Jim Leebens-Mack
@jleebensmack.bsky.social
Botanist. University of Georgia. Plant evolutionary biology, phylogenomics, comparative genomics.
Chazz Jordan's phylogenomic analysis of cone flowers (Echinacea) just published! - doi.org/10.3389/fpls.... Chazz's findings suggests rapid diversification in the genus as ancestral populations dispersed from southeastern North America into the midwest.
Frontiers | Utilizing target capture sequencing to resolve the speciation history of Echinacea (Asteraceae)
It has been difficult to resolve relationships among many important lineages within the Asteraceae family due to interspecific hybridization and rapid specie...
doi.org
September 11, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Chazz Jordan's phylogenomic analysis of cone flowers (Echinacea) just published! - doi.org/10.3389/fpls.... Chazz's findings suggests rapid diversification in the genus as ancestral populations dispersed from southeastern North America into the midwest.
Analyses of a new genomes for garden asparagus and a Mediterranean basin congener reveal independent origins of dioecy and XY sex chromosomes. The work led by Phil Bentz @pbentz.bsky.social finds no overlap in the two Y-linked sex-determination genes - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... .
Two independent origins of XY sex chromosomes in Asparagus
The relatively young and repeated evolutionary origins of dioecy (separate sexes) in flowering plants enable investigation of molecular dynamics occurring at the earliest stages of sex chromosome evol...
www.biorxiv.org
September 11, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Analyses of a new genomes for garden asparagus and a Mediterranean basin congener reveal independent origins of dioecy and XY sex chromosomes. The work led by Phil Bentz @pbentz.bsky.social finds no overlap in the two Y-linked sex-determination genes - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... .
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Our EEB department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is hiring an assistant professor in evo-devo. See go.illinois.edu/EEBAsstProf for details. Please share!
August 26, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Our EEB department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is hiring an assistant professor in evo-devo. See go.illinois.edu/EEBAsstProf for details. Please share!
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
🌾The Functional traits in primary producers: recent advances and future directions special feature is open for proposals!🍄
🌲Proposal submissions close 15 September, more details here: buff.ly/e8PTkMM
🌲Proposal submissions close 15 September, more details here: buff.ly/e8PTkMM
August 21, 2025 at 10:15 AM
🌾The Functional traits in primary producers: recent advances and future directions special feature is open for proposals!🍄
🌲Proposal submissions close 15 September, more details here: buff.ly/e8PTkMM
🌲Proposal submissions close 15 September, more details here: buff.ly/e8PTkMM
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
The Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University is Hiring!
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
August 20, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Please share — Michigan State Plant Biology is searching for an Herbarium Director! Tenure stream, open rank faculty position balancing research, teaching, service, and admin responsibilities. Join us! Reach out to me or @emjo.bsky.social with questions!
plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...
plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...
plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu
August 20, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
On the cover of @natplants.nature.com this month:
@leobaumgart.bsky.social @greensi.bsky.social @abmora.bsky.social @omalley-regulome.bsky.social et al. map binding sites for 360 TFs across 10 🌿plant🌿 species using a new multiDAP approach
Here is Sharon's explainer 🧵:
bsky.app/profile/gree...
@leobaumgart.bsky.social @greensi.bsky.social @abmora.bsky.social @omalley-regulome.bsky.social et al. map binding sites for 360 TFs across 10 🌿plant🌿 species using a new multiDAP approach
Here is Sharon's explainer 🧵:
bsky.app/profile/gree...
August 20, 2025 at 12:45 AM
On the cover of @natplants.nature.com this month:
@leobaumgart.bsky.social @greensi.bsky.social @abmora.bsky.social @omalley-regulome.bsky.social et al. map binding sites for 360 TFs across 10 🌿plant🌿 species using a new multiDAP approach
Here is Sharon's explainer 🧵:
bsky.app/profile/gree...
@leobaumgart.bsky.social @greensi.bsky.social @abmora.bsky.social @omalley-regulome.bsky.social et al. map binding sites for 360 TFs across 10 🌿plant🌿 species using a new multiDAP approach
Here is Sharon's explainer 🧵:
bsky.app/profile/gree...
Awesome research with implications for understanding of transitions between CAM and C3 modes of photosynthesis in yaccas agaves and their relatives!
Our "Joshua tree is CAM" paper is finally out: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Data collection started back in 2021, when we saw weird results in some RNAseq that made me stop and wonder if Joshua trees, long thought to be C3, were actually...CAM!
Data collection started back in 2021, when we saw weird results in some RNAseq that made me stop and wonder if Joshua trees, long thought to be C3, were actually...CAM!
Cryptic CAM photosynthesis in Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia, Y. jaegeriana)
Joshua trees are long-lived perennial monocots native to the Mojave Desert in North America. Composed of two species, Yucca brevifolia and Y. jaegeriana (Asparagaceae), Joshua trees are imperiled by...
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 19, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Awesome research with implications for understanding of transitions between CAM and C3 modes of photosynthesis in yaccas agaves and their relatives!
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
hi friends, let me know if you'd like a zoom link for my defense next week!
August 18, 2025 at 6:54 PM
hi friends, let me know if you'd like a zoom link for my defense next week!
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
I love this trend in polyploid research:
“With new data and techniques, we can finally tackle this horribly complicated group!”
“And guess what? It’s even worse than we imagined!”
But seriously, excellent work!
“With new data and techniques, we can finally tackle this horribly complicated group!”
“And guess what? It’s even worse than we imagined!”
But seriously, excellent work!
New Paper! In 2019, my first dissertation chapter revealed complicated polyploidies in the cotton family (Malvaceae) but we lacked the tools and genomes to truly understand it. Now with better genomes and improved methods, it's much more complicated than we thought. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
August 13, 2025 at 8:37 PM
I love this trend in polyploid research:
“With new data and techniques, we can finally tackle this horribly complicated group!”
“And guess what? It’s even worse than we imagined!”
But seriously, excellent work!
“With new data and techniques, we can finally tackle this horribly complicated group!”
“And guess what? It’s even worse than we imagined!”
But seriously, excellent work!
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Day 3 of popgen we talked about effective population size. No, I don't really understand it. You probably don't either. But I highly recommend this fantastic guide about how to think about Ne onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The Idiot's Guide to Effective Population Size
This is a reference manual for the elegant, yet hideously complex concept of effective population size (Ne), inspired by a classic, self-published manual of automotive repair ‘for the compleat idiot’...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 10, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Day 3 of popgen we talked about effective population size. No, I don't really understand it. You probably don't either. But I highly recommend this fantastic guide about how to think about Ne onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
The Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University is Hiring!
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
August 6, 2025 at 4:58 PM
The Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University is Hiring!
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Are you an early-career biologist or ecologist who would benefit from an invited seminar? Would you like to come to UMaine next fall or spring to give a talk? Leave a brief comment with some info about what you do. I'm co-hosting our seminar series again, and am filling out our rosters.
July 30, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Are you an early-career biologist or ecologist who would benefit from an invited seminar? Would you like to come to UMaine next fall or spring to give a talk? Leave a brief comment with some info about what you do. I'm co-hosting our seminar series again, and am filling out our rosters.
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Herbarium director position opening at Oregon State University @osu-herbarium.bsky.social Great opportunity for herbarium- and field-trained botanists at any rank. bpp.oregonstate.edu/bpp/about/op...
Open Positions
bpp.oregonstate.edu
July 9, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Herbarium director position opening at Oregon State University @osu-herbarium.bsky.social Great opportunity for herbarium- and field-trained botanists at any rank. bpp.oregonstate.edu/bpp/about/op...
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Come be my colleague (& @jacquelyngill.bsky.social's and other great folks)!
UMaine is hiring a Genetics Facilities Manager to lead the CORE eDNA and DNA Sequencing Labs. Hiring range is $75-85k (up $20k from previous round)
fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
UMaine is hiring a Genetics Facilities Manager to lead the CORE eDNA and DNA Sequencing Labs. Hiring range is $75-85k (up $20k from previous round)
fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Genetics Facilities Manager
The University of Maine is a community of more than 11,900 undergraduate and graduate students, and 2,500 employees located on the Orono campus, the regional campus in Machias, and throughout the stat...
fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com
July 8, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Come be my colleague (& @jacquelyngill.bsky.social's and other great folks)!
UMaine is hiring a Genetics Facilities Manager to lead the CORE eDNA and DNA Sequencing Labs. Hiring range is $75-85k (up $20k from previous round)
fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
UMaine is hiring a Genetics Facilities Manager to lead the CORE eDNA and DNA Sequencing Labs. Hiring range is $75-85k (up $20k from previous round)
fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Some months later, work is now published @natcomms.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 5, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Some months later, work is now published @natcomms.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
The Biodiversity Collections Task Force is a nascent effort to help collections through anticipated difficult times in the near future.
We are planning a webinar series, beginning in September 2025.
Let us know which topics would be most useful to you:
lnkd.in/gQmyMKmN
We are planning a webinar series, beginning in September 2025.
Let us know which topics would be most useful to you:
lnkd.in/gQmyMKmN
July 1, 2025 at 9:42 PM
The Biodiversity Collections Task Force is a nascent effort to help collections through anticipated difficult times in the near future.
We are planning a webinar series, beginning in September 2025.
Let us know which topics would be most useful to you:
lnkd.in/gQmyMKmN
We are planning a webinar series, beginning in September 2025.
Let us know which topics would be most useful to you:
lnkd.in/gQmyMKmN
Let congress know that pro-growth = pro-science!
That’s to say: big fight *right now* is the BBB.
But regardless of what happens there, be prepared for longer fight for opposing proposed cuts of ~55% for NSF, ~40% for NIH, etc
July 7 is the first major hearing in the House for science agencies for FY26 (NSF/NASA/NOAA, NIH is separate committee)
But regardless of what happens there, be prepared for longer fight for opposing proposed cuts of ~55% for NSF, ~40% for NIH, etc
July 7 is the first major hearing in the House for science agencies for FY26 (NSF/NASA/NOAA, NIH is separate committee)
Subcommittee Markup of Fiscal Year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Bill
appropriations.house.gov
June 30, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Let congress know that pro-growth = pro-science!
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Another day testing the limits of resilience.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
‘This is bull——”: National Science Foundation employees protest HUD's takeover
Dozens of National Science Foundation employees crowded the agency’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday to protest the news that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, w...
www.nbcwashington.com
June 25, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Another day testing the limits of resilience.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Check out this interview with BSA member and BSA Director at Large for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Karolina Heyduk!
botany.one/2025/06/karo...
botany.one/2025/06/karo...
Karolina Heyduk: A Career Shaped by Desert Plants and Midnight Photosynthesis
Botany One interviews Dr Karolina Heyduk, a plant evolutionary biologist interested in the origins a unique type of photosynthesis.
botany.one
June 20, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Check out this interview with BSA member and BSA Director at Large for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Karolina Heyduk!
botany.one/2025/06/karo...
botany.one/2025/06/karo...
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
The #OpenGreenGenomes Project, supported through our #CommunityScience Program, represents 35 major evolutionary plant lineages — including M. polymorpha, or liverwort.
For decades it has been used as a model for evolutionary studies. 🖥️🧬🌱
@jleebensmack.bsky.social @maximebonhomme.bsky.social
For decades it has been used as a model for evolutionary studies. 🖥️🧬🌱
@jleebensmack.bsky.social @maximebonhomme.bsky.social
Marchantia Pangenome Highlights Adaptive Nature of Plant Lineages | Joint Genome Institute
Understanding the shared genetic toolkit of ancestral and present-day plants
jgi.doe.gov
June 9, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The #OpenGreenGenomes Project, supported through our #CommunityScience Program, represents 35 major evolutionary plant lineages — including M. polymorpha, or liverwort.
For decades it has been used as a model for evolutionary studies. 🖥️🧬🌱
@jleebensmack.bsky.social @maximebonhomme.bsky.social
For decades it has been used as a model for evolutionary studies. 🖥️🧬🌱
@jleebensmack.bsky.social @maximebonhomme.bsky.social
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
Very happy to see this review by @elizavveen.bsky.social, Jesse Küpers and myself now out in Plant Cell & Environment! About how stresses impact chloroplasts, and how this can steer plant development via retrograde signaling 🌱 @pph-wur.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pce.15664
Plastids in a Pinch: Coordinating Stress and Developmental Responses Through Retrograde Signalling
Plastids can sense environmental stress and improve whole plant adaptation through retrograde communication to the nucleus. Recent studies have advanced our understanding of integrated canonical and ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 8, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Very happy to see this review by @elizavveen.bsky.social, Jesse Küpers and myself now out in Plant Cell & Environment! About how stresses impact chloroplasts, and how this can steer plant development via retrograde signaling 🌱 @pph-wur.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pce.15664
Call your congressional representatives and Senators!
In case you couldn't bear to read all the way to the end (understandable), here is the proposed picture for the BIO Directorate.
May 31, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Call your congressional representatives and Senators!
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
How bad will it be? Catastrophic.
Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come.
But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget.
Speak up now before it is too late.
(inflation adjusted $-s below)
Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come.
But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget.
Speak up now before it is too late.
(inflation adjusted $-s below)
May 31, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Jim Leebens-Mack
9/ 🚨🚨🚨 CALL TO ACTION
Call your elective representatives to tell them how these draconian cuts will directly harm (as applicable):
your state
your local communities
your trainees
yourself
See the #SaveNSF website for some inspiration:
www.savensf.com/take-action
Call your elective representatives to tell them how these draconian cuts will directly harm (as applicable):
your state
your local communities
your trainees
yourself
See the #SaveNSF website for some inspiration:
www.savensf.com/take-action
May 30, 2025 at 11:16 PM
9/ 🚨🚨🚨 CALL TO ACTION
Call your elective representatives to tell them how these draconian cuts will directly harm (as applicable):
your state
your local communities
your trainees
yourself
See the #SaveNSF website for some inspiration:
www.savensf.com/take-action
Call your elective representatives to tell them how these draconian cuts will directly harm (as applicable):
your state
your local communities
your trainees
yourself
See the #SaveNSF website for some inspiration:
www.savensf.com/take-action