Inlay

Fascinated by insect-induced plant galls! Cell biologist, interested in solving molecular puzzles in defense & developmental signalling. PI at @gmi Vienna Biocenter

Host killing by necrotrophs is really complex. Using a 29-gene knockout series in Botrytis cinerea, we show that removing nearly all known cell death-inducing proteins and major phytotoxins is not sufficient to prevent host necrosis. Check out the paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

When caterpillars attack, the common bean plant relies on a receptor in its leaves to sound a chemical rallying cry that recruits predatory wasps, a new #ScienceAdvances study finds. https://scim.ag/434rXN5

🌱🧬Single cell omics, metabolite imaging, and high quality genomes are transforming plant specialized metabolism research. This guide covers methods, workflows, common pitfalls, and a practical pathway discovery pipeline for newcomers #plantscience @embojournal.org link.springer.com/article/10.1...

To activate plant immunity, NLR receptors such as SUMM2 form resistosome complexes, which act as Ca2+-permeable plasma-membrane channels. Work @nature shows how SUMM2 and its associates assemble into even higher-order clusters to initiate cell death. shorturl.at/653TZ plus N&V shorturl.at/vqqYg

It’s an absolute pleasure and honour to have finally met @nkwhiteman.bsky.social, a pioneer in developing model systems (Arabidopsis & leaf-mining drosophila S. flava). Thank you for an inspiring keynote lecture at #MECS2026 highlighting the unpredictability and resilience in science for us ECRs!

Now out in Science Advances. Inceptin Receptor helps attract predatory wasps in two years of field experiments. Next steps: can we tune both receptor recognition and volatile blend traits in crops + companion plants?

Water is essential to life; so how do cells sense and respond to the stress associated with changes in water levels? Work @nature shows that when water is scarce, the plant protein SAM8 forms condensates, trapping RNA-processing factors and so reprogramming translation. shorturl.at/4VZQf

Not sure which scRNA-seq platform to use for 🪴 plant samples? How well do doublet detection algorithms really work in 🌱? How can I optimise sample prep ? Find out in our benchmark study! Led by @carogro.bsky.social and @thomaseekhout.bsky.social. Open access at EMBO Journal: doi.org/10.1038/s443...

Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic plant pathogen with an extremely wide host range. During invasion, the fungus induces rapid host cell death and proliferates in the necrotic tissue. The mechanisms o...

A plant receptor detects caterpillar attack and triggers emission of chemical cues to attract predatory wasps.

Recent developments in single-cell -omic and metabolite imaging technologies and the increasing availability of high-quality genome assemblies are having a transformative impact on the way research is...

SUMM2, a coiled-coil NLR, promotes the assembly of higher-order resistosome clusters to initiate cell death in plants.

Damage limitation... van Wüllen et al. @charlesmelnyk.bsky.social explore the role of #phytohormones during the various stages of parasitism, expose knowledge gaps in the field, & propose novel strategies to help limit agricultural damage by parasitic plants doi.org/10.1093/pcp/... #PlantScience

Plants sense water deficiency through SAM8 protein condensation, which responds to reduced hydration and triggers stress adaptation by altering RNA export and gene translation.

Global Plant Science Spotlight

The isolation of single plant cells from complex tissues is prone to selective enrichment and sampling biases, which complicates accurate profiling of the large diversity in cell types. Optimizing methodologies for cell enrichment and single-cell transcriptomics is therefore critical for single-cell studies addressing plant cell heterogeneity. Here, we systematically compared protoplast enrichment technologies (including conventional and image-based flow cytometry, as well as magnetic cell sorting) and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) platforms (10X Genomics Chromium, BD Rhapsody) using Arabidopsis roots. Image-based flow cytometry offered increased precision due to customizable gating strategies, while magnetic sorting provided faster processing and enhanced representation of cell size heterogeneity. Both scRNA-seq platforms captured root cell heterogeneity and yielded reproducible gene expression profiles, but showed platform-associated differences in cell type composition. Notably, single-nucleotide polymorphism analysis of a mixed ecotype sample revealed that, among cells identified as doublets by computational algorithms, two-thirds were likely to have been misclassified. These insights identify key biases in plant cell purification and scRNA-seq workflows and provide practical guidance for improving data quality across plant species.

Huge congratulations to Beverley Glover & Uta Paszkowski on being elected Fellows of the @royalsociety.org - a wonderful recognition of their significant contributions to plant sciences! 🎉 Read more: tinyurl.com/3vetucr4 @beverleycubg.bsky.social @paszkowskilab.bsky.social 🧪

How do predatory wasps find their caterpillar prey? In our new preprint on Biorxiv we show that the host plant's immune system detects herbivory to sound the alarm. 🌱🐛 See thread from @nataliagupa.bsky.social -- a surprising role for a plant PRR in indirect defense against herbivores.

At the @gmivienna.bsky.social with Junior Group Leader Dr. Yan Ma, who is going pioneering work on molecular mechanisms of gall formation (using the “Swede” midge and Arabidopsis). Swede=rutabaga. Yan is one of the few studying flies that attack above ground Arabdidopsis, so we are kindred spirits!

Plant & Cell Physiology

I am thrilled to share the 2nd chapter of my PhD with @adsteinbrenner.bsky.social In collaboration with @tiszapatrick we demonstrated that the LRR-RLP INR is the missing molecular link between caterpillar recognition and predatory wasp recruitment in the field. A thread 1/6

Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge

Natalia Guayazán Palacios

A plant immune receptor mediates tritrophic interactions by linking caterpillar detection to predator recruitment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.29.667524v1