Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Robertas Ursache @robertasu.bsky.social · 7d

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

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nikogeldner.bsky.social @nikogeldner.bsky.social · 7d

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

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 ...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

Xander Jones @xanderjones.bsky.social · 7d

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)

www.cam.ac.uk

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

Science Magazine @science.org · 8d

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

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

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Dan Kliebenstein @spicybotrytis.bsky.social · 16d

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...

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

doi.org

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · Aug 8

#TansleyReview: Mechanisms driving functional divergence of #TranscriptionFactor paralogs

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

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

Mechanisms leading to paralog-specific binding profiles.

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Yan Ma @yanma-fungalls.bsky.social · Jul 21

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...

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Robertas Ursache @robertasu.bsky.social · Jul 22

Congrats Yan!

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Ari Pekka Mähönen @apmahonen.bsky.social · Jul 2

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...

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.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · Jul 1

🌱🧬 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

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.

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

nikogeldner.bsky.social @nikogeldner.bsky.social · Jun 5

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...

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...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

nikogeldner.bsky.social @nikogeldner.bsky.social · May 29

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...

Career Opportunities: Postdoc or PhD student position in Plant Physiology (22260)

career5.successfactors.eu

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Robertas Ursache @robertasu.bsky.social · May 15

Congratulations Priya! exciting research ahead 🙂

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

CRAG @cragenomica.bsky.social · May 8

🌱 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

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

Kaisa Kajala @kaisakajala.bsky.social · May 1

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

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

Brady Lab @bradylabs.bsky.social · Apr 19

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

Postdoctoral Researcher- Brady Lab

University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!

recruit.ucdavis.edu

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

Lothar Kalmbach @lkalmbach.bsky.social · Apr 11

🌱 🔬

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

www.unine.ch

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Rodrigo Reis @rodrigoreislab.com · Apr 10

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

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

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.

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

Marc Somssich @somssich.bsky.social · Apr 10

📜 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

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 ...

www.nature.com

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Tonni Andersen @tonnigrubeandersen.bsky.social · Mar 21

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/...

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...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Robertas Ursache

KleineVehnLab @kleinevehnlab.bsky.social · Mar 17

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...

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...

www.biorxiv.org

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Robertas Ursache @robertasu.bsky.social · Mar 15

Thank you Pierre-Marc!

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Robertas Ursache @robertasu.bsky.social · Mar 15

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.

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Robertas Ursache @robertasu.bsky.social · Mar 7

Congratulations Matthias!

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Joop Vermeer @joopvermeer.bsky.social · Feb 26

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/

Jobs - Laboratory of cell and molecular biology

Join Our Team – Open Positions at the LBMC, Vermeer Lab. We are excited to announce two open positions, please get in touch with Prof. Dr. Joop Vermeer: [email protected] Applications open f...

www.unine.ch

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