With this I can easily take ~150 pics of the flowers from all angles. This then goes into software like Polycam for 3D reconstruction 😎

I made an imaging device for making 3D flower models (Photogrammetry) 🌹 📸

However, heterologous expression of Tyr1 in E. coli supplemented with copper and tyrosine produced a striking black pigment over the course of three days! 🖤 Stay tuned for next week, when we test our next gene from @genewiz.bsky.social !

We tested transient expression of these constructs in tobacco leaves and Petunia petals supplemented with copper & tyrosine. Three days after infiltration, we observed some light browning in Petunia petals but no convincing evidence of melanin production :(

We synthesized Tyr1 from @genewiz.bsky.social to test heterologous melanin production in both plants and bacteria. We also targeted Tyr1 to the chloroplast with a transit peptide to test whether localisation to the tyrosine-rich chloroplast could enhance melanin biosynthesis.

Melanin is a tan-to-black polymeric pigment found throughout the tree of life. In Priestia megaterium, melanin biosynthesis is catalysed by the copper-dependent tyrosinase Tyr1, which hydroxylates tyrosine to L-DOPA and oxidises it to dopaquinone to form melanin polymers.

Flower Bioengineering Toolkit Series [1]: MELANIN!⚫️ We kick off our gene synthesis sponsored by @genewiz.bsky.social by testing some genes regulating a pigment we are all familiar with– Melanin (🧵 1/5)

If Flower Bioengineering & Breeding sparks your curiosity, explore more at openflower.bio 🌸🧬 Designed and built by me, with love 🌱

Working hard

Starting next week we will begin revealing the results of our Flower Bioengineering genetic toolkit, all sponsored and synthesised by @genewiz.bsky.social Here’s a teaser of our first results. Can you guess what gene it is?? 🖤

It was pretty inspiring to see the longevity and impact of this society. Thanks to people like @rrbehringer.bsky.social and others for keeping the SDB going strong!!!

Another highlight was the art show that added another dimension to the conference. Would love to see this as a part of more large conferences.

Anolis, sea urchin, garden slugs, cnidarians, sharks, and soooo much more. Never seen a bio conference feature so many hero organisms 🤯

So honored to receive the @socdevbio.bsky.social SciCom award and to share my work with the wonderful people in this community! This #2026SDB conference was a celebration of biodiversity 🧵

There’s a magic to working with plants in the lab that I just can’t get over 🌱

Found this old botanical illustration of a chrysanthemum with a flower split perfectly red/white. Thought it was a very rare chimera, then my aunt sent me this zinnia doing something similar. Has anyone else seen this?

Could be, though I did mine with a bit of silwett so it diffused evenly through the petals. This guy offers another potential explanation:

I found that H2O2 treatment of Petunia flowers creates a spotted pattern 😯 It's known oxidation degrades anthocyanins, but the pattern was unexpected! Any ideas @gardiner-lab.bsky.social @julianverdonk.eurosky.social ?

Meet Ruby Petunie! Our little alien Petunia growing in tissue culture ❤️🧬

Flower Design \ ˈflau̇(-ə)r di-ˈzīn \ 1. The shaping of floral traits by pollinators, breeders, and bioengineers.

Plant cell sculptures, hand-woven by @jodiearmand.bsky.social These are some of the coolest bio-inspired and bio-accurate works I've seen. Go check out her work!!

A wonderful few days in Rome discussing all things Petunia 🌸 Grateful to be part of such a welcoming and enthusiastic community.

Plasmids are golden-gate compatible and make great reporters & teaching tools 🧬✨

Genes for genetic painting in flowers now available on Addgene!: addgene.org/browse/artic...

Lately all I do is talk about my @plasmidsaurus.bsky.social sponsorship... 🦖🧬✨ Free limited edition Plasmidsaurus x OpenFlower postcards extended to 3/16. Last chance!!!

Petunia hybrida has been bred into an incredible diversity of colors and patterns. Most arise from mutations in the anthocyanin pathway or post-transcriptional gene silencing that turns pigment genes on and off 🧬🎨

I made this green fluorescent flower with sequencing support from plasmidsaurus! 🦖🧬🌸✨ Limited edition postcards of the flowers below:

Potato virus X (PVX) is a positive-sense RNA virus widely used as a model system for studying plant virus replication and movement. It also forms a pretty cool helical structure (much larger than shown here)

My poster on flower bioengineering at the #AIEBaB26 conference in Bristol last week 🌹 🧬 ✨

These are just the first parts and flowers of OpenFlower, a nonprofit aimed at creating designer flowers for art & education as a community 🧬✨ Stay tuned for exciting announcements!