocate for science’s value to health, the economy, and society. It also rallies concern. 🧪🏠

A multi-panel diagram of features about "Obelisks". Top half, a) schematics of Obelisk-alpha, a 1164 nt long, apparent;y circular, predicted to be rod-shaped RNA that codes for two proteins, Oblin-1 and Oblin-2 where Oblin-1 is self-complementary. Obelisks bare no sequence similarity to any annotated genetic sequence. The predicted secondary structure is depicted as "Jupiter" plots (circular diagrams where chords represent predicted base pairs), and as skeleton diagrams (where parallel lines represent predicted base pairs). Bottom left, b) a schematic of the world map, with nations coloured in shades of red representing the number of datasets (from a subset database) that contain Obelisks (redder = more datasets), nations from all 7 continents are shaded. Bottom right, c) a predicted tertiary structure for Oblin-1, that appears to be a novel fold, represented as in cartoon format and as a topological diagram (right).

There's a ~1000nt sub-viral RNA that shows up on every continent, and in humans, and it seems to have gone unnoticed! It has no sequence similarity to any database and codes for a wacky protein

Super happy to finally share my thesis work on "Obelisks"

tinyurl.com/yc54fzj9

#MicroSky #microbiomesky

Hi Amelia! If they’re interested in plant viruses, I’d be up for discussing my work on multipartite viruses.

Hey all! I’m looking for a virologist who would be willing to zoom with my virology class May 6 between 10-11:15 to give a talk on your work and take questions from 9 undergraduates. I’d make them read a paper of your choice in prep for your talk. Please share in virology circles! #microsky

Interested in antiviral immunity in plant stem cells? Finding new pathways that keep viruses out? We have an open PhD position in my lab @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social, follow the link below if the topic piques your interest! Contact me by email if you have questions. #IMPRS #plantvirus #plantPhD

Viroid-like “obelisk” agents are widespread in the ocean and exceed the abundance of RNA viruses in the prokaryotic fraction Abstract. “Obelisks” are recently discovered RNA viroid-like elements present in diverse environments with no phylogenetic similarity to any known biologic

Viroid-like “obelisk” agents are widespread in the ocean and exceed the abundance of RNA viruses in the prokaryotic fraction | The ISME Journal | Oxford Academic https://academic.oup.com/ismej/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ismejo/wraf033/8042533?rss=1&login=false

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

In conversation with Rosa Lozano-Duran from @geminiteamlab.bsky.social.

#PlantScience #PlantImmunity #PlantViruses

Our congratulations also go to Daniel J. Leybourne for being selected as runner-up in the #BiologyLetters #ECR Competition. Read Daniel’s paper “Genetic diversity in vector populations influences the transmission efficiency of an important plant virus” here: ow.ly/vrJo50UCok8

39 North AgTech Innovation District Join the conversation

Find more #STL #PlantScience and #AgTech Innovators here! DM us if you want to be added to the starter pack.

go.bsky.app/MxfEHdo

Environment‐Organism Feedbacks Drive Changes in Ecological Interactions Ecological interactions are central to our understanding of the composition and function of communities, but attempts to use them as a theoretical foundation for experimental ecology have been confou....

Our framework explaining why ecological interactions change between contexts is out in Ecology Letters!
A lovely collaboration with @saramitri.bsky.social which provides experimentally-testable links between the physiology and ecology of microbes.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Let's try this BlueSky !

A dedicated account to highlight the #womeninSTEM and to give them the visibility they deserve.

Objective: 1,000 portraits of women scientists from all fields, all nationalities and all time periods.

New year, new paper! Now published in @nature.com. We identified and characterised diverse immune cell states in plants under pathogen attack. My postdoc work in the Ecker lab at @salkinstitute.bsky.social. A thread (0/n)
#PlantScience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

As academic Bluesky grows, researchers find strengths—and shortcomings Platform fosters collegial interactions among scientists, but potentially limits interactions beyond the academic community

Scientists are starting to study—and debate—how the unique features of Bluesky might affect discussions of research and workplace culture, and efforts to engage with the public. scim.ag/428RTYG

I’m keeping my Threads account at the moment. Bluesky is great for meeting other researchers but I enjoy interacting with the general public and seeing their questions etc for scientists. It’s a bit of a tough one for science communicators.

Great work Tatsuya! Definitely one for the long read this week.

Looks like a great plant virology meeting.

#plantvirus #plantvirology

Registration is now open! Join us for the 2025 #EarlyCareerShowcase and explore the future of our field. This exciting event will celebrate innovation in #PlantScience and #PlantMicrobe interactions.
Free for members! Learn more and save your spot today: bit.ly/4funAyV

Tagging for reach #plantvirus #plantvirology