Thanks to Hugo Dooner and Charles Du and their group for generating the awesome Ds-GFP insertion lines, without which this investigation would not have been possible (alpha.maizegdb.org/fowler_inser...). And to the National Science Foundation, for its vision and investment in scientific progress.
Pollen grains germinating in vitro on the left, designated 'Plants'; and an unpollinated maize ear, with silks exposed, on the right, designated 'Landscape'.
Overall, the work shows that genotype‑dependent differences in pollen fitness can create subtle but significant spatial inheritance patterns in maize, and suggests these effects may be more common than expected. The outcomes of pollen competition are thus shaped by the landscape of the ear
(c) Ear from a gex2::Ds-GFP/+ pollen cross showing more fluorescent kernels at both ends. (e) Quadratic GLM fit for the ear in panel (c), illustrating a “true quadratic” pattern.
Notably, alleles of the sperm‑cell mutant gex2 can show a “true quadratic” pattern, with highest transmission at both apex and base. Other gex2 crosses show highest transmission at the apex, or at the base. We speculate these differences reflect unknown ear heterogeneities, e.g., ovule maturity.
(a) Ear from a bag1::Ds-GFP/+ pollen cross, showing more fluorescent kernels toward the apex. (b) Linear‑fit lines for ears from all 30 bag1 crosses are overlaid, with about half showing a significant upward trend in transmission toward the apex. Blue lines mark significant increasing patterns on an ear (p ≤ 0.05); grey lines are not significant.
We found one allele with an expected phenotype - bag1, which is less competitive (i.e., reduced GFP transmission) in long silks leading to the ear base. In fact, 5 of 10 mutant alleles affecting pollen fitness had reproducible spatial effects. However, surprise, there are other patterns!
The EarScape pipeline highlights non‑random spatial patterns in kernel transmission across a maize ear. (a, b) A computer vision pipeline identifies the centroid positions of fluorescent and non‑fluorescent kernels, oriented from base (left) to apex (right) for a cross from a heterozygous bag1*/+ parent. (c) The ear is divided into 16 equal sections, and transmission rate is calculated in each as GFP kernels (green) relative to wild‑type (purple). (d) These counts are used to fit a linear GLM that tests for increasing or decreasing spatial trends (blue line; one‑tailed p ≤ 0.05).
We used a set of mutants that are marked with an endosperm-expressed GFP, and thus could track how mutant pollen fares in competition with wild-type pollen in maize silks of different lengths. Undergrad Michelle Bang came up with the critical statistical pipeline, EarScape, guided by Prof Duo Jiang.
Mutant alleles that affect pollen fitness can generate spatial inheritance patterns on maize ears – see the article by Ruggiero et al. Top Left: Maize pollen grains germinated on a silk, with pollen tubes (stained with aniline blue) growing into the silk interior. Image Credit: Caity Smyth. Bottom Left: Unpollinated maize ear with silks arranged to show that silks derived from ovules at the base of the ear are longer than silks from ovules at the ear apex. Image Credit: Elyse Vischulis. Right: Ear projection from a mature ear pollinated with the pollen from a plant heterozygous for the bag1*::Ds-GFP insertion, oriented apex-to-base top-to-bottom (as in bottom left ear/silk image). The GFP-marked bag1* allele is associated with a spatial pattern of fewer fluorescent kernels towards the base of the ear – i.e., kernels generated following pollen tube growth down the longest silks.
Very pleased to see this work from the group out in The Plant Journal - led by PhD student Diana Ruggiero from the Leiboff group, a truly collaborative project, addressing the question: how often does pollen genotype influence spatial patterns of inheritance? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Fox Confessor Brings The Flood came out 20 years ago and it still sounds brand fucking new. One of those records everyone wishes they could make.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qclx...
🌿 Postdoc opportunity in plant evolutionary ecology/genetics!
My lab in the Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to start Fall 2026.
We study plant adaptation, using weeds as model systems.
#Postdoc #EcoEvo
Pls RT!
The U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office.
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies. Read more: https://scim.ag/4boPkq8
Ralph was incredibly generous when I wanted to start working on moss. He invited me to visit his lab for a day and talk to/shadow people in his lab.
It’s too easy to go to war
I'm so sad to hear through the grapevine about Ralph's passing. He was the chair when I was hired at Wash U and a truly upstanding person.
I interviewed him at one point about what he thought went into making a great leader, and I need to dig those notes up!
engineering.washu.edu/news/2026/Ra...
Yesterday we rallied. Now let's get to work. ACTION STAND UP FOR SCIENCE standupforscience.net/take-action
Rallies and protests are great to raise awareness, build solidarity, and spark momentum, but we have to do more to actually stop how the current administration deals with science. Here are things to do next: zurl.co/T8nFb
#StandUpForScience
#TakeAction
#NextSteps
#Activism
#March7
Event flyer, shows the pandemic memorial in the New Orleans area
To mark the 6th anniversary of the pandemic, we will host a virtual town hall on Wed (2-3pm Central).
I will review findings from our dashboard survey many of you completed. Registration is required via a link at the top of the dashboard (pmc19.com/data).
🧵 4 of 4
A detailed digital composite image based on the 1947 historical photograph of geneticist Barbara McClintock. McClintock, with her characteristic short hair and round glasses, is seated at a microscope, using tweezers in a Petri dish. While based on the original photo distributed for her AAUW award, this image presents a significantly expanded and fictionalized laboratory environment. The simple wooden workbench is now densely populated with a vast, colorized collection of complex glassware, numerous amber-colored reagent bottles, intricate distillation columns, and botanical specimens relevant to maize cytogenetics, creating a rich, illustrative narrative of her "jumping gene" research context that was not present in the original photo. The expanded background shows complex vintage laboratory cabinetry. This image explicitly states it is a composite: a digital recreation where Seriously Scientific has taken the historical figure and placed them into an augmented, complex fictionalized environment. Based on original source from Smithsonian Institution Archives. Digital composite by Seriously Scientific.
Remembering Barbara McClintock on International Women's Day!
She discovered that genes aren't static, they can actually "jump" around on a chromosome.
Her discovery of transposons ("jumping genes") fundamentally changed how we understand evolution and the complexity of DNA! 🧬🌽
#WomenInScience
Good news today: @standupforscience.bsky.social is organizing rallies for science. 💪
Bad news:
Funded science is way down.
This is why I said wks ago the budget bill was “bad because it doesn’t go far enough.” How the science agencies are governed matters!!! This is killing labs. 🧪
Stand Up For Science Founder and CEO Colette Delawalla speaking at the Washington D.C. Take Back Our Science Rally!
Stand Up For Science Founder & CEO Colette Delawalla states three demands:
1. Remove RFK Jr.
2. Reinstate the American Dream of Science.
3. Science should be driven by scientists not political appointees.
Join the fight!
standupforscience.net/march7
These asshole twerps with no brains or education from DOGE really did use ChatGPT to find NEH grants to terminate ILLEGALLY - ruining hundreds lives and destroying hundreds of the greatest humanities projects and partnerships of our time. I’m overwhelmed with rage and anger all over again.
Great to see such a large crowd out today! #standupforscience
Yet again reinvigorated by how many people liked my signs at @standupforscience.bsky.social!
A reminder that the scientific community has not abandoned trans people
Follow @beyondxandy.bsky.social for news soon about our plans to rally scientists to fight for trans rights! 🧬🏳️⚧️
#standupforscience
When I went to last year's rally, my favorite part was people asking me questions about what science actually says about trans rights and gender affirming care because of my signs
So this year I explicitly called for it!
Fighting fascism with facts and a friendly face 🧬🏳️⚧️
I'm SO sad I won't make it to the DC @standupforscience.bsky.social rally (caring for an infant and, you know-cold, rain, measles, etc.). I'm gonna do my best to educate and advocate from my couch, though!
I'll start by sharing this via @scifri.bsky.social:
www.sciencefriday.com/segments/slo...
Re-upping this post. If you are going out tomorrow, be loud and clear.
Re-upping this post from a year ago. To invest in basic research is to invest in a better future for everyone.
You know, everyone deserves a better future, not just billionaires or whoever owns stocks of AI companies.
Are you a postdoc in a plant-related field such as🌿 Plant Biology 🌿 Agriculture & Crop Sciences 🌿 Ecology & Environment 🌿 Plant Pathology & Protection or 🌿 Biotechnology ?
We invite you to join a community of 700+ postdoctoral researchers from around the world at www.plantpostdocs.com
This is why simply passing a budget that isn't a 37% cut is not sufficient. This is why "the extent to which funding was restored" cannot be the measure of success.
www.sciencefriday.com/segments/slo...
With this war on Iran costing $1B per day, we are now at 4$B, an amount that would fund 3,200 five year NIH biomedical research grants.
STAND UP FOR SCIENCE CHICAGO NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION Take back our science, health, and democracy! MARCH 7TH, 2026 CHICAGO, IL AND NATIONWIDE! STAND UP FOR SCIENCE™ standupforscience.net/march7
1/2
Among other things... The government is still silently withholding appropriated money for science.
There is real damage being done to our current and future health because of actions that are extremely unpopular AS SOON AS PEOPLE HEAR ABOUT THEM.
You can help by raising your voice this weekend
Postdoc in evolutionary genetics with @mbhufford.bsky.social isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...
A multi-omics approach to maize (Zea mays) tassel development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.01.697295v1
