Robertas Ursache

Wohoo! Big congrats Merissa and everyone involved, a very cool story 🙂

Localized glutamine leakage drives the spatial structure of root microbial colonization Plant roots release exudates to encourage microbiome assembly, which influences the function and stress resilience of plants. How specific exudates drive spatial colonization patterns remains largely ...

A long road to the Cover of Science!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Only a few days left to apply!

My group is looking for a postdoc to engineer and deploy new tools to precisely manipulate and decode how auxin coordinates plant morphogenesis.

@starmorph-syg.bsky.social

Research Associate - Reprogramming Development (closes 7 October 2025)

A confocal microscopy image shows root-colonizing bacteria clustering around an emerging lateral root, where localized glutamine leakage induces spatially confined reporter activity.

Using precise spatial and temporal analysis, researchers in Science provide insight into how bacteria around the root interact both with the plant and with each other.

Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/3WgNajk

Guns in Rosettes: The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal Arabidopsis remains one of the best studied models today and has a number of remarkable chemical defense systems which actively engage, interact and preven

Fun review of Arabidopsis anti-pathogen metabolism with @somssich.bsky.social and @tonnigrubeandersen.bsky.social.

Started to make a complete catalogue and had to focus. Even with all this knowledge, we still haven't studied most Arabidopsis enzymes or metabolites doi.org/10.1093/plph...

Mechanisms leading to paralog-specific binding profiles.

#TansleyReview: Mechanisms driving functional divergence of #TranscriptionFactor paralogs

Isabella J. Higgins, Sarah G. Choudury & Aman Y. Husbands 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

First Ma lab #GMI paper is now online! It‘s a mini-review on insect-induced plant #galls —their coolness and research potential! Plant galls induced by insects: Coordinated developmental reprogramming and defence manipulation www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Congrats Yan!

Plants monitor the integrity of their barrier by sensing gas diffusion - Nature A study using Arabidopsis shows that plants can monitor the integrity of their outer barriers by sensing gas diffusion, enabling them to initiate wound repair to prevent water loss and pathogen entry.

How plants sense injury in their barrier tissue, periderm? Painstakingly detailed and amazing work by post doc Hiroyuki Iida shows that wounding is sensed by the diffusion of two gases: ethylene and oxygen. @treebiocoe.bsky.social‬ @erc.europa.eu‬ 1/x 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Figure 2 (shortened, see paper for full legend): Long non-coding RNAs participate in both activation and repression of genes preventing germination. (A) Under red and far-red light conditions, phytochrome B (phyB) promotes accumulation of the HIDDEN TREASURE 1 (HID1) lncRNA in the radicle of germinating seeds to repress transcription of genes which slow germination. For the repressor PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 3 (PIF3), HID1 RNA directly interacts with the chromatin in its promoter region, repressing transcription. For other genes such as the ABA biosynthesis gene 9-CIS-EPOXYCAROTENOID DIOXYGENASE (NCED9), HID1 not only interacts with the chromatin in its promoter region, but also with the histone methylase ARABIDOPSIS TRITHORAX-RELATED7 (ATXR7) to suppress its ability to deposit the activating gene body mark H3K4me3, thus reducing transcription of NCED9. (B) Transcription of the dormancy-promoting gene DELAY OF GERMINATION1 (DOG1) is induced and repressed by different lncRNAs.

🌱🧬 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🌱🧬

Tremblay & Qüesta discuss how examining the seed-to-seedling transition can reveal how non-coding RNAs and epigenetic changes regulate transcription during developmental transitions.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪 @jiquesta.bsky.social‬

Imaging of specialized plant cell walls by improved cryo-CLEM and cryo-electron tomography Cryo-focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (cryo-FIBSEM) has become essential for preparing electron-transparent lamellae from cryo-plunged and high-pressure frozen specimens. However, targeti...

Check out our latest work, featuring beautiful, first-of-their-kind cryo-tomograms of crucial plant cell wall modifications, Casparian strips, suberin lamellae, lignified xylem walls and more! From our Electron Microscopy Facility led by @chgenoud.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We have a unique opportunity for a junior researcher, PhD student or postdoc, to use a revolutionary technique for mineral nutrient imaging and tracing in plants. Please re-post! Interested candidates should apply through the portal at the link below:

career5.successfactors.eu/career?compa...

Congratulations Priya! exciting research ahead 🙂

🌱 Join us tomorrow at 12:00h for a seminar by Rochus Benni Franke from the University of Bonn in Germany (@unibonn.bsky.social)✨

📍 CRAG Auditorium
💡 Free entry
👉 https://www.cragenomica.es/events/crosstalk-and-cross-linking-phenylpropanoids-are-crucial-plant-diffusion-barrier-formation

Our work on MYBs and WRKY regulating suberin in tomato exodermis is now out in @jxbotany.bsky.social!

🍅 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

👩‍🔬 @leonardojo.bsky.social @riannekluck.bsky.social @marianasartur.bsky.social Sara Buti, Alex Cantó-Pastor @bradylabs.bsky.social

🌱 #PlantScience

Postdoctoral Researcher- Brady Lab University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!

We have a postdoc position that just opened up in the Brady lab on reprogramming tomato root system architecture in response to changes in nutrient availability - please consider applying! recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07095

🌱 🔬

🚨 There is a 2-year postdoc position available in my group in Neuchâtel 🚨
Please share!
Details here: www.unine.ch/biologie/wp-...

A comprehensive all-in-one CRISPR toolbox for large-scale screens in plants An all-in-one CRISPR toolbox is developed to aid guide RNA library-based loss-of-function and gain-of-function screens in plants.

Excellent resource for plant biologists. I hope the plasmids are in @addgene.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/plcell/advan...

Bright and photostable yellow fluorescent proteins for extended imaging - Nature Communications Yellow fluorescent proteins (YFPs) photobleach rapidly, restricting microscopy experiments. Here, the authors report mGold2s and mGold2t, YFPs that extend imaging durations up to 25 times longer than ...

📜 Bright and photostable yellow fluorescent proteins for extended imaging

🧑‍🔬 Jihwan Lee, Shujuan Lai, François St-Pierre, et al.

📔 @naturecomms.bsky.social

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#️⃣ #Microscopy #Imaging #BiologicalImaging #BioImaging #Fluorophores #FluorescentProteins #YFP

Apoplastic barriers are essential for nodule formation and nitrogen fixation in Lotus japonicus Establishment of the apoplastic root barrier known as the Casparian strip occurs early in root development. In legumes, this area overlaps with nitrogen-fixing nodule formation, which raises the possi...

Finally!
Im so excited to present to culmination of many years of work from the fantastic Defeng Shen and some great collaborators. For details, I have made a digested thread below, but if you are more interested feel free to reach out (and read the paper of course).
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Two distinct oscillatory auxin signals define the plasticity of lateral rooting in Arabidopsis thaliana The phytohormone auxin defines lateral root pre-branch sites (PBS) in the growing primary root tip. How PBS contribute to the plasticity of the root system architecture remains incompletely understood...

We are excited to update you on two distinct auxin oscillations (local & systemic), revealing how root architecture adapts to fluctuating conditions!

@cibss.bsky.social @biologyunifreiburg.bsky.social @cbgpmadrid.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thank you Pierre-Marc!

Coming back from an amazing trip to Toulouse. Many thanks for inviting and organizing @stevenmoussu.bsky.social! Exciting discussions with @583original.bsky.social @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social @mattbnt.bsky.social and everyone else.

Congratulations Matthias!

We are hiring! Are you interested in lateral root development and the cellular processes that accommodate these newly formed organs? If yes, apply! We are recruiting a Post-doc (from May 2025) and a PhD student (from September 2025).
www.unine.ch/lbmc/jobs/

🎊 We can finally show the program for the ACYR 2025!​

Come to @cragenomica and be part of this edition.

Special thanks to our sponsors and collaborators:
@agrisera.bsky.social #SemillasFitó @novogene-europe.bsky.social #NZYTech #Sarstedt #VidraFoc #Werfen #CosmoCaixa

Plasmodesmata act as unconventional membrane contact sites regulating intercellular molecular exchange in plants Plant intercellular communication is regulated via tubular ER-PM membrane contact through PI4P and MCTP protein tethers.

Great collaboration with @yvonjaillais.bsky.social 🌱 Plants use membrane contact sites (MCS) for cell-to-cell signaling!
➡️ MCTP tethers & PI4P regulate ER-PM contacts in plasmodesmata, impacting trafficking.
➡️ MCS roles span intra- and intercellular communication.

www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

ATG8ylation of vacuolar membrane protects plants against cell wall damage - Nature Plants ATG8ylation of the tonoplast, triggered by cell wall damage, acts as a vital vacuolar quality control mechanism that safeguards vacuolar integrity and ensures cell survival under stress.

Happy to see that our Cell wall integrity #CWI & #ATG8ylation #preprint found a home @natureplants www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congrats Jose, Peng, Alessia & everyone involved. Stay tuned for exciting updates on this story…

Wow, so cool! I really like the design, feels very authentic

Big congratulations Priya! Very cool work!