Rahul Puthan Valappil (@rahulpvnewland) — Bluesky Profile

1 week ago

Mechanical coordination of counter-gradient growth maintains organ curvature in the apical hook

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

#plantscience

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1 month ago

Spotted from the road! Umeå has some beautiful winter days right now. The reindeers just bring the magic! @umeaplantsciencecentre.se

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1 month ago

Latest preprint from our group together with @stephanevrg.bsky.social @wabniklab.bsky.social @kleinevehnlab.bsky.social

Our work supports the view that morphogenesis is not driven by growth alone, but by the integration of physical and biological regulation.

www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

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1 month ago

A drought stress-induced MYB transcription factor regulates pavement cell shape in leaves of European aspen (Populus tremula) The leaf pavement cells of many plant species develop fascinating jigsaw puzzle-like shapes in which neighboring cells interdigitate with each other, providing an ideal model for the study of cell shape acquisition. We analyzed pavement cell shape complexity in a natural population of European aspen ( Populus tremula ) genotypes and then used a genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach to identify a new candidate gene in cell shape regulation, Potra2n8c18226, encoding the transcription factor MYB305a. We subsequently validated a role for MYB305a in regulating aspen leaf pavement cell shape. We then demonstrated that drought conditions strongly induced MYB305a promoter expression in these cells and provided evidence implying that MYB305a plays a role in simplification of the cell shape in response to drought stress. Finally, we demonstrated negative correlations of pavement cell shape complexity with water-use efficiency, as well as with average precipitation, latitude and longitude of the genotypes' original sampling sites in the natural European aspen population. Taken together, our results suggest that climatic variables affect the shape complexity of pavement cells in aspen leaf and provide a first step towards unravelling the molecular mechanisms controlling pavement cell shape acquisition in this species in response to environmental conditions, by implicating the involvement of the transcription factor MY305a. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Swedish Research Council, https://ror.org/03zttf063, VR-2020-03420 Kempe Foundation, https://ror.org/05cszw148, JCK-1732, JCK-1912 Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, https://ror.org/004hzzk67 VINNOVA, https://ror.org/01kd5m353 European Research Council, https://ror.org/0472cxd90, ERC-2024-SyG STARMORPH 101166880 Trees and Crops for the Future (TC4F)

The latest biorxiv of the lab and first full poplar paper :-).
Nice collaborative work with Nat Street and Kathryn Robinson @umeaplantsciencecentre.se
@siamsadoyle.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

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2 months ago

How Membrane Lipids Shape BamA Folding and Antibiotic Targeting - BioPatrika Researcher Spotlight - A researcher spotlight uncovering how outer membrane lipids regulate the folding, stability, and function of the essential bacterial chaperone BamA, revealing new antibiotic tar...

biopatrika.com/academia/res...

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2 months ago

Entering 2026 with the latest group picture. @loupitgreg.bsky.social is missing.
We had two great bachelor students for a few weeks Jule Braha and Mélio Dagnaud-Adam! @siamsadoyle.bsky.social @sharmavinod.bsky.social @lorindaloi.bsky.social @rahulpvnewland.bsky.social @absolutemaverick.bsky.social

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2 months ago

Lipid-regulated assembly mechanisms and functional energetics of the essential bacterial chaperone BamA BamA is a highly conserved essential outer membrane chaperone of all Gram-negative bacteria. Our understanding of the BamA machinery remains incomplete, delaying knowledge-based antibacterial design. ...

Our work is now online!

#biophysics #membraneprotein #proteinfolding #microsky

Read here: pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/A...

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3 months ago

We are delighted to announce that the registration for YRSPP 2026 is now open! ✨
Visit yrspp.github.io/register to register and for more info.
Looking forward to seeing everyone in April! ☀️🌱

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3 months ago

Excited to share that our work on the Barrel Assembly Machinery protein BamA is now accepted in Chemical Science!

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3 months ago

@sdatta7925.bsky.social 👏

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3 months ago

Blue light promotes and dark inhibits aluminum resistance in Arabidopsis Aluminum (Al) toxicity in acid soils inhibits primary root elongation. Kar et al. demonstrate that light plays an important role in modulating plant resistance against aluminum. Blue light via cryptochromes activates an HY5-STOP1 module to positively regulate ALMT1 and MATE expression to promote carboxylate exudation. This prevents Al entry into the root and promotes Al exclusion. In the dark, COP1 interacts with and degrades STOP1 and HY5 to inhibit root growth under Al. In conclusion, blue light promotes, whereas dark inhibits, Al resistance in Arabidopsis.

Blue light promotes and dark inhibits aluminum resistance in Arabidopsis

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3 months ago

True Nordic spirit! Looks like a fantastic outing - though some of you seem a little frozen in that outdoor photo.❄️ ☀️

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3 months ago

Ice bath before Julbord, enjoying the sun when it is still out! Perfect end of the week with this fantastic group! @siamsadoyle.bsky.social @sharmavinod.bsky.social @rahulpvnewland.bsky.social @absolutemaverick.bsky.social @lorindaloi.bsky.social @loupitgreg.bsky.social

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3 months ago

Great news!

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3 months ago

📣 Finishing your PhD or recently graduated?
Looking to shape your own postdoc project?🧪🌾

Join us for the UPSC Symposium for Early Career Plant Scientists on 28–29 Apr 2026, Umeå, Sweden, and network with the UPSC community!

Learn more and apply: www.upsc.se/early-career...

📅 Apply by 11 Jan 2026

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3 months ago

Looking for a fantastic place for your next career step? Come to speak about your science and meet us @umeaplantsciencecentre.se

Have a look at the research groups www.upsc.se/research/res... and build up your next project

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4 months ago

The A to Z of Auxin in Plant Development: Physiologia Plantarum Click on the title to browse this issue

@marhava.bsky.social and myself have edited a special issue on Auxin for Physiologia plantarum! Have a look at the nice contributions! @umeaplantsciencecentre.se
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

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5 months ago

Humbled to be a part of Indian Science Academies, @ IAScBng, @nasi_academy, and Now @insa_academy
Such moments remind me how fortunate I am to work with talented lab members (past and present), collaborators, colleagues and mentors all along. Thank you for this opportunity 🙏

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5 months ago

ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 and miR156d orchestrate axillary meristem maturation and AHL15-mediated plant longevity (Subhash Reddy Gaddam, Ashish Sharma, Anwesha Anyatama, Prabodh Kumar Trivedi) doi.org/10.1093/plph... #PlantScience

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5 months ago

Having fun with the group for Sandeep Farewell! @sharmavinod.bsky.social @siamsadoyle.bsky.social @loupitgreg.bsky.social @sandeep18887.bsky.social @absolutemaverick.bsky.social @umeaplantsciencecentre.se

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5 months ago

ERAD machinery controls the conditional turnover of PIN-LIKES in plants Plant ERAD machinery governs the turnover of auxin transporters involved in developmental and stress responses.

Thrilled to share our latest story on the ERAD machinery and how it controls the conditional turnover of PIN-LIKES for acclimative growth

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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6 months ago

What a cool story presented by @elkebarbez.bsky.social from @uni-freiburg.de at @umeaplantsciencecentre.se !!

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6 months ago

Honoured & excited that ‘Breathing Underground’ has been funded by the ERC!
This will let me explore one of the most fundamental questions of plant life: how roots breathe underground? @erc.europa.eu

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6 months ago

Looks great! We are looking forward to hear more about the proceedings!

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6 months ago

STARMORPH kick off went smoothly! Nice group of young scientists to work together with! Fantastic couple of days! @xanderjones.bsky.social @kleinevehnlab.bsky.social @nowako76.bsky.social @srobertgroup.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @umeaplantsciencecentre.se

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6 months ago

IN BRIEF: Sugar, we’re going down: PRC2-mediated epigenetic repression of sucrose metabolism promotes phototrophy during seedling establishment (Rory Osborne) doi.org/10.1093/plce... #PlantScience

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6 months ago

Amazing how responsive different regions of the same tissue type is to tissue culture hormones! Here is the hypocotyl of a plant segmented into lower hypocotyl (seedling stem near root crown) left, middle hypocotyl, and upper hypocotyl right (seed stem near cotyledons).

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6 months ago

Fun on the way!

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6 months ago

STARMORPH kick off in @umeaplantsciencecentre.se ! People of the STARMORPH on their way or already enjoying north Sweden! @xanderjones.bsky.social @nowako76.bsky.social @kleinevehnlab.bsky.social @srobertgroup.bsky.social

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6 months ago

This paper was dedicated to the memory of the late Joanne Chory:

Coincidence detection of low temperature and blue light and the control of flowering (by A. Seluzicki & J. Chory)

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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