Primrose Boynton
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pjboynton.bsky.social
Primrose Boynton
@pjboynton.bsky.social
1.7K followers 2.6K following 310 posts
Environmental yeast ecology and evolution! I love model and non-model organisms, and single-celled and filamentous fungi alike. I love R! Assistant Professor at Wheaton College, Massachusetts and senior editor of Yeast, but my posts are my own. she/her
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pjboynton.bsky.social
AI slop is making it harder for me to find useful information. Here's the ScienceDirect overview of "Fungal Metabolism":
Screenshot of AI-generated ScienceDirect overview of fungal metabolism that states, "Fungal metabolism refers to the biochemical processes by which fungi, such as C. albicans, convert substrates like short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) into energy and cellular components, involving pathways such as ghe glyoxylate cycle, beta-oxidation, and gluconeogenesis, which can influence their growth, virulence, and antifungal resistance."
August 14, 2025 at 8:10 PM
pjboynton.bsky.social
Check out my latest paper on fitness costs and benefits of hosting a killer virus if you're a yeast in the forest!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Schematic of lab and field experiments testing for yeast fitness with and without killer viruses. Panel A depicts a classical fitness assay in which a yeast with a virus (or cured of the virus) is cultured with a viral toxin-resistant reference strain and the number of doublings is compared between the two yeasts. Panel B diagrams field chambers made of 12-ml tubes in which a membrane holding yeast cells lines the mouth of the tube; the tube is then buried next to a tree. Panel C depicts a field experiment with the chambers. Yeasts hosting (or cured of) viruses are mixed with virus toxin-resistant reference cells, put onto chamber membranes, and incubated in soil for fifteen days. The relative ratios of tested and reference strains are then used as a proxy for fitness.
March 8, 2025 at 6:32 PM
pjboynton.bsky.social
I am so proud of Wheaton student Kelsea Palm (who's not on Bluesky, but agreed for me to use her name), who is perfecting the art of serial dilution! Please join me in admiring her plates!
Row of three petri dishes illustrating serial dilution of a yeast culture. Each dish contains a different number of yeast colonies. The dish on the left is crowded with many colonies very close together; the one in the middle has about 1/10 as many colonies as the one on the left; and the one on the right has about 1/10 as many colonies as the middle dish. A researcher would be able to count the colonies on the rightmost dish and calculate colony-forming units in the original culture.
October 24, 2024 at 5:35 PM
pjboynton.bsky.social
It's been pretty dry around here, with very few mushrooms, but I saw these beautiful inky caps at work today. Caught them right at the right time!
Cluster of three inky caps sprouting up from the ground. The one on the left is taller and mostly already turned black and inky, although there is some solid cap flesh left. The one in the middle has just started to deliquesce, with a black to off-white gradient in the cap. The one on the right just has a dark gray blush at the bottom of the cap.
October 9, 2024 at 10:21 PM
pjboynton.bsky.social
Looks like the season has hit the NorthEast! Looking forward to some rain later this week to see its full glory!
Close-up of a cedar-apple rust gall on a Juniper branch. The gall is round and brown and covered in wrinkles and dimples. Short dry brown protrusions are coming from each dimple. The protrusions will become gelatinous telial horns when they get wet. Green foliage is also visible in the photo's background.
April 15, 2024 at 8:35 PM
pjboynton.bsky.social
If you're in the Cambridge (MA) area next Friday, February 16, please come to my MSI chalk talk! I'll tell you all about killer yeasts and their viruses. It'll be at 24 Oxford St (Geo 375) at 8:30am. For more information, click here:
calendar.college.harvard.edu/event/2024_M...
Poster inviting participants to the MSI chalk talk on February 16 at 8:30am at 24 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA. Primrose Boynton from Wheaton College and OEB will present a Chalk Talk named "Attack of the killer yeasts!". Coffee is provided and the event is free and open to the microbial community.
February 8, 2024 at 7:14 PM
pjboynton.bsky.social
"There's more than one kind of yeast in the world" says I. "Gotta pay attention to all the biodiversity" says I. "Don't just study the model systems..."

Whoops.

(Here's my paper titles word cloud; from shiny.rcg.sfu.ca/u/rdmorin/sc...)
Cloud of words in various colors and sizes based on the Google Scholar profile for Primrose J Boynton. Some of the largest words include saccharomyces species ecology changes communities ecological ecosystem experiment forest function fungi microbial paradoxus wine yeast yeasts 99‐yr ability abiotic across adaptation age-related aneuploidy biases biotic bivalve boundaries burial carbon
February 7, 2024 at 8:27 PM
pjboynton.bsky.social
And a cool slime mold!
Yellow slime mold on a decayed piece of wood, surrounded by several different lichens. The slime mold is in between plasmodium and sporangium life cycle stages.
January 21, 2024 at 7:04 PM
pjboynton.bsky.social
It's been cold and snowy in New England this week, so please enjoy this pretty Chanterelle from last summer!
January 21, 2024 at 7:02 PM