Commentary on Earth Biogenome project

The Earth BioGenome project: Opportunities and Challenges for Plant Genomics and Conservation

Moises Exposito Alonso, Hajk Georg Drost, Hernán A. Burbano & Detlef Weigel
Plant Journal | 01 December 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.14631

Sequencing them all. That is the ambitious goal of … Read the rest

AraPheno and AraGWAS updates

AraPheno and the AraGWAS Catalog 2020: a major database update including RNA-Seq and knockout mutation data for Arabidopsis thaliana

Matteo Togninalli, Ümit Seren, Jan A Freudenthal, J Grey Monroe, Dazhe Meng, Magnus Nordborg, Detlef Weigel, Karsten Borgwardt, Arthur Korte, Dominik … Read the rest

bioRxiv: Microbial biomass & disease in wild plants

The relationship between microbial biomass and disease in the Arabidopsis thaliana phyllosphere

Karasov et al., bioRxiv 828814, posted November 3, 2019.

A central goal in microbiome research is to learn what distinguishes a healthy from a dysbiotic microbial community. … Read the rest

bioRxiv: Integrated sequencing approaches for microbiome analyses

Combining whole genome shotgun sequencing and rDNA amplicon analyses to improve detection of microbe-microbe interaction networks in plant leaves

Regalado, Lundberg et al., bioRxiv 823492, posted October 30, 2019.

Microorganisms from all domains of life establish associations with plants. … Read the rest

bioRxiv: GWAS without complete genomes

Finding genetic variants in plants without complete genomes

Voichek, Y., & Weigel, D., bioRxiv 818096, posted October 25, 2019.

Structural variants and presence/absence polymorphisms are common in plant genomes, yet they are routinely overlooked in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). … Read the rest

Out in PNAS: Convergent evolution of herbicide resistance

Multiple modes of convergent adaptation in the spread of glyphosate-resistant Amaranthus tuberculatus

Kreiner et al., PNAS, published September 30, 2019

While evolution has been thought of as playing out over millions of years, adaptation to new environments can occur very … Read the rest

2019 Campus soccer tournament

Amazing: this year’s soccer team made it all the way to the semifinals!

Congratulations, everyone!

Our 9-players team and tournament impressions:

 … Read the rest

Confirmatory Results: Regulation of TCP genes by miR319

Update on a Developmental Cell paper with duplicated image

We have found issues with our article ‘Sequence and Expression Differences Underlie Functional Specialization of Arabidopsis MicroRNAs miR159 and miR319’, published in Developmental Cell in July 2007.

1. Even … Read the rest

Climate change impact on the Arabidopsis genome

Natural selection on the Arabidopsis thaliana genome in present and future climates

Moises Exposito-Alonso, 500 Genomes Field Experiment Team, Hernán A. Burbano, Oliver Bossdorf, Rasmus Nielsen & Detlef Weigel
Nature, published online August 28, 2019

Through the lens of evolution, … Read the rest

Resource: Species-wide inventory of NLR genes & alleles

A Species-Wide Inventory of NLR Genes and Alleles in Arabidopsis thaliana

Van de Weyer et al. Cell 178, 1260-1272

Infectious disease is both a major force of selection in nature and a prime cause of yield loss in agriculture. In … Read the rest