Thorben Krüger
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seedbarrett.bsky.social
Thorben Krüger
@seedbarrett.bsky.social
PostDoc in #TheUstunLab at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. PhD on the molecular control of seed dormancy Uni Münster. Plant stress responses, phytohormones, PTMs, microscopy. He/him.
Pinned
Very happy that our story on dormancy control by DOG1-PP2C is now published in Science Advances. We found that DOG1 prevents the activation of AFPs by AHG1. This is the result of a great team effort led by Guillaume Née. Summary of key findings below🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @science.org
DOG1 controls dormancy independently of ABA core signaling kinases regulation by preventing AFP dephosphorylation through AHG1
DOG1’s autonomous signaling pathway allows seeds to regulate dormancy and stress traits independently.
www.science.org
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Tomorrow I’ll be presenting some exciting findings from our recent work, including results from our new Plant Cell publication, at the WALII virtual symposium. 🌱 🧐
Hope to see you there at 4 PM CET!
#plantresearch #seedresilience #climatechange #seedresearch #womaninscience
Invited Speaker Dr. Mariana Silva Artur will be giving a talk on “Drying to Survive: Seed Maturation as a Unique System to Study Resilience and Evolution” at the first annual, virtual WALII Symposium.

Register now to hear the talk! www.walii.science/virtual-symp...

@marianasartur.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
New Article: "Pathogen-induced condensation of the guard cell RNA-binding protein SAIR1 fine-tunes translation for immunity" rdcu.be/eP4kN

SAIR1 forms phosphorylation-regulated condensates in guard cells, which link PAMP–MPK3/6 signalling to stomatal immunity.
November 15, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
This Halloween, we have a spooky evolutionary story for you.
The brainchild of @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social, Nick Irwin and our fantastic collaborators is now out in @natplants.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here’s why I love this work — and why I think you’ll enjoy it too. 👇
October 31, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
My main work as postdoc @plantophagy.bsky.social lab in @gmivienna.bsky.social is out in @natplants.nature.com 🌱🎉

We asked how can protein complexes diversify without compromising their function and explored this question using the plant #exocyst complex.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Electrostatic changes enabled the diversification of an exocyst subunit via protein complex escape - Nature Plants
The evolutionary diversification of an exocyst subunit was enabled by electrostatic shifts leading to its dissociation from the ancestral complex.
www.nature.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Algal pyrenoids—condensates that mediate ~1/3 of Earth’s CO2 fixation—change size and number as cells divide. Our data suggest a simple control mechanism: a kinase that continuously ejects material from the condensate! ☀️🌍🔬💧 #Biophysics #Photosynthesis
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 12, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Chamber of Secrets?

Kinoshita @strnk17desejp.bsky.social & Finkemeier @ifink-lab.bsky.social present an alternative method to precisely measure CO2 assimilation rate & transpiration of #Arabidopsis leaves in whole-plant chambers

Open Access🔗 doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...

#PlantPhysiology
#PlantScience
September 30, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
🌱🧬 New paper "Advances in seed 'omics" is out and available as advance access article in @jxbotany.bsky.social.
Covers how omics tech is revolutionising seed research - single-cell and multi-omics integration towards climate-resilient crops.
La Trobe and Zhejiang University. doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
June 29, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
🚀 Our new paper is out @natmethods.nature.com!

Kuffer & Marzilli engineered conditionally stable MS2 & PP7 coat proteins (dMCP & dPCP) that degrade unless bound to RNA, enabling ultra–low-background, single-mRNA imaging in live cells.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧬 www.addgene.org/John_Ngo/
September 22, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Very cool story out about NRT1.1 also serving as ABA receptor to integrate nitrate and ABA responses in plants ! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@cellpress.bsky.social
September 19, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
7 years ago,I sat outside @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social,gathering the courage to begin a new chapter as a group leader. Now in Bochum, I still need that courage to face challenges—both inside & outside the lab—but after all I’m grateful that I still find joy in what I do. #happybirthday #theustunlab
September 3, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Photoexcited CRY1 physically interacts with ATG8 to regulate selective autophagy of HY5 and photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis (Lu Jiang , Shilong Zhang , et al) doi.org/10.1093/plce... #PlantScience
August 25, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
If you’re enjoying some calm while others are on holiday, here’s a #NEW #preprint to dive into — led by the brilliant @vbcscitraining.bsky.social student A. Abdrakhmanov:
👇 A quick thread + link:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Ancestral P-body proteins rewired for autophagic recycling in the early land plant Marchantia polymorpha
Processing bodies (P-bodies) are conserved ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules central to RNA metabolism across eukaryotes. Although the mechanisms underlying their assembly are well understood, the path...
www.biorxiv.org
August 11, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Thrilled to share our latest short technical paper in PCP!
We propose an alternative leaf-level gas exchange measurement method with petiole-cut leaves and whole plant chamber, enabling the measurements even with the small Arabidopsis plants.🌱
track.smtpsendmail.com/9032119/c?p=...
Letter to the editor: a robust technique for gas exchange measurements using petiole-cut Arabidopsis leaves in a whole plant chamber
Satoru Naganawa Kinoshita, Iris Finkemeier; Letter to the editor: a robust technique for gas exchange measurements using petiole-cut Arabidopsis leaves in
track.smtpsendmail.com
July 29, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Proteome profiling of plant Cajal bodies uncovers kingdom-specific components https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.10.664108v1
July 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
If you want to hear about our latest work at @suaybuestuen.bsky.social's lab on pathogen manipulation of host translation and P-bodies at #2025ISMPMI, pass by my presentation today at 12:20 in the concurrent session "Effector interference mechanism" (Room M+N).
July 15, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Our story about salinity tolerance in the Cape Verde islands is out in Science Advances! @science.org. Two independent mutations in the same gene conferred salt resistance to Arabidopsis plants!

Check it out here!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Parallel evolution of salinity tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana accessions from Cape Verde Islands
Plants from the Cape Verde Islands evolved parallel mutations to protect from high salinity.
www.science.org
July 12, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Cell-to-cell translocation of florigen is inhibited by low ambient temperature through abscisic acid signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
#plantscience
July 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Our latest on cell death and our second on maize: Using single-nucleus RNAseq of maize endosperm, Nicolas Doll (now @rdplab.bsky.social‬) shows that KIL transcription factors promote endosperm cell death to facilitate embryo growth - with a genomic imprinting twist! academic.oup.com/plcell/advan...
June 23, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Was super fun to present our recent work on protein translation and bacterial infection in the proteostasis session at #ICAR2025 Thanks to the organizers again!
June 20, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Must read for all who use Nicotiana benthamiana as a platform: “Causes and consequences of experimental variation in Nicotiana benthamiana
transient expression”
#plantscience

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
June 17, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Thrilled to share our new paper in @science.org describing our discovery that bacteria can switch from competitors to bonafide predators when resources run dry—arming nanoscale “spears” (T6SS) to stab & consume neighbours.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#MicroSKy #Microbiology
Antagonism as a foraging strategy in microbial communities
In natural habitats, nutrient availability limits bacterial growth. We discovered that bacteria can overcome this limitation by acquiring nutrients by lysing neighboring cells through contact-dependen...
www.science.org
June 13, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
Control of seed-to-seedling transition by an upstream open reading frame in ABSCISIC ACID DEFICIENT2
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
#plantscience
June 7, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Thorben Krüger
📢 It's online (and open access) @newphyt.bsky.social
🍅
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
"Autophagy restricts tomato fruit ripening via a general role in ethylene repression"

& why timing is everything...
Let's dig into it 👇
#plantscience
#autophagy
@volcaniinstitute.bsky.social
May 9, 2025 at 12:00 PM