Kaisa Kajala

Congratulations to both of you! 🥂🍾

Are you interested in using synthetic approaches to promote arbuscular mycorrhiza symbiosis? Then our PostDoc position may be for you: jobs.mpimp-golm.mpg.de/jobposting/b...

The cover of Vol 76 | Issue 21 | 2025 of the Journal of Experimental Botany, Special Issue: Tomato. Purple banners border the top and bottom of the page and in the centre is an image of a ripe tomato fruit on its truss (credit: Marine Honoré).

📣 Check out the Journal of Experimental Botany's newest special issue 📣

🍅 Tomato - Issue 21 of 2025 🍅
📘 Guest edited by Yves Gibon, Diane Beckles, Sonia Osorio & Hiroshi Ezura

🔗 academic.oup.com/jxb...

#JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪 @sebiology.bsky.social @dianemariabeckles.bsky.social

Fig. 2 (shortened, full legend in paper): Perturbations of SlMYB41, SlMYB92, and SlWRKY71 expression affect the suberization of tomato exodermis. (A) Percentage of cross-sections showing a non-suberized, an early suberized (suberin in <50% of exodermal cells), or a late suberized (suberin in >50% of exodermal cells) exodermis phenotype in hairy root cultures of the control (empty vector), CRISPR knockout lines [Slmyb41-ko, Slmyb92-ko, Slwrky71-ko(4), and Slwrky71-ko(5)], and overexpressing lines (SlMYB41-OX, SlMYB92-OX, and SlWRKY71-OX). The number above the bars represents the number (n) of individual roots examined in each genotype. Asterisks denotes statistically significant differences between each line in comparison with the empty vector control, whereas n.s. indicates no significant differences (P<0.05, χ2 test).

🧬 🍅 SPECIAL ISSUE RESEARCH 🍅 🧬

MYB and WRKY transcription factors collaboratively regulate suberin biosynthesis in the tomato root exodermis. Antagonistic interactions may fine-tune suberization or act as a brake on overaccumulation - Jo et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

Check out this #Root methods course organised at Aarhus University in May 2026! Register using the link below.

phd.tech.au.dk/for-phd-stud...

Mariana Artur sitting down at a desk to sign a PhD diploma. Man wearing formal academic gown standing next to her.

Mariana Silva Artur and Annika Liefferink standing in a stair case at Wageningen Omnia building, Annika holding her brand new PhD thesis tube.

Flashback also to September when @marianasartur.bsky.social had her first co-promoted PhD graduate from @pph-wur.bsky.social! First photo shows her signing the PhD diploma, and second with the freshly minted PhD. So happy to see mentees become excellent mentors! 💚

Mariana Artur sitting down at a desk to sign a PhD diploma. Man wearing formal academic gown standing next to her.

Mariana Silva Artur and Annika Liefferink standing in a stair case at Wageningen Omnia building, Annika holding her brand new PhD thesis tube.

Flashback also to September when @marianasartur.bsky.social had her first co-promoted PhD graduate from @pph-wur.bsky.social! First photo shows her signing the PhD diploma, and second with the freshly minted PhD. So happy to see mentees become excellent mentors! 💚

Super proud to see my first postdoc @marianasartur.bsky.social publishing super cool work from her own lab! 🌱⏳

#PlantScience‍

Screenshot of this paper: Husain I. Agha, Laura M. Shannon, Peter L. Morrell, Unloading potatoes: Potato breeding moves forward with only half the genome, Cell Genomics, Volume 3, Issue 6, 2023

🥔 🌱 Reading about potato breeding I learned: "there has been no genetic gain in potato yield over the last 100 years"
🤯
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...
I also have a plant evo-devo PhD opportunity open to study the evolutionary origins of female meiosis with me ^^.

Deadline Thursday 27th November, so if you know anyone who might be interested, please do let them know!
#Plantscience

Auxin transport positions stem cells in the vascular cambium during normal development and regeneration | PNAS The vascular cambium contains bifacial stem cells producing secondary phloem in one and secondary xylem to the opposite direction. In Arabidopsis r...

By combining molecular genetics with cell-ablation experiments, we found that vascular cambium stem cells and xylem-identity cells form an interchangeable unit, a stem cell niche. Meticulous work by @xixizhang9001.bsky.social, Ondrej Smetana, Jing Zhang & Xiaoyu Wang 1/x www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

EPS Summer School | Universiteit Utrecht We would like to invite you to join the PhD Summer School that has an attractive program with many expert speakers in the field of environmental signaling in plants. In addition to the invited speaker...

Great opportunity for Early Career Researchers - Utrecht PhD Summer School 2026!

eps.sites.uu.nl

13th Utrecht PhD Summer School​ Environmental Signaling in Plants Aug 24-26 2026 Speakers: Laura Ragni, Roeland Berendsen, Mariana Silva Artur, Matthew Paul, Ari Sadanandom, Beatrice Giuntoli, Bruno Guillotin, Priya Ramakrishna, Caroline Gutjahr, Niko Geldner, Laura Bacete and Marcel Beukeboom.

We are beyond excited to reveal the full line-up for our Environmental Signaling in Plants summer school 2026!

Registration is now open here eps.sites.uu.nl - we look forward to seeing you in Utrecht on 24th-26th August!

I really enjoyed this edition of the symposium - thank you to all PhDs and PDs for presenting, helping out with hosting, and especially asking the great questions! 🌱

Also 👏🎉 to @violawillemsen.bsky.social for co-chairing & @epsgraduateschool.bsky.social office for organization!

AP presenting on stage.

Finishing the symposium with our second keynote @apmahonen.bsky.social - so many cool and impactful stories rolled into his talk!

A gene regulatory network built from single cell co-expression, orthology, transactivation, and overexpression. The TF IDB1 activates itself the TF IDM1. IDM1 and IDB1 together activates IDM4, which in turn activates biosynthetic genes.

New paper is online! We used single cell RNA-seq & phylogenetics to identify 2 additional cell type specific TFs that control late-stage vinca alkaloid biosynthesis. The key insights originated from Camptotheca, another species that produces alkaloids. doi.org/10.1111/nph.... #PlantScience #SecMet

Seminar room full or people

EPS Theme 1 (plant development) symposium today in Utrecht!

Exciting talks so far and very lively Q&As! Proud to be part of this community 🌱

@epsgraduateschool.bsky.social
@violawillemsen.bsky.social
@renskevroomans.bsky.social
@uuplants.bsky.social

Congratulations! Exciting news and an exciting topic!!

I am beyond thrilled (like the screaming and jumping type of thrilled) that my SNSF Starting Grant was funded. I will start my own lab @unibe.ch next year, studying succulent anatomy development and if and how this anatomy is required for efficient CAM photosynthesis in different Kalanchoë species 🌱

Researchers Prof. Boas Pucker, Nancy Choudhary, and Marie Hagedorn in the lab. They hold colorful pumpkins (blue, pink, purple) in their hands and look frightened. Around them are spiders and spider webs. A “spooky” photo montage withthe researchers, made for Halloween.

🎃 Why are (Halloween) pumpkins orange – and not pink or blue? This secret is explored by @bpucker.bsky.social, @nancy-choudhary.bsky.social and Marie Hagedorn. Their research examines how carotenoids took over, making Jack O’Lanterns forever orange: www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/colo.... Happy Halloween!

Our recent Tansley Insight is already out of date 😂 doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Joking aside, I’m excited to see an inner cortex-specifying cue resolved!

A vinyl box with six colored vinyl LPs sticking out of its right side. The Title "Guns in Rosettes" is on top, with the subtitle "The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal" just below. Then there is an Arabidopsis plant with machine guns sticking out. Below is the statement "6-LP LIMITED EDITION COLORED VINYL BOX SET"

The back cover of the vinyl box set showing the tracklist: 1. Methionine-derived compounds Aliphatic GSLs 2. Tryptophan-derived compounds (trptonites) Indolic GSLs Camalexin Hycanite (4-OH-ICN) 3. Phenylalanine-derived compounds (phenylpropanoids) Benzenic GSLs Coumarins Hydroxycinnamates Flavonoids 4. Terpenoids (E)-β-caryophyllene α- and β-pinene Thalianin, arabidin, and DMNT And the statement "Recorded live in front of an audience in 2025"

Our article "Guns in Rosettes: The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal" is finally published @plantphys.bsky.social!
You can download the #OpenAccess PDF here:

doi.org/10.1093/plph...

But real connoisseurs of #AntimicrobialCompounds will want to get the vinyl boxset: #PlantScience #PlantImmunity

Check out the finale of the Plant Cell Identity webinar series! 🌱 🔬 🧬

We had a panel discussion with @oli-wilkins.bsky.social, @bas-bargmann.bsky.social and Marc Libault, on why and how we define cell types, and what could be done better.

I love this question and its complexity! ✨

Incredibly exited to see @dorotakawa.bsky.social be awarded the "Dutch starting grant" (VIDI)! 🎉

And what a cohort, so many plant biologists awarded! Including @andrekuhn.bsky.social @charlieunderwood.bsky.social @kinpanchung.bsky.social - what a boost to the community and exciting science planned!

Delighted to be awarded NWO VIDI grant! We will study how microbes shape root cells to enhance plant stress resilience - so exciting!!!!

www.nwo.nl/en/news/149-...

Fantastic to see several plant projects granted🌽🌱

Final, edited version of the paper now available
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

An updated perspective: what genes make a tree a tree? We learn early on how to tell trees apart from other plants. However, it has proved hard to distinguish trees from other plants at the genetic level, and it is believed that there are no unique ‘tree genes’. With the rapid increase in available tree genomes, we can perform new comparative and evolutionary analyses of plant life histories and growth forms. Here we provide a fresh perspective on the genetic foundation for woodiness and perenniality in angiosperms by analyzing selection pressures and gene family evolution in the rosids using genomic data. We examine genes distinguishing trees from herbs and discuss future directions for uncovering the genetic factors that define a tree in this new era of tree genomics.

An updated perspective: what genes make a tree a tree? #plantscience

Glucosylation of endogenous haustorium-inducing factors underpins kin avoidance in parasitic plants Parasitic plants rarely attack themselves, suggesting the existence of a kin-avoidance mechanism. In the root parasitic plant Phtheirospermum japonicum, prehaustorium formation is triggered by host-se...

Simon's mutant finally published! Well done, Satoko' lab with Harro, Tobimatsu, Tohge collaborations. Glucosylation of endogenous haustorium-inducing factors underpins kin avoidance in parasitic plants | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Very happy to see our work out examining guard cell transcriptomes over the course of a slowly developing drought. Thanks to @bradylabs.bsky.social and @kaisakajala.bsky.social for the inspiration, way back in Davis in 2013! The data are available in bar.utoronto.ca/eplant & doi.org/10.1093/plce...

The @uncchapelhill.bsky.social Department of Biology is searching for tenure-track Assistant Professor in Plant Molecular Biology. Chapel Hill is a wonderful place and Biology is an amazing group of people. To apply, see:
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...