News
July 2024
"Two pyridoxal phosphate homeostasis proteins are essential for management of the coenzyme pyridoxal 5'-phosphate in Arabidopsis." – a paper of the Fitzpatrick lab in The Plant Cell.
April 2024
“Biofortified rice to combat deficiencies” – a press release.
“Vitamin B1 enhancement in the endosperm of rice through thiamine sequestration.”– a paper of the Fitzpatrick and Gruissem (ETH Zurich, National Chung Hsing University) labs in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.
March 2024
"B vitamins: an update on their importance for plant homeostasis" – a review by Teresa Fitzpatrick in Annual Review of Plant Biology.
December 2023
"Genève Grandeur Nature - spécial Madagascar" – a documentary about the study of the flora of Madagascar by Dr Nusbaumer and his team (in French) on the Léman Bleu TV channel
June 2023
"Nutrient carriers at the heart of plant nutrition and sensing" – a review by Kevin Robe and Marie Barberon in Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
March 2023
"The Arabidopsis endosperm is a temperature-sensing tissue that implements seed thermoinhibition through phyB" – a paper of the Lopez-Molina lab in Nature Communications.
"An internal thermometer tells the seeds when to germinate" – a press release.
"Comment germent les grains?" – an interview of Luis Lopez-Molina (in French) in the RTS news broadcast.
February 2023
"The cytoplasmic synthesis and coupled membrane translocation of eukaryotic polyphosphate by signal-activated VTC complex" – a paper co-authored by Michael Hothorn in Nature Communications.
January 2023
"Architecture of chloroplast TOC–TIC translocon supercomplex" – a paper co-authored by Jean-David Rochaix in Nature.
"Researchers elucidate structure of enigmatic chloroplast protein transport machinery" – a press release.
November 2022
“High resolution ancient sedimentary DNA shows that alpine plant diversity is associated with human land use and climate change” – a paper co-authored by Jean-Paul Theurillat in Nature Communications.
August 2022
We have a new name:
Department of Botany and Plant Biology (Département de Botanique et Biologie végétale) becomes
Department of Plant Sciences (Département des sciences végétales)
March 2022
"Extracellular vesiculo-tubular structures associated with suberin deposition in plant cell walls" – a paper by Marie Barberon and colleagues in Nature Communications.
February 2022
"Parental and environmental control of seed dormancy in Arabidopsis thaliana" – a review by Mayumi Iwasaki, Steven Penfield, and Luis Lopez-Molina in Annual Review of Plant Biology.
January 2022
"Coenzymes and the primary and specialized metabolism interface" – a review by Maite Colinas and Teresa Fitzpatrick in Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
December 2021
"Building and breaking of a barrier: Suberin plasticity and function in the endodermis" – a review by Vinay Shukla and Marie Barberon in Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
October 2021
"The young plant’s pantry does more than just feed it" – a press release.
"The Arabidopsis mature endosperm promotes seedling cuticle formation via release of sulfated peptides" – a paper of the Lopez-Molina lab in Developmental Cell.
September 2021
"The defensive arsenal of plant roots" – a press release.
"Suberin plasticity to developmental and exogenous cues is regulated by a set of MYB transcription factors" – a paper of the Barberon lab in PNAS.
February 2021
“Perception and signaling of ultraviolet-B radiation in plants” – a review by Roman Podolec, Emilie Demarsy and Roman Ulm in Annual Review of Plant Biology.
February 2021
“Let there be green!” – a press release.
“A multifaceted analysis reveals two distinct phases of chloroplast biogenesis during de-etiolation in Arabidopsis” – a paper by Emilie Demarsy and colleagues in eLife.
“Pourquoi les plantes sont vertes” – an interview of Emilie Demarsy (in French) in the RTS news broadcast.
February 2021
“A constitutively monomeric UVR8 photoreceptor confers enhanced UV-B photomorphogenesis” – a paper of the Ulm and Hothorn labs in PNAS.
January 2021
“Inositol pyrophosphates promote the interaction of SPX domains with the coiled-coil motif of PHR transcription factors to regulate plant phosphate homeostasis” – a paper of the Hothorn lab in Nature Communications.
August 2020
“Constitutive activation of leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase signaling pathways by BAK1-interacting receptor-like kinase 3 chimera” – a paper of the Hothorn lab in The Plant Cell.
May 2020
"UVR8-mediated inhibition of shade avoidance involves HFR1 stabilization in Arabidopsis" – a paper of the Ulm lab in PLoS Genetics.
March 2020
"Cryptochrome-mediated blue-light signalling modulates UVR8 photoreceptor activity and contributes to UV-B tolerance in Arabidopsis" – a paper of the Ulm lab in Nature Communications.
January 2020
"A two-way molecular dialogue between embryo and endosperm is required for seed development" – a paper co-authored by Satohiro Okuda and Michael Hothorn in Science.
January 2020
"Molecular mechanism for the recognition of sequence-divergent CIF peptides by the plant receptor kinases GSO1/SGN3 and GSO2" – a paper of the Hothorn lab in PNAS.
November 2019
Marie Barberon receives an SNSF Eccellenza Grant.
August 2019
“Two bifunctional inositol pyrophosphate kinases/phosphatases control plant phosphate homeostasis” – a paper of the Hothorn lab in eLife.
July 2019
“Polyamine uptake transporter 2 (put2) and decaying seeds enhance phyA-mediated germination by overcoming PIF1 repression of germination” – a paper of the Lopez-Molina lab in PLoS Genetics.
July 2019
“Polarized transport across root epithelia” – a review by Priya Ramakrishna and Marie Barberon in Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
July 2019
“Plant photoreceptors and their signaling components compete for COP1 binding via VP peptide motifs” – a paper of the Ulm and Hothorn labs in The EMBO Journal.
March 2019
“Seeds inherit memories from their mother” – a press release.
“Non-canonical RNA-directed DNA methylation participates in maternal and environmental control of seed dormancy” – a paper of the Lopez-Molina lab in eLife.
February 2019
"Concerted expression of a cell cycle regulator and a metabolic enzyme from a bicistronic transcript in plants" – a paper of the Hothorn lab in Nature Plants.
January 2019
Marie Barberon awarded by the Sandoz Family Foundation – Monique de Meuron Programme for Academic Promotion – UNIGEnews.
November 2018
Michael Hothorn receives an ERC Consolidator Grant.
October 2018
"A protein prevents plants from premature flowering" – a press release.
"Arabidopsis RUP2 represses UVR8-mediated flowering in noninductive photoperiods" – a paper of the Ulm lab in Genes & Development.
August 2018
"When the seed becomes a plant, it has 48 hours to survive" – a press release.
“Chloroplast biogenesis controlled by DELLA-TOC159 interaction in early plant development” – a paper of the Lopez-Molina and Kessler (UniNE) labs in Current Biology.
August 2018
"Germination: defeating bacteria with their own weapons" – a press release.
"The plant pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa triggers a DELLA-dependent seed germination arrest in Arabidopsis" – a paper of the Lopez-Molina lab in eLife.
May 2018
"The SERK3 elongated allele defines a role for BIR ectodomains in brassinosteroid signalling" – a paper of the Hothorn lab in Nature Plants.
April 2018
“Accelerated increase in plant species richness on mountain summits is linked to warming” – a paper co-authored by Jean-Paul Theurillat in Nature.
March 2018
"Mechanistic basis for the activation of plant membrane receptor kinases by SERK-family coreceptors" – a paper of the Hothorn lab in PNAS.
March 2018
“Coping with ‘Dark Sides of the Sun’ through Photoreceptor Signaling” – a review by Emilie Demarsy, Michel Goldschmidt-Clermont, and Roman Ulm in Trends in Plant Science.
March 2018
“A bacterium that attacks burn victims will soon be unarmed” – a press release.
“Transcriptome Analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cultured in Human Burn Wound Exudates” – a paper of the Perron lab in Cellular and Infection Microbiology.
September 2017
“Control of plant phosphate homeostasis by inositol pyrophosphates and the SPX domain” – a review by Michael Hothorn and colleagues in Current Opinion in Biotechnology.
June 2017
“How plants cope with UV-B: from perception to response” – a review by Ruohe Yin and Roman Ulm in Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
May 2017
Michael Hothorn has been selected as International Research Scholar by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
April 2017
“The structural basis of ligand perception and signal activation by receptor kinases” – a review by Ulrich Hohmann, Kelvin Lau and Michael Hothorn in Annual Review of Plant Biology.
April 2017
“Rationalising vitamin B6 biofortification in crop plants” – a review by Jared Fudge, Teresa Fitzpatrick and colleagues in Current Opinion in Biotechnology.
December 2016
“Dormancy-specific imprinting underlies maternal inheritance of seed dormancy in Arabidopsis thaliana” – a paper of the Lopez-Molina lab in eLife.
December 2016
“How plants manage excess solar energy” – a press release.
“UV-B photoreceptor-mediated protection of the photosynthetic machinery in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii” – a paper of the Ulm and Goldschmidt-Clermont labs in PNAS.
October 2016
“A lead to overcome resistance to antibiotics” – a press release.
“OprD Repression upon Metal Treatment Requires the RNA Chaperone Hfq in Pseudomonas aeruginosa” – a paper of the Perron lab in Genes.
September 2016
“A pivotal role for a single amino acid in the production of vitamin B6” – a press release.
“Structural definition of the lysine swing in Arabidopsis thaliana PDX1: Intermediate channeling facilitating vitamin B6 biosynthesis” – a paper of the Fitzpatrick lab in PNAS.
August 2016
Jean-David Rochaix received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Society of Photosynthesis Research.
July 2016
“How do plants protect themselves against sunburn?” – a press release.
“COP1 is required for UV-B–induced nuclear accumulation of the UVR8 photoreceptor” – a paper of the Ulm lab in PNAS.
May 2016
Manuel Gonzalez, from Karl Perron’s lab, received from the hands of Roger Moore (James Bond) the Prize of the best poster, at the National Symposium 2016 of the Swiss Burn & Wound Research Network.
April 2016
“Bacterial virulence is stimulated by burns” – a press release.
“Effect of Human Burn Wound Exudate on Pseudomonas aeruginosa Virulence” – a paper of the Perron lab in mSphere.
April 2016
“A plant cell recycles its resources in times of scarcity” – a press release.
“A Nucleus-Encoded Chloroplast Phosphoprotein Governs Expression of the Photosystem I Subunit PsaC in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii” – a paper of the Goldschmidt-Clermont lab in The Plant Cell.
“Une algue pleine de ressources” – an interview of Michel Goldschmidt-Clermont (in French) in the RTS news broadcast.
April 2016
“A cellular sensor of phosphate levels” – a press release.
“Control of eukaryotic phosphate homeostasis by inositol polyphosphate sensor domains” – a paper of the Hothorn lab in Science.
April 2016
“Unveiling the withering process” – a press release.
“Mechanistic insight into a peptide hormone signaling complex mediating floral organ abscission” – a paper of the Hothorn lab in eLife.
March 2016
“UV-B perception and acclimation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii” – a paper of the Ulm lab in The Plant Cell.
February 2016
“Des pansements anti-infectieux pour soigner les grands brûlés” – a press release.
“Anti-Microbial Dendrimers against Multidrug-Resistant P. aeruginosa Enhance the Angiogenic Effect of Biological Burn-wound Bandages” – a paper of the Perron lab in Scientific Reports.
February 2016
“A new role for vitamin B6 in plants” – a press release.
“Balancing of B6 vitamers is essential for plant development and metabolism in Arabidopsis” – a paper of the Fitzpatrick lab in Plant Cell.
December 2015
“A wax shield to conquer the Earth” – a press release.
“An endosperm-associated cuticle is required for Arabidopsis seed viability, dormancy and early control of germination” – a paper of the Lopez-Molina lab in PLoS Genetics.
October 2015
“A cure for vitamin B6 deficiency” – a press release.
“Increased bioavailable vitamin B6 in field-grown transgenic cassava for dietary sufficiency” – a paper co-authored by Teresa Fitzpatrick in Nature Biotechnology.
September 2015
“Four fairies watch over Sleeping Beauty” – a press release.
“Abscisic acid transporters cooperate to control seed germination” – a paper co-authored by Luis Lopez-Molina in Nature Communications.
“Le secret du réveil des graines” – an interview of Luis Lopez-Molina (in French) in the RTS news broadcast.
May 2015
“Natures balancing act: examining biosynthesis de novo, recycling and processing damaged vitamin B metabolites” - a review by Maite Colinas and Teresa Fitzpatrick in Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
May 2015
“Sharing light between two photosystems: mechanism of state transitions” - a review by Michel Goldschmidt-Clermont and Roberto Bassi in Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
January 2015
"Two distinct domains of the UVR8 photoreceptor interact with COP1 to initiate UV-B signaling in Arabidopsis" - a paper of the Ulm lab in The Plant Cell.
November 2014
Michael Hothorn selected as EMBO Young Investigator
October 2014
“UV-B-responsive association of the Arabidopsis bZIP transcription factor ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL5 with target genes, including its own promoter” - a paper of the Ulm lab in The Plant Cell
September 2014
Roman Ulm received the 2014 Finsen Lecture Award from the International Union of Photobiology.
September 2014
“Complex behavior: from cannibalism to suicide in the vitamin B1 biosynthesis world” - a review by Teresa Fitzpatrick and Stéphane Thore in Current Opinion in Structural Biology
May 2014
“Conditional Depletion of the Chlamydomonas Chloroplast ClpP1 Protease Activates Nuclear Genes Involved in Autophagy and Plastid Protein Quality Control” – a paper of the Rochaix lab in Plant Cell.
March 2014
“The rise of operon-like gene clusters in plants” – a review of the Fitzpatrick lab in Trends in Plant Science.
January 2014
“Regulation and dynamics of the light-harvesting system” – a review by Jean-David Rochaix in Annual Review of Plant Biology.
December 2013
“Small RNAs reveal two target sites of the RNA-maturation factor Mbb1 in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas” – a paper of the Goldschmidt-Clermont lab in Nucleic Acids Research.
November 2013
“A plant which acclimatizes with no exterior influence” – a press release.
“Constitutively active UVR8 photoreceptor variant in Arabidopsis” – a paper of the Ulm lab in PNAS.
“La capacité des plantes à résister aux UV-B” – an interview of Roman Ulm (in French) in the RTS news broadcast.
September 2013
“Les microbes sont-ils tous méchants?” - an interview of Karl Perron (in French) in the RTS news broadcast.
August 2013
“Analysis of Chlamydomonas thiamin metabolism in vivo reveals riboswitch plasticity” – a paper of the Fitzpatrick lab in PNAS
April 2013
“Ultraviolet-B-mediated induction of protein–protein interactions in mammalian cells” – a paper co-authored by Roman Ulm in Nature Communications
April 2013
“Multi-chromatic control of mammalian gene expression and signalling” – a paper co-authored by Roman Ulm in Nucleic Acids Research
January 2013
“Repression of essential chloroplast genes reveals new signaling pathways and regulatory feedback loops in Chlamydomonas” – a paper of the Rochaix lab in The Plant Cell.
January 2013
“UV-B receptor recycling is needed for balanced plants’ sunscreen synthesis” – a press release.
“Reversion of the Arabidopsis UV-B photoreceptor UVR8 to the homodimeric ground state” – a paper of the Ulm lab in PNAS.
December 2012
Jerzy Paszkowski has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant.
November 2012
An issue of Current Opinion in Plant Biology edited by Jerzy Paszkowski and Robert A. Martienssen.
October 2012
Roman Ulm has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant.
September 2012
“How seeds in the shade decide to germinate or not” – a press release (in French).
“Spatially and genetically distinct control of seed germination by phytochromes A and B” – a paper of the Lopez-Molina lab in Genes & Development.
June 2012
“Identification of a photosystem II phosphatase involved in light acclimation in Arabidopsis” ‒ a paper of the Goldschmidt-Clermont lab in The Plant Cell.
April 2012
“La flore des montagnes subit les changements climatiques” ‒ a press release.
“Recent plant diversity changes on europe’s mountain summits” ‒ a paper co-authored by Jean-Paul Theurillat in Science.
March 2012
“Loss of DNA methylation affects the recombination landscape in Arabidopsis” - a paper of the Paszkowski lab in PNAS.
February 2012
“Structural basis of transcriptional gene silencing mediated by Arabidopsis MOM1” - a paper of the Paszkowski lab in PLoS Genetics
February 2012
“Vitamin deficiencies in humans: can plant science help?” - a review by Teresa Fitzpatrick and colleagues in The Plant Cell.
February 2012
“UV-B photoreceptor-mediated signalling in plants” - a review by Marc Heijde and Roman Ulm in Trends in Plant Science.
July 2011
“Comparative phosphoproteome profiling reveals a function of the STN8 kinase in fine-tuning of cyclic electron flow (CEF)” – a paper co-authored by Jean-David Rochaix in PNAS.
April 2011
“A receptor to detect the invisible” ‒ a press release (in French)
“Perception of UV-B by the Arabidopsis UVR8 protein” ‒ a paper of the Ulm lab in Science.
March 2011
“Epigenetic contribution to stress adaptation in plants” – a review by Marie Mirouze and Jerzy Paszkowski in Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
March 2011
“The guardian angels of genome stability” ‒ a press release (in French).
“An siRNA pathway prevents transgenerational retrotransposition in plants subjected to stress” ‒ a paper of the Paszkowski lab in Nature.
February 2011
“Selected aspects of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and resetting in plants” - a review by Jerzy Paszkowski and Ueli Grossniklaus in Current Opinion in Plant Biology
Original article
November 2010
“Negative feedback regulation of UV-B–induced photomorphogenesis and stress acclimation in Arabidopsis” - a paper of the Ulm lab in PNAS
Original article
October 2010
“Le réveil de la graine au bois dormant”, press release
“A seed coat bedding assay shows that RGL2-dependent release of abscisic acid by the endosperm controls embryo growth in Arabidopsis dormant seeds” - a paper of the Lopez-Molina lab in PNAS
Original article
October 2010
“Stress-induced activation of heterochromatic transcription” - a paper of the Paszkowski lab in PLoS Genetics
February 2010
"The PPH1 phosphatase is specifically involved in LHCII dephosphorylation and state transitions in Arabidopsis" - a paper of the Goldschmidt-Clermont lab in PNAS
Original article
February 2010
"Chloroplast RNA metabolism" – a review co-authored by Michel Goldschmidt-Clermont in Annual Review of Plant Biology
Original article
November 2009
"MOM1 and Pol-IV/V interactions regulate the intensity and specificity of transcriptional gene silencing" - a paper of the Paszkowski lab in The EMBO Journal
Original article
October 2009
Teresa Fitzpatrick received the Friedrich-Miescher-Award 2009
