@maitecolinas
π±, natural products, enzymes, regulation, evolution, not necessarily in this order. Currently Project Group Leader at Department of Natural Product Biosynthesis @mpi-ce.bsky.social. Former MSCA fellow. Always daydreamer.(she/her)
Interesting paper: Metabolic enzyme PAL can go into the nucleus in response to high product build up and sequester an activating TF of the pathway, thus acting as a feedback inhibition loop.
From: www.science.org/doi/full/10....
#PlantScience
The group of @hildenelissen.bsky.social is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to develop multiplex genome editing systems in sorghum, tropical maize and rice, leading to the identification of gene combinations strengthening seedling vigor. Please spread the news!
jobs.vib.be/j/129009/pos...
Started this project years ago, but now everything is deposited on @addgene.bsky.social and a short @protocolsio.bsky.social is online. Try it out to make your own (cheap) homemade nuclease/Benzonase!
dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.261ged7xov47/v2
Thank you @jcoker10.bsky.social and Michael Lim!
We're closing in on oleuropein biosynthesis in Olive! Oleuropein is the reason we can't eat raw olives, and also the "spicy" taste of olive oil. People assumed (and some wrongly reported) that the pathway was the same as in Catharanthus, but that's not entirely true! π§΅
www.cell.com/plant-commun...
Flavonoids at the Crossroads of Plant Defense: A Multifunctional Shield Against Insect Pests academic.oup.com/jxb/article-... @jxbotany.bsky.social
See our newest manuscript dissecting emergent functions in a multispecies biofilm (metabolite cross-feeding, siderophore induction and cross-species utilization) that translates to plant growth promotion
Great work by @jiyuxie.bsky.social and Xinli Sun
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
I guess the AD is located at the C-terminus in this MYB? It's quite frequently observed in different TF families that the ADs are intrinsically disordered (or predicted to) as opposed to the DBD
#natprod
Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.
In our latest preprint we report the unexpected discovery of Epi-STR, an R-stereoselective ortholog of the S-selective canonical Strictosidine synthases (STRs). Found in the rather obscure plant Pogonopus specious. This work was led by my stellar student Clara Morweiser!
#natprod
#PlantScience
Although canonical STRs have been targets of extensive rational engineering in the past changes in stereoselectivity were actually never achieved with the native substrates.
Thus this work also shows the importance of studying phytochemically poorly described plant species.
Left: Active site of a canonical STR from Ophiorrhiza pumila, right active site of Epi-STR. Eight amino acid active site residues that differ in the two enzymes are labelled.
By structurally and phylogenetically comparing Epi-STR to canonical STRs Clara identified specific active site residues determining stereoselectivity and was able to swap the stereoselectivity of a canonical STR and Epi-STR.
οΏΌ
STRs catalyze the Pictet-Spengler reaction between a secoiridoid and tryptamine, the class-defining reaction for monoterpenoid indole alkaloids such as medicinal alkaloids vinblastine, quinine, ibogaine and others.
In our latest preprint we report the unexpected discovery of Epi-STR, an R-stereoselective ortholog of the S-selective canonical Strictosidine synthases (STRs). Found in the rather obscure plant Pogonopus specious. This work was led by my stellar student Clara Morweiser!
#natprod
#PlantScience
New Article: "Elucidation of gene clusters underlying withanolide biosynthesis in ashwagandha through yeast metabolic engineering" rdcu.be/e14YH
4 cyt. P450s, 1 dehydrogenase, 1 sulfotransferase build core scaffold of products with neurological/anti-cancer properties.
#natprod
Registration is still open for the Plant Cell Atlas' Data Reproducibility for Plant Single Cell data workshop, online! www.plantcellatlas.org/events.html?...
Bee-hunting beetles are the first animals known to fake the smell of flowers | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Forgot to post earlier this really cool story by my colleagues here @oconnorlab.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social. Blister beetle larvae mimic flower scents to attract bees. Led by Ryan Alam and Tobias KΓΆllner.
#secmet
New Brief Communication: "A CRISPR-based sequence proximity binding protein labelling system for scanning upstream regulatory proteins" rdcu.be/eZLUP
CRISPR-based proximity labelling system to profile DNA-binding proteins such as PIF4 transcription factor .
Ever wondered if diverse plant species respond similarly when infected by the same exact pathogen? Infect different asterids and rosids with the same Botrytis genotypes and teh short answer, quite differently.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@annajomu.bsky.social @ccaseys.bsky.social
(1/3)
So pleased to share this work on alkaloid biosynthesis.
Great collaboration with @unsworthchem.bsky.social. Well done to all authors. We have found key alkaloid producing enzymes that look like those normally found in bacteria.
www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
Have you ever heard that women have more chances than men of getting grants or positions in academia? Of course you have, and here are my personal views on this. With the shocking revelation that no, it is NOT TRUEΒ ! (1/n)
A free, open-access library of high-quality organism illustrations for science communication
Pint jar filled with blue dry beans.
A few years ago, through luck and vibes, I managed to produce this blue colored bean variety.
This was an early step in trying to answer the question, [paraphrased] "Why isn't blue as common as red in beans, even though they're both anthocyanins and the plant has the genes for both?"
Attention Nicotiana benthamiana users! Certain strains of Agrobacterium (e.g. GV3101-pMP90) induce glandular trichomes because of cytokinin production by Agrobacterium. As this can influence assay outcome, we recommend testing several strains. See our preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
High-efficiency, transgene-free plant genome editing by viral delivery of an engineered TnpB https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.05.692691v1
The centuries old mystery of how tobacco plants make nicotine has a sweet solution: an additional glucose group is vital for the key pathway steps. Read more in our pre-print: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... Incredible work from @benschwabe.bsky.social and collaborators in York and Copenhagen.
We all assumed nicotine biosynthesis was long elucidated, didn't we? :)
Well, it wasn't but now it is thanks to this work led by @benschwabe.bsky.social @lichmanlab.bsky.social
Learned about these results last summer, a pleasure to see the preprint out, congratulations!
#natprod
#PlantScience
