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Lothar Kalmbach

@lkalmbach.bsky.social
837 followers 290 following 30 posts

🌱 Assistant Professor at Uni of Neuchatel 🇨🇭 Investigating plant cell walls, vasculature, and physiology.

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Reposted by Lothar Kalmbach
Science Magazine @science.org · 01/10/2026
Here's a reminder on #InternationalCoffeeDay: It's OK to take a (coffee) break. ☕ "It’s ... helpful to have a venue to share the day-to-day ups and downs of life as a grad student." scim.ag/4xMyqZO
People arm in arm while drinking coffee and holding papers, with the headline: Why scientists should take more coffee breaks
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Plants, People, Planet @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
WorldCuP: A database of checklists documenting the World's Cultivated Plants and their distributions 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... Methods and Techniques article by Kinlock et al. #PlantScience
Map of regions in the World Cultivated Plants database
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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
@joopvermeer.bsky.social discusses integration of mechanical feedback in the formation of lateral roots in his #SLS26 talk "Integration of 3-dimensional differential growth within a tissue by a set of microtubule associated proteins" Read more about the Vermeer lab work: www.unine.ch/lbmc/
Joop Vermeer presenting at #SLS26Graphics of root cell with lateral roots emerging and timelapse movie showing lateral root emerging
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Dolf Weijers @dolfweijers.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... If you thought plant gene refulauwas simple… Cool work from Christian Hardtke, Noel Blanco and teams on exonic enhancers!
biorxiv.org
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PlantEvolution 🌱🌾 @plantevolution.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Highly recommended long read. (If opened in Substack app, should be automatically translated into English.) florianaigner.substack.com/p/die-ruckke...
Screenshot // The Return of Racial Theory
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Martin Pacesa @martinpacesa.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
ʙɪɴᴅᴄʀᴀꜰᴛ2 is out, and we're not waiting for the paper. The full code drops today, free for academic and industry use. We're releasing it early so you can start designing right now, and bring its full power to the current Adaptyv competition. github.com/PacesaLab/Bi...
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Chenxin Li, PhD @chenxinli2.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Arabidopsis Col-0 is not one thing "Genetic and epigenetic divergence among Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 laboratory lineages since the 1950s". #PlantScience From: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Genetic and epigenetic divergence among Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 laboratory lineages since the 1950s
The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana has been a workhorse of plant biology since the 1950s, when the Columbia-0 (Col-0) accession was widely adopted by the research community as a reference genotype. ...
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Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
🌿 REVIEW 🌿 Blanco-Touriñán & Blázquez explore molecular network evolution underlying conducting tissues, highlighting how conserved and rewired regulatory modules generated diverse systems in land plants while providing a framework for studying developmental circuits. #PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Comparison of conducting-cell types and regulatory modules in land plants. (A) Phylogenetic tree illustrating the major extant land plant groups. (B) Comparative overview of conducting structures across representative lineages, highlighting the diversity of water- and food-conducting cell types in bryophytes (e.g. hydroids, leptoids, pegged rhizoids) versus tracheophytes (true vascular tissues). True vascular conducting tissues include phloem, comprising sieve elements (SEs) and companion cells (CCs), and xylem, which includes protoxylem and metaxylem characterized by spiral/annular and pitted/reticulate secondary wall thickenings, respectively. Root cross-sections for Arabidopsis, Ceratopteris, and Selaginella are shown.
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Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
“Seven days after the girl’s medical team infused trillions of viruses carrying the recipe for the base editor into her spinal fluid, she died of a severe immune reaction linked to the therapy…” This, in @science.org, is an important and tragic story. (It’s also an incredibly well reported one.) 🧪
science.org
Exclusive: Death of girl in Chinese gene-editing trial was never made public
Parents want accountability after study went disastrously wrong, Science and Retraction Watch investigation reveals
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KleineVehnLab @kleinevehnlab.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
1/5 Every paper has a story. Ours started with a dataset and ended with a conceptual advance. But what I'm most proud of is the development of the people behind it. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
SHOOT GRAVITROPISM 9 links sensory timing to the initial lateral root growth angle | PNAS
Plants strategically respond to gravity and actively set defined growth angles. These gravitropic set-point angles (GSAs) shape the width and depth...
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KleineVehnLab @kleinevehnlab.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Excited to share our latest publication! 🎉 Here @sophiezoe.bsky.social reveals an early developmental time window determining initial growth direction of lateral roots. Wonderful collaboration with @wabniklab.bsky.social and @matesf.bsky.social lab www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @cibss.bsky.social
pnas.org
SHOOT GRAVITROPISM 9 links sensory timing to the initial lateral root growth angle | PNAS
Plants strategically respond to gravity and actively set defined growth angles. These gravitropic set-point angles (GSAs) shape the width and depth...
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Laboratory of Plant Morphodynamics @plantmorpho.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Our new Nat Plants paper introduces WALLΦ, a genetically encoded cell wall pH sensor, and reveals that root developmental zonation is independent of local cell wall pH. Wall pH supports growth at the organ level, but local growth patterns are governed by other mechanisms. doi.org/10.1038/s414...
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Loukas Theodosiou @bioinformatician.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
After four years, several updates and a handful of CRAN releases, 𝗹𝘁𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗥-𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗲, reached a version I feel genuinely good about sharing with the community. github.com/loukesio/ltc...
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COST Action PlantWallK @plantwallk.org · 21/07/2026
🔬 Postdoc opportunity: how do plant cells sense and respond to changes in their cell walls? Join the @cellwalldynamics.com lab @umeaplantsciencecentre.se, integrating Brillouin, O-PTIR & spatial transcriptomics on the Arabidopsis root. Deadline 31 Aug 2026 🔗 buff.ly/cPFemXd #PlantScience #Postdoc
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Franzi Fichtner @franzificht.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Finally out! Explore how vascular T6P modulates root growth 🌱 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Systemic and Local Regulation of Root Growth by Vascular Trehalose 6‐Phosphate is Correlated With Re‐allocation of Primary Metabolites Between Shoots and Roots
Trehalose 6-phoshpate (Tre6P) consistently regulates root growth, with high Tre6P inhibiting and low Tre6P promoting primary and lateral root growth. It does so by altering the accumulation and alloc...
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Jen McGaley @jenmcgaley.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Very happy this is now published in full! Symbiotic phosphate transporter dynamics in rice expose functional plasticity of the arbuscules www.nature.com/articles/s41... A thread of some of our findings (and timelapses) below 🧵🔬🎥
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Emmanuelle Bayer @emmanuellebayer.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Thrilled and grateful to receive an ERC Adv Grant! 🎉 We will explore how the endoplasmic reticulum contributes to plant ☘️ cell-to-cell communication 📞. 🤝 Thanks to my team, collaborators, and @bic-bordeaux.bsky.social. More details 👇 www.aquitaine.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/...
aquitaine.cnrs.fr
Un financement européen pour changer de regard sur le langage des cellules végétales
Le Conseil européen de la recherche a annoncé ce jour la liste des lauréats des bourses ERC Advanced Grant, récompensant des scientifiques confirmés p
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Elke Barbez @elkebarbez.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Thanks Cell Wall Community to give our <CellWallCharge group> such a warm welcome on #CellWall2026 in beautiful Porto. We got blessed with a poster price (@chenluliu.bsky.social) and abstract talk (@paulinarm.bsky.social) and enjoyed many great talks, posters and people! Cu soon!
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Sebastián Moreno-Ramírez @sebamorenor.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Excited to share that our work on single-nucleus RNA-seq of the shoot apical meristem — the shoot stem cell niche — has found a home. #Plantascience #scRNAseq #stemcells www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Single-nucleus transcriptomics resolves multiple fate dynamics between inflorescence meristem and primary stem
snRNA-seq reveals shoot stem cell heterogeneity and traces their differentiation into primary stem cell types.
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Thomas Ott @ottlab.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
A new documentary on scientific approaches to replace industrial nitrogen fertilizers is now online @artefr.bsky.social (only in DE/FR). Among them is our and @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social's work @ensa-research.bsky.social further supported by @cibss.bsky.social. www.arte.tv/de/videos/11...
arte.tv
Dünger der Zukunft: Die Stickstoff-Revolution - Die ganze Doku | ARTE
Ohne künstlichen Stickstoffdünger wären die hohen Erträge der industriellen Landwirtschaft undenkbar. Doch der intensive Einsatz schädigt das Klima. Weltweit wird nach klimafreundlichen Alternativen g...
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KleineVehnLab @kleinevehnlab.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Congratulations @chenluliu.bsky.social and @aroessling.bsky.social !!!
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Lothar Kalmbach @lkalmbach.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Fantastic! Congratulations!
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Leon-Samuel Icking @lsi.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
@biologyunifreiburg.bsky.social quality remains phenomenal, unsurprisingly #CellWall2026
Ann-Kathrin won the 2nd best talkChenlu won the best poster
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Thomas Ott @ottlab.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Happy to share our newest preprint. We developed guidelines and analysis workflows for FLIM Imaging in plants. Multiplexing with spectrally overlapping fluorophores in plants is now possible. Have a look. Any feedback is more than welcome. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Satoshi Fujita @583original.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Our review on the dynamics of Brassinosteroid molecules and BRI1 receptor @plantubiquitin.bsky.social @theplantjournal.bsky.social Congrats Rakuri and Julien! dx.doi.org/10.1111/tpj....
dx.doi.org
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mariebarberon.bsky.social @mariebarberon.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The RTS (Swiss TV) visited our lab and talked about our recent work on natural variation for suberin in the News yesterday evening! (In French)
rts.ch
Les racines, un espoir pour l'adaptation des plantes face aux stress climatiques - 19h30 - Play RTS
Play RTS vous permet de visionner ou d'écouter de nombreuses émissions tv ou radio, quand et aussi souvent que vous le souhaitez.
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Tina Schreier @tinaschreier.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
We’re looking for a postdoc to identify polarity determining factors in bundle sheath cells of C4 grasses and their role in the carbon concentrating mechanism. @johninnescentre.bsky.social Applications close 15th June. Please check out the job ad below or get in touch! #PlantSciJobs
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Christine Faulkner @pdchristine.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Plasmodesmal closure triggers stress responses! Turns out cells are generally better off with connections to their neighbours. This manuscript represents a decade-long team collaboration, with heroic effort from Estee Tee to lead it over the line! #PlantScience link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Plasmodesmal closure elicits stress responses - EMBO Reports
Plant cells are connected to their neighbors via plasmodesmata facilitating the exchange of nutrients and signaling molecules. During immune responses, plasmodesmata close, but how this contributes to...
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Plant Science Spotlight @plant-sci.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Don’t reach for ChatGPT Images or Nano Banana as your first option when creating scientific images There are multiple free and open-source images, icons, and tools for creating scientific illustrations. #plantscience @stephenturner.us blog.stephenturner.us/p/free-open-...
blog.stephenturner.us
Free and open-source images, icons, and tools for creating scientific illustrations
Phylopic, NIH Bioart, Bioicons, Scidraw, Open Science Art, Health Icons, Servier Medical Art, Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Noun Project, Segment Anything, Excalidraw, draw.io, Biographics
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Daniel Van Damme @danielvandamme.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
I am looking for a postdoctoral fellow to join my team to work on the interplay between endocytosis and autophagy. The 3-year project runs in collaboration with the Dagdas lab @plantophagy.bsky.social and can start asap. Interested candidates can apply via the link below. jobs.vib.be/apply/134365
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mariebarberon.bsky.social @mariebarberon.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Our natural variation screen for endodermal suberization identified SUBER GENE1, a new regulator of suberin via its interaction with TOPPs. Congratulations @jian-pu.bsky.social !
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Jian-Pu 韩 @jian-pu.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
It’s FINALLY out! We investigated the natural variations for endodermal suberin and identified SUBER GENE1 (SBG1)- Type One Protein Phosphatases (TOPPs) as a novel module that regulates endodermal suberization. @mariebarberon.bsky.social rdcu.be/fgU6g #PlantScience
rdcu.be
GWAS reveal SUBER GENE1-mediated suberization via type one phosphatases
Nature Plants - A genetic screen across Arabidopsis accessions identifies SBG1 as a regulator of root abscisic acid response and endodermal suberin deposition via type 1 protein phosphatases,...
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Sebastian Soyk @sebastiansoyk.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
🚨Job alert: We are looking for a #phd student to join us @unil.bsky.social to study the evolution & function of gene regulatory sequences in the context of crop domestication using genomics, genome editing and imaging 🌱🍅🧬. #plantscience #scijobs #plantscijobs. Apply here: tinyurl.com/3u73csma
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Carlos Ribeiro @ribeirocarlitos.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Today we mourn the passing of our beloved central dogma. It served Crick well. But it is time to let go. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Science | AAAS
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mariebarberon.bsky.social @mariebarberon.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Registrations are open for PADiBa2026!
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Ulrich Hammes @uhammes.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
This is nothing less than a breakthrough. What a phantastic paper. So happy to see it out after five years. The influence of electrical charge on plasmodesma conductivity | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
The influence of electrical charge on plasmodesma conductivity | PNAS
Most plant tissues are symplasms in which cells are connected by plasmodesmata, membrane-lined cytosplasmic bridges that enable diffusive and/or ad...
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Michael Raissig @michaelraissig.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Our first study on how the leaf succulent Kalanchoë laxiflora makes stomatal subsidiary cells is finally peer-reviewed & out - and it made the cover! 🌵 🧬 🔬 doi.org/10.1126/scia... Despite 150 years of evolution, grasses and Crassulacean succulents use the SAME gene to make subsidiary cells! 🤯
ONLINE COVER: Leaves of Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, a member of the Crassulaceae family of succulents also containing Kalanchoë laxiflora. Stomata, otherwise known as plants’ breathing pores, allow gas exchange between plants and the atmosphere, but little is known about how succulent stomata are formed or move. Cheng et al.’s investigation into K. laxiflora revealed that subsidiary cells can support the opening and closing of stomata and that the transcription factor MUTE, which drives stomatal development, also facilitates additional rounds of asymmetric division needed to generate subsidiary cells. Their work provides insight into succulent development and could be applied in agricultural contexts to engineer water conservation strategies.

Credit: Rob Tilley / MindenExcessive activation of the MUTE gene switch leads to unrestricted asymmetric cell divisions in the leaf surface of the succulent Kalanchoë laxiflora.
© Miro LäderachThe MUTE gene switch is active in all cells of the developing stomata. Gene activity is visible through a weak signal (in blue) in the future helper cells and a strong signal (in green) in the mother cell of the guard cells.
© Michael Raissig
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Heike Lindner @heikelindner.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Our first Kalanchoë laxiflora story found its perfect home @Science Advances with a beautiful cover image of Kalanchoë thyrsiflora leaves. I am grateful that I can continue working with this incredible new model to learn more about succulent development 🤩 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The picture shows Kalanchoë thyrsiflora leaf margins
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Leon-Samuel Icking @lsi.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
🧬 Please repost 🧬 I was asked to organise a panel discussion for a SynBio Student Meetup in Hamburg in the middle of May and I'm still looking for panellist! If you know any researchers at the PhD/Postdoc who have expertise in metabolic/genome/multicellular organism engineering, please reach out!
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Michael Raissig @michaelraissig.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Registration for the 13th PhD School on Plant Development is open! 🌾 🔬 🌺 🧬 🌵 🧪 Deadline: June 30, 2026 Link to registration form forms.gle/tbmUxaw2vmEn... Cost: €350.- (incl. board, lodging and social event) For details re payment and abstracts see form or homepage raissiglab.org/plantdevosch...
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 23/02/2026
A cartoon by Paul Noth. See all the cartoons in this week’s issue: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/Uh2urE
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Christian Fankhauser @chfankhauser.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
I have a PhD student and a post-doc position available in my lab to work on plant photobiology. Please use the links below to postulate. Please RT, many thanks career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree... career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree...
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Luis Alonso Baez @luisalonsobaez.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Our work now on its final version. We mapped the mechanical properties of roots at tissue and single cell levels using Brillouin microscopy and molecular rotors. Additional mutants and stress measurements from what we previously showed in the preprint are included. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The mechanical properties of Arabidopsis thaliana roots adapt dynamically during development and to stress
Brillouin microscopy reveals in vivo dynamics of mechanical properties during plant development and response to stress.
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KleineVehnLab @kleinevehnlab.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Open PhD position – join our lab in Freiburg Through the IMPRS (Max Planck) program, we are looking for a motivated PhD student interested in signalling, and developmental mechanisms. Be quick - deadline is tomorrow! www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/IMPRS-PhD-Pr...
ie-freiburg.mpg.de
IMPRS PhD Program
The IMPRS-EBM is an international PhD program that lies at the intersection of Epigenetics, Biophysics and Metabolism. It integrates strategies from molecular biology and biochemistry with biophysical...
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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Launch your own independent research group! 2x David Sainsbury Career Development Fellowships at @slcuplants.bsky.social 📆 Apply by 30 Jan 2026 More info: 👉 www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/careers/grou... Job details: 👉 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/david-s... Please share this post #PlantSciJobs #PlantSciJob
Photo of the interior of award-winning Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University building. Glass walls look into the research labs and naturally lit staircase and walkway with study boxes looking into the Botanic Garden
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Michael Hothorn @structplantbio.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Our new year starts of course with new preprint on brassinosteroid signaling tinyurl.com/nhzcfkxd. We re-analyzed the function of Kelch phosphatases, which were previously characterized as protein tyrosine phosphatases that dephosphorylate the critical pTyr200 in the GSK3 kinase BIN2. (1/6)
tinyurl.com
Plant Kelch phosphatases are Ser/Thr phosphatases involved in cell cycle regulation
Brassinosteroids (BRs) are plant steroid hormones sensed at the cell surface by the membrane receptor kinase BRI1. Activation of BRI1 leads to the dephosphorylation of BZR1/BES1 transcription factors ...
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Lothar Kalmbach @lkalmbach.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
🎄 What an eventful year this has been! And what a privilege to work with such a wonderful team! 🎅
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