iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Here it finally is: our protocol for boosting maize transformation. We’ve already shared it at several conferences, and it was overdue to give it its final shape and submit it. We hope it will be useful for the community! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

The core of the paper is the scheme below, which provides a tool to dissect the stages of female meiosis, along with an estimate of their durations (later figure). We hope it will provide a useful foundation for future studies of (female) meiosis.

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Finally, here it is: after 12 years, and driven by the incredible hard work and innovation of two Ph.D. students, Bingyan Hu and Maria Prusicki, with biomathematical support from Katarina Stahlmann (UKE) — "A cytological framework of female meiosis in Arabidopsis". academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...

academic.oup.com

A cytological framework of female meiosis in Arabidopsis

Live-cell imaging reveals characteristic cytological stages of female meiosis in Arabidopsis and allows an assessment of their durations.

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Great collaboration between University of Hamburg and the team of Moussa Benhamed from the Institute of Plant Sciences-Paris-Saclay driven by @tuncayhasibe.bsky.social

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

How do plants control the genes needed for successful sexual reproduction? Our new work uncovers the DREAM complex as a crucial regulator of meiotic recombination in Arabidopsis. Without DREAM, plants are sterile—key recombination genes like MER3 are switched off...

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Reposted by Schnittger Lab

Piotr Ziolkowski @piotraz.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Breaking genetics news‼️🌱🌽 A natural DNA trick triples recombination in maize. What we first saw in Arabidopsis (@hendersi lab) a decade ago is now confirmed in crops—opening new doors for plant breeding. Published today in Nature Plants! More details 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Enhancing local meiotic crossovers in Arabidopsis and maize through juxtaposition of heterozygous and homozygous regions - Nature Plants

This study discovered that locally confined DNA differences boost crossover rates in both Arabidopsis and maize, revealing a conserved mechanism that can accelerate plant breeding and trait introgress...

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Happy lab reunion over Italian cross-over dinner with Chao Yang from Huazhong Agri Uni 🇨🇳—in town to share insights on meiotic recombination in rapeseed 🌱. 7 nations, 1 table. Science unites 🌍💬 #ScienceCommunity #LabLife

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Reposted by Schnittger Lab

Marie-Cécile Caillaud @mc-caillaud.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

In WT plants, expansion microscopy with spindle immunolabeling showed microtubule connections between spindle poles and the apicobasal cortex.

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Reposted by Schnittger Lab

raphmercier.bsky.social @raphmercier.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

The identification of the very conserved CTF18, SGO2 and SPF2 as suppressors of centromere-proximal crossovers highlights the importance of cohesin turnover in this process and opens up new possibilities for plant breeding. Much more in the paper : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

Unlocking meiotic crossovers near plant centromeres

Crossovers (COs) ensure proper chromosome segregation during meiosis and generate genetic diversity. COs are non-uniformly distributed along chromosomes and almost universally suppressed in centromere...

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

This led to our first live cell imaging paper on Arabidopsis meiosis in 2019 elifesciences.org/articles/42834. What we learned from the male side brought us back to our original question, and so began another chapter.

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

After 12 years… In 2014, a wild idea was born: to follow female meiosis in Arabidopsis in real time. After many trials (including experiments with quirky mutants where female organs developed inside out, and a few other unconventional ideas), we switched gears to image the male side.

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

While a complete knockout is lethal, meiosis-specific reduction of TTN9 causes striking chromosome segregation issues and abnormal centromere signals during meiosis I. Our findings support a conserved role for Csm1-like proteins in maintaining healthy chromosome segregation across eukaryotes.

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Second: Some new findings about chromosome segregation in Arabidopsis! We’ve characterized TITAN9 (TTN9), a distant Csm1-like protein in Arabidopsis. Proteomics revealed TTN9 associates with multiple kinetochore components, including DSN1.

cell.com

Functional characterization of the Csm1-like protein TITAN 9 in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant genetics; Plant bioinformatics; Plant Biology; Plant physiology; Plant systematics; Plant evolution; Plant development

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Our work highlights an important role for stress granules during meiosis in response to heat stress. This paper is also the first one from our local research network BIKON studying biomolecular condensates in Hamburg. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Interestingly, this behavior is specific to TAM; other meiotic cyclins do not form such condensates. Crucially, we found that TAM’s recruitment to these granules enables plants to proceed to the second meiotic division under challenging conditions.

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

First up: understanding how plants defend themselves against heat stress. Our recent Science Advances paper shows that the meiotic cyclin TAM localizes to stress granules—special biomolecular condensates—during meiosis.

science.org

The recruitment of the A-type cyclin TAM to stress granules is crucial for meiotic fidelity under heat

The concentration of a meiotic regulator into membrane-less compartments assures genomic stability during reproduction.

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

We’ve been a bit quiet here due to the climate around social media in politics. But behind the scenes, we’ve made some exciting progress and are happy to share several new papers!

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Happy lunar year! Celebrating with our team the year of the...

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Very cool project for a Ph.D. student in the team of our neighbors here at the Institute for Plant Science and Microbiology, University of Hamburg @uni-hamburg.de. Highly recommended.

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Reposted by Schnittger Lab

Hoth Lab @hothlab.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Here, an open PhD position to study the structure and dynamics of bimolecular condensates in plant cells by Cryo-EM and super resolution microscopy. Please spread the word. www.uni-hamburg.de/stellenangeb...

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

Getting ready for the winter term - the calm before the storm...

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 14/10/2024

Here, a job advert for junior group leader position in Molecular Biology of Plants, especially with focus on cell division, cell cycle, chromosomes and DNA repair. Please spread the word. stellen.uni-hamburg.de/jobposting/d...

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 11/10/2024

To start with, and perhaps as a sign for a new beginning, some picts from yesterday’s polar light magic over Hamburg.

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 11/10/2024

The Schnittger lab is located in Hamburg/Germany and represents an international team of cell biologists, molecular biologists, and biochemists investigating the cell cycle, meiosis and DNA damage in plants. Here, we will post the latest information from and about the lab.

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Schnittger Lab @schnittger-lab.bsky.social · 11/10/2024

The Schnittger lab is happy to join BlueSky. We just re-located from the former twitter platform that became unbearable for us to support due to the homophobic, unsocial and democracy-threatening behavior of its new owner.

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