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Maite Saura

@maitesaura.bsky.social

270 followers 650 following 17 posts

Free Palestine 🇵🇸 --- Postdoc at @PSB_VIB and @UGent. Working on plant-biotic interactions at single cell level. Interested in roots, EvoMPMI, single cell and bioinformatics

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Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

New preprint! 🐛 Root-knot nematodes hijack root cells, turning them into feeding sites and making plants very sick. Using a cross-species scRNA-seq approach we mapped this process and show how this knowledge can be used to engineer resistant crops.🌱 A summary🧵 :
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Reposted by Maite Saura

Tatsuya Nobori @tatsuyanobori.bsky.social · 29d

Back in June at ICAR2025, @ignaciorubiosomoza.bsky.social and I organised a Workshop, where we invited ECRs Hantao Zhang and Katarína Heldesová with travel support to co-organise. Here’s their blog post reflecting on the session & their experience—check it out! plantae.org/icar2025-wor...

ICAR2025 Workshop | Plantae

At the International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR2025) in Ghent, the workshop “Resolving Heterogeneity in Plants with Imaging and Omics” brought together researchers from across the world…

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

It was easy with this amazing team!!

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

give me some time...:p

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

Gracias Nacho!!

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

Thank you!!

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

(9/9) This work was a joint project between the labs of @bertderybel.bsky.social, Tom Beeckman, Tina Kyndt and Carolina Escobar. Huge thanks to all co-authors, especially PhD students Melissa and Almudena. @psb-vib.bsky.social 🌾🌱

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

(8/9) We hope this approach inspires others to study complex plant–pathogen interactions across species, using single-cell transcriptomics to uncover molecular mechanisms in systems that are otherwise very hard to track!

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

(7/9) These orthologous genes were previously linked to auxin distribution across tissues. Strikingly, mutating them in both rice and Arabidopsis reduced infection by >30%. This offers a promising opportunity to engineer resistance in both dicots and monocots.

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

(6/9) Next, we looked for the TFs driving the transcriptional reprogramming captured in our dataset. AtATHB2/OsHOX28 emerged as prime candidates, specifically expressed under infection and predicted by MINI-EX to be enriched only during infection.

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

(5/9) In fact, this population of cells correspond to the giant cell precursors, that a few days later will develop into the giant cells induced by the nematode.

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

(4/9) Within the nematode clusters, we found a subpopulation of cells characterized by the expression of the orthologous genes AtEXPA4 and OsEXPA7.

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

(3/9) We found clusters that were exclusive to RKN infected roots, which we call “nematode clusters”, and they appear to be transcriptionally very similar between Arabidopsis and rice.

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

(2/9) We used single-cell transcriptomics in Arabidopsis and rice roots, comparing mock vs. RKN infection, to capture the transcriptional reprogramming underlying this process from the very early stages.

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

(1/9) Root-knot nematodes (RKN) are plant parasites that induce giant cells inside root galls. The origin of giant cells is a 𝘥𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘰 organogenesis process, occurring from very few cells when the nematodes invade their hosts.

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Sep 10

New preprint! 🐛 Root-knot nematodes hijack root cells, turning them into feeding sites and making plants very sick. Using a cross-species scRNA-seq approach we mapped this process and show how this knowledge can be used to engineer resistant crops.🌱 A summary🧵 :
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Reposted by Maite Saura

Ignacio_Rubio-Somoza @ignaciorubiosomoza.bsky.social · Aug 20

And he made it again!...tour the force from JIa-Wei´s Wang lab using comparative sc-transcriptomes, and developing new analytical tools, to tackle evolutionary trajectories of plant cell types!. Amazing work as usual! www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

A unified cell atlas of vascular plants reveals cell-type foundational genes and accelerates gene discovery

A cross-species single-cell atlas highlights a core subset of cell-type foundational genes associated with major vascular plant cell types, enabling the identification of hidden cell types and the dev...

Reposted by Maite Saura

Jorge Hernández-García @jorgehg.bsky.social · Aug 7

Hey all!
We have been awarded a Spanish national grant to keep researching. Best of all is we have a full PhD contract assigned. We are looking for candidates interested in molecular biology and evolution of (plant) transcription factors, please spread the word!!
Check our web for more information.

Reposted by Maite Saura

martinalegris.bsky.social @martinalegris.bsky.social · Jul 7

🔥Postdoc opportunity 🌱

The Legris lab at the University of Neuchâtel 🇨🇭 is looking for a Postdoc to work on the regulation of branching by warm temperatures. If you have a background on plant physiology and development, and you're interested in shoot thermomorphogenesis, apply now!

Reposted by Maite Saura

Ignacio_Rubio-Somoza @ignaciorubiosomoza.bsky.social · Jun 16

Tomorrow at #ICAR2025!, don't miss it!

Ignacio_Rubio-Somoza @ignaciorubiosomoza.bsky.social · Jun 9

#PlantScience Come join us on this exciting workshop #ICAR2025 icar2025.com in Ghent in less than two weeks!, Great speakers and panel discussion!. Organized by myself @cragenomica.bsky.social along with @tatsuyanobori.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social , Katarina Heldesova and Hantao Zhang

Reposted by Maite Saura

Ignacio_Rubio-Somoza @ignaciorubiosomoza.bsky.social · Jun 9

#PlantScience Come join us on this exciting workshop #ICAR2025 icar2025.com in Ghent in less than two weeks!, Great speakers and panel discussion!. Organized by myself @cragenomica.bsky.social along with @tatsuyanobori.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social , Katarina Heldesova and Hantao Zhang

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Jun 5

See you in beautiful Ghent in two weeks!!

Reposted by Maite Saura

Chenxin Li, PhD @chenxinli2.bsky.social · Apr 29

My tidyverse gene co-expression workflow reached 200 stars on GitHub.

github.com/cxli233/Simp...

GitHub - cxli233/SimpleTidy_GeneCoEx: A simple gene co-expression analyses workflow powered by tidyverse and graph analyses

A simple gene co-expression analyses workflow powered by tidyverse and graph analyses - cxli233/SimpleTidy_GeneCoEx

Reposted by Maite Saura

New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · Apr 13

Dual and spatially resolved #drought responses in the #Arabidopsis #leaf mesophyll revealed by single-cell transcriptomics

A #CommunityResource by Berrío et al.
👇

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

#LatestIssue

Arabidopsis mesophyll cells display two distinct drought responses.

Reposted by Maite Saura

Bert De Rybel @bertderybel.bsky.social · Feb 2

A single-cell and spatial wheat root atlas with cross-species annotations delineates conserved tissue-specific marker genes and regulators: Cell Reports www.cell.com/cell-reports...

A single-cell and spatial wheat root atlas with cross-species annotations delineates conserved tissue-specific marker genes and regulators

Accurate scRNA-sequencing cluster annotation in less-studied plant species remains a major challenge due to the lack of validated marker genes. Ke et al. provide an orthology-based annotation pipeline...

Maite Saura @maitesaura.bsky.social · Jan 13

Next month I will be in #LausanneGenomicsDays2025 talking about plants, nematodes and single-cell 🌾
If you're curious about my postdoctoral research at @psb-vib.bsky.social in the labs of @bertderybel.bsky.social, Tom Beeckman , and Tina Kyndt, join me!

Sebastian Soyk @sebastiansoyk.bsky.social · Jan 9

Register now for the #LausanneGenomicsDays2025 which take place on Feb 6-7, 2025! We have a great line-up of speakers who apply #genomics 🧬to tackle exciting questions in #biology and #medicine. For more info & registration: wp.unil.ch/gtf/lgd-2025/
@unil.bsky.social @fbm-unil.bsky.social