Frances Pitsillides
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francespi.bsky.social
Frances Pitsillides
@francespi.bsky.social
Doctoral Researcher at Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen🍃🪲🍄
Reposted by Frances Pitsillides
1/ Ever needed to annotate TEs in a fungal genome, but didn't know where to start?

We have released #MycoMobilome, a community-focused non-redundant database of transposable element consensus sequences for the fungal kingdom, constructed from >4,000 fungal genomes!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 29, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Frances Pitsillides
Wow, nature is too cool! Structures on stinkbug hind legs that used to be interpreted as ears are actually chambers with fungi. The bugs coat their eggs in those fungi to protect them against parasitoid wasps. 🧪

Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs
Dinidorid stinkbugs were reported to possess a conspicuous tympanal organ on female hindlegs. In this study, we show that this organ is specialized to retain microbial symbionts rather than to perceiv...
www.science.org
October 17, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Frances Pitsillides
Fungal #GenomeSize variation is largely driven by TEs & lineage-specific genome defenses. @tbadet.bsky.social & @danielcroll.bsky.social show that presence/absence of RIP mutation systems influences #genome architecture, identifying a likely novel defense mechanism @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4hcC5tx
October 16, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Reposted by Frances Pitsillides
🍄 Today marks #UKFungusDay where we get to celebrate the weird and wonderful kingdom of Fungi.

As well as being fundamental to a healthy ecosystem, and often fascinating to spot, #Fungi can be devastating to plant and animal populations.
October 4, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Frances Pitsillides
I’m super happy to present the first discoveries of the RIKEN-Cambridge Joint Crop Symbiosis Research Team, based in Japan 🇯🇵

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

A thread 👇
Reductive evolution of the DNA replication machinery in endosymbiotic fungi
The molecular machinery for replicating and repairing DNA accurately is critically important for life and highly conserved across the Tree of Life. Here we show that two major lineages of fungi, Glome...
doi.org
September 3, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Very excited to share that my first 1st author publication is available at the journal of #NewPhytologist !

Congratulations to the entire team that worked on this project including the #KewFungarium Team. 👏 🍄‍🟫

If you are interested in the topic, feel free to read it here: doi.org/10.1111/nph....
Whole genome sequencing of historical specimens from the world's largest fungal collection yields high‐quality assemblies
High-throughput molecular studies of museum specimens (museomics) have great potential in biodiversity research, but fungal historical collections have scarcely been examined, leading to no comprehe...
doi.org
September 16, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Had an amazing time at #ESEB2025 in Barcelona, learning new science, meeting great people, and presenting my PhD work on genomic signatures of symbiosis in a beetle-associated fungus. Surreal that my poster won 2nd place! Grateful to the #MutualismsLab, MPI Biology & ESEB for the support 🍄🪲
September 1, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by Frances Pitsillides
The Tübingen & Amsterdam crews have landed in Barcelona for #ESEB2025! Cooling off with helados before the science (and festivities) begin🍦
August 17, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Frances Pitsillides
The scope of #fungi #biodiversity is only beginning to be fathomed.

Every day almost ten new species are described. 🍄🤯

David Hibbett László Nagy and Henrik Nilsson introduce the fungal tree of life. www.cell.com/current-biol...
June 12, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Frances Pitsillides
Gibellula sp. 🕷️ #fungifriends
January 31, 2025 at 8:11 AM