Viroids in Plant Physiology and Crop Protection

Very cool, non-biomedical technology from Flagship company Terrana. Always great to remind the word that biology is more than just therapeutics, and that there are other applications for all the biological knowledge we have built up.

🌱 Sailgene is excited to attend the Australia–Vietnam Conference on Smart and Sustainable Agriculture! We are pleased to join researchers, innovators, and industry experts on 30 July 2026 in Fortitude Valley, Australia, to explore how advanced technologies can accelerate the future of agriculture. With cutting-edge sequencing solutions, Sailgene supports agricultural research through: 🧬 Ultra-Long ONT Sequencing — unlocking complex plant and animal genomes 🌱 T2T Genome Solutions — enabling complete and accurate genome assemblies 🧬 Direct RNA Sequencing — revealing full-length transcripts and transcript diversity 🔬 Multi-Omics & NGS Services — connecting genomic insights with biological functions By combining genomics innovation with agricultural research, we aim to help researchers better understand biodiversity, improve breeding strategies, and build more sustainable agricultural systems. 📍 See you at the conference — we look forward to connecting with researchers and partners in Australia! #SmartAgriculture #SustainableAgriculture #Genomics #PlantGenomics #LongReadSequencing #OxfordNanopore #Sailgene

After quite a concerted effort, the Pairwise team identified the gene for pricklessness (thornlessness) in Rubus and has developed this trait in our blackberry stack of products. I'm thrilled that our public-private collaboration with many in the Rubus breeding community have recently published this work in the American Society of Plant Biologists journal Plant Physiology during it's 100-year anniversary. There are many things that excite me about this work, including the spirit of open collaboration with our partners. Most importantly though, we are able to bring this trait to our excellent blackberry lines giving pickers a safer plant to pick and growers lower labor costs, all while bringing an excellent berry product to consumers. Congratulations to the entire team of co-authors and the whole Pairwise team that enabled this advance!

Very happy to share our new paper on the genetics of prickles in blackberry. Prickles are a defining trait of Rubus (blackberry and raspberry), but for growers and pickers they're a real cost. We identified RuWOX1 as the gene underlying the thornless trait (the classic "S" locus), and used CRISPR to directly validate that editing this single gene is sufficient to remove prickles. What I find most exciting about this isn't just the gene identifications— it's the model it demonstrates: in a clonal crop like blackberry, you can improve one specific trait through precision gene editing without disturbing the rest of the genetic background that growers and breeders already know and depend on. No years of backcrossing, no risk of dragging along unwanted traits. Grateful to the team and collaborators who made this happen.

Prickles on blackberry canes make pruning and harvesting harder and add to growers' labor costs. Some blackberries are naturally prickleless (thornless), and our new paper in Plant Physiology, led by Brian St. Aubin, Tom Poorten, Drew Fister, Brian Crawford, and many others, pinpoints the single gene behind it. Why this matters is that this trait can be switched off in the varieties growers already like.   And the best part is how we got here: Pairwise, along with our academic and public-sector partners, built the genome resources that made this possible, including North Carolina State University, the DOE Joint Genome Institute, the University of Arkansas, USDA-ARS, and others. Public science for specialty crops is what let us find this. Congratulations to the whole team. Open access paper: https://lnkd.in/e-iycyAw

𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. This infographic summarizes the proposed mechanisms of amoxicillin-induced phytotoxicity in maize (𝘡𝘦𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘴 L.), highlighting how antibiotic exposure can impair plant growth, disrupt mineral ion homeostasis, alter water relations, and reduce Photosystem II efficiency. As one of my early research projects, developing this figure has been a valuable learning experience in integrating plant physiology, chlorophyll fluorescence (OJIP) analysis, and scientific visualization. I look forward to refining this work further and welcome constructive feedback from the research community. #PlantScience #PlantPhysiology #Photosynthesis #PhotosystemII #OJIP #ChlorophyllFluorescence #Maize #EnvironmentalScience #Antibiotics #SustainableAgriculture #Research #PhDJourney

Researchers at the Virginia Tech School of Plant and Environmental Sciences are using an experimental enzyme to significantly reduce fire blight, one of the fruit industry's most destructive diseases 🍎 "Our primary goal has always been to build a toolbox for growers rather than rely on a single solution," said Srđan G. Aćimović, associate professor of tree fruit pathology. "This study shows one of those tools has real potential under orchard conditions." Backed by a $5.7 million USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant, this research may offer growers a promising new tool to fight fire blight! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/g6y4q3cE

🆕 Across fields and grasslands, patches of clover can often go unnoticed beneath our feet, but for PhD researcher Jhih-Sheng Liu, they provide a fascinating opportunity to understand how #genomics can deliver tangible benefits for farmers and the environment. An important crop for grazing and soil enrichment, his PhD project at EI, in partnership with Germinal and IBERS, is looking to uncover the genomic basis of cold tolerance in white clover to help improve its use and longevity in agriculture. Read about his PhD research here ➡️ https://okt.to/vGa9tS NRPDTP Doctoral Training Partnership #cropscience #pangenome #geneticdiversity #agritech

Does a bigger cranberry leaf mean better photosynthetic performance? Not necessarily. Starting soon at #ASHS2026: Learn about the research examining what happens when genome duplication reshapes cranberry plants across 18 structural, physiological, and biochemical traits. Some colchicine-derived tetraploids produced the largest leaves in the study, but larger leaf size did not translate into stronger PSII performance. Also found: Differences in electron transport, pigments, secondary metabolites, and carbon-nitrogen allocation, revealing a much more complex relationship between ploidy and plant function. If chlorophyll fluorescence, cranberry physiology, plant breeding, or genome duplication are part of your world, put this one on your schedule. Check it out! Multivariate Analysis of Structural, Physiological, and Biochemical Traits Reveals Ploidy-Dependent Divergence in Cranberry Genotypes 8:45–9:00 a.m. | Cumberland I–J Puranjoy Sar Al Kovaleski Juan Zalapa Jyostna Devi Mura University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) American Society for Horticultural Science #ASHS2026 #cranberry #plantphysiology #chlorophyllfluorescence #photosynthesis #plantbreeding #ploidy

How can advanced biology help make crop production more predictable in an increasingly volatile climate? 🌱 In a new interview with Global AgInvesting, our CEO and Co-founder, Giacomo Bastianelli, discusses: 🧬 His journey from pharmaceutical biotech into AgTech 🌾 Why yield stability is becoming as important as maximum yield 🤖 How AI supports the design and testing of complex crop traits 🔬 Why predictions must be connected to real plants and field performance 🚀 Rainbow Crops’ priorities as we expand our platform, team and partnerships The traits agriculture needs most - including drought resilience, heat tolerance and input efficiency - are complex. Addressing them requires moving beyond individual genes to understand and optimise interconnected genetic networks. Thank you to Autumn Demberger and Global AgInvesting for the conversation. #AgTech #CropScience #GenomeEditing #ArtificialIntelligence #ClimateResilience #PlantBreeding