Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
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jenlopezortiz.bsky.social
Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
@jenlopezortiz.bsky.social
Plant biologist interested in barriers development, secondary growth and biomechanics 🌱⚙️

University of Helsinki 🇫🇮

Also into crafting and outdoor sports ✨
Pinned
Plants can sense when their barrier is injured—and repair it! 🌱
This stunning work, led by Hiroyuki Iida, shows that wounding is sensed through the diffusion of two gases: ethylene and oxygen.
I had the pleasure of contributing and see this project grow.

Check it out👉 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
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
🌽 SPECIAL ISSUE RESEARCH 🌽

In maize cultivars, variation in saturating CO2 assimilation rate was related to leaf anatomy, and loss of potential CO2 uptake was related to stomatal conductance determined by ethylene synthesis - Yang et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
November 11, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
A nice write-up on the latest paper from my lab: news.ku.edu/news/article...

More commentary to come!

#PlantBiology #Drought #Corn #Maize #Microbiome #PlantScience #SoilHealth #PlantHealth
New study explores ‘legacy effects’ of soil microbes on plants across Kansas
Click for more on research in Nature Microbiology
news.ku.edu
November 8, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Check out this new paper on the Arabidopsis MLS8 channel and its importance for oscillatory growth
and cell wall dynamics in pollen tubes!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Mechanosensitive ion channel MSL8 is required for oscillatory growth and cell wall dynamics in Arabidopsis pollen tubes - Plant Reproduction
The male gametophyte in flowering plants, pollen, both performs the critical role of fertilization and represents a unique and accessible system for interrogating plant cell mechanics. A key component...
link.springer.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Our new review in Science @science.org is out with @jennyrussinova.bsky.social and @nvukas.bsky.social. We discuss how precise modulation of brassinosteroid signaling can enable more targeted, predictable improvements in plant growth and resilience.
science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu9798
November 7, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Interested in learning about the latest and greatest research in how plants respond to excess salt, too little or too much water? Come to the GRC in Salt and Water Stress in Switzerland. Lots of opportunities for all career levels. www.grc.org/salt-and-wat.... Please repost!
2026 Salt and Water Stress in Plants Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Salt and Water Stress in Plants will be held in Les Diablerets, Vaud (fr) Switzerland. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
There's still time to RSVP and receive the Zoom link for the Philip N. Benfey Arabidopsis Community Lifetime Achievement Awards webinar featuring Detlef Weigel, Mark Estelle, and Maarten Koornneef!
RSVP---> bit.ly/naascawards
@plantevolution.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
🥔 From Waste to Value: Hidden Bioactives in Potato Peels for the Circular Bioeconomy

More information on our #IHSMLaMayoraPaperDigest ⬇️
www.ihsm.uma-csic.es/comunicacion... that summarises our new article: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 7, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Also happy to say that Arabidopsis epidermal cells make the cover of @theplantjournal.bsky.social for the issue with our paper, showing that nitrate availability impacts pectin metabolism and cell wall mechanics for growth 🌱

Check the work here 👉 doi.org/10.1111/tpj....
November 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).
Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment
Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t
www.science.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Transcriptional outputs and condensates – formation and function

#TansleyInsight by Hutin et al.

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

#plantscience
November 7, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Our latest review, co-authored with @agustilab.bsky.social (@ibmcp.bsky.social), “Environmental regulation of plant vascular networks,” is now published in @cp-trendsplantsci.bsky.social! Read it here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 6, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
🧬🧪Research Technician Position Open🧬🧪
HHMI, UT Austin. Biochemistry/Biophysics- Assist recombinant protein expression, purification and structural analysis (protein NMR and CryoEM) to uncover the mechanisms of cell fate specification in plants.
hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...
Research Technician - Torii Lab
Primary Work Address: 2500 Speedway, Austin, TX, 78712 Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account. About the Lab We are currently seeking a proactive Research Technician to s...
hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
November 1, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
How sodium gets sequestered in the vacuoles of salinized plants? #opinion #MolecularPlant cell.com/molecular-pl...
November 1, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
To understand how plants coordinate defense strategies against herbivore attacks, researchers studied potato plants attacked by leafminers.

In a new #ScienceAdvances study, they report that a gene called SWEET11 plays a key role in potato plants’ tissue-specific defense. https://scim.ag/3L8Cv8p
Tissue-specific regulation of a sugar transporter mediates both resistance and tolerance responses to attack from a leafminer in potato
Potato plants differentially regulate SWEET11 in sink and source leaves, which mediates two distinct responses to herbivory.
scim.ag
October 31, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
🧪🌾Great to see our group leader Rishi Bhalerao talking today at @cbgpmadrid.bsky.social! Learn more about his research on environmental information processing and seasonal adaptation here: www.upsc.se/rishikesh_bhalerao 🔬
October 31, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Plant Science Research Weekly Oct 31, 2025. plantae.org/plant-scienc... What makes a tree a tree? Secret strategy of far-red photosynthesis; Unwinding the Spirogyra genome; H2O2 role in P starvation response; Viral evasion of cap-independent translation defense (1/2)
October 31, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
How to scare a researcher!
October 30, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
A great overview, very close to what we do. For years we’ve known the cell wall speaks. At the @cellwalldynamics.com lab we’re now decoding its vocabulary. Each chemical and mechanical cue carries meaning, helping us understand –and soon guide– how plants grow and adapt.
October 29, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Hey plant developmental biologists! Want to do great science with a great guy in a great place? @oconnord.bsky.social is looking for a postdoc to join his lab at Colorado State:

oconnorlab.colostate.edu/wp-content/u...

#devbio #plantscience #botany #bioimaging #microscopy
October 29, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Plant cell wall signaling is indeed a very dynamic process 🌱

You can read what our very own Sebastian Wolf says about pectin in this news feature 👇
October 29, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
Our Mini-review is out now! Here we collect recent findings of RALF peptide functions, adress their (potential) roles in plant-microbe interactions and discuss the resulting emerging questions. Pls share!

dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
The interplay of RALF structural and signaling functions in plant-microbe interactions
Rapid alkalinization factor (RALF) peptides are important signaling molecules binding to Catharanthus roseus receptor-like kinase 1-like (CrRLK1L)—LORELEI/LORELEI-like GPI-anchored protein complexes t...
dx.plos.org
October 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Ever wondered what happens when lateral root primordia fails to emerge? 🌱 Check out this new paper — amazing work from Xin in our lab & co uncovering how these cells can change fate and contribute to cambium formation! 🪵

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 25, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
A bacterial signal coordinates plant-microbe fitness trade-off to enhance sulfur deficiency tolerance in plants: Cell Host & Microbe www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
A bacterial signal coordinates plant-microbe fitness trade-off to enhance sulfur deficiency tolerance in plants
Mukherjee et al. report fitness trade-off between plants and the rhizosphere microbiome under sulfur deficiency, mediated by the tri-peptide signal glutathione. Competition among rhizosphere bacteria ...
www.cell.com
October 10, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Reposted by Jennifer Lopez Ortiz
New algorithm address the challenge of inferring GRNs from time series transcriptome data. This approach generates cohesive networks with minimal user input, revealing biologically meaningful neighborhoods.
doi.org/10.1093/insi... #PlantBiology #Transcriptomics #GRN
October 8, 2025 at 4:29 PM