The
North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee (NAASC) is committed to promoting
a global plant sciences community that reflects the true diversity of all its
members. To further this mission, the NAASC Diversity and Inclusion Task Force
has created the DiversifyPlantSci online resource, a list of plant
biologists from under-represented groups to reference for speakers, reviewers,
and participants for career or mentorship opportunities.
This
list is intended to highlight the diversity within the global plant science
community.
We
hope to increase diversity and inclusion by making it easy to expand invitations
past one’s personal networks.
Nominate yourself if you are a plant scientist who: identifies as a woman; identifies as LGBTQIA+; has a disability; and/or is a member of an under-represented ethnic or racial group***.
Please do not nominate others, we allow self-registration only. However we strongly encourage you to forward this form’s URL to others that you know and invite them to consider signing up for inclusion.
Please do not nominate others, we allow
self-registration only. However we strongly encourage you to forward this
form’s URL to others that you know and invite them to consider signing up for
inclusion.
We welcome the use of information provided for
distributing relevant announcements, however, please use the list judiciously
and do not simply spam members.
Moreover, a personal email is much more effective than
a mass mailing. If you do send an email to more than one person, please use the
‘bcc’ option to reduce the likelihood of an annoying ‘reply-all’
chain.”
Filters for several categories are listed in the
DiversifyPlantSci list under Data–> Filter Views: Selecting a Filter view
will show only names in that category. To reset, select
“None”
While we are aware that there are other categories of
under- representation or disadvantage within plant sciences, we are focusing on
the categories of gender/racial/ethnicity/sexual orientation/disability
All my best,
Joanna Friesner, PhD
Pronouns she/her
National Network Coordinator
Inter-institutional Network for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability (INFAS)
Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI)
University of California, Davis
Phone: 530-752-7556Pronouns she/herNational Network CoordinatorInter-institutional Network for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability
(INFAS)
Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI)
This edition of the GARNet Research Roundup is led by two papers from John Christie’s lab at the University of Glasgow. First is a study that looks at the function of the NPH3 protein during phototropism whilst the second paper is a collaboration with Mike Blatt’s group and has used an synthetic biology approach to increase plant biomass by altering stomatal conductance.
Third is a paper from the University Dundee and James Hutton Institute that looks at the extent of alternative splicing of long non-coding RNAs in response to cold stress.
The fourth paper is from Royal Holloway and defines the role of a MAP kinase module during meristem development. The fifth paper is led by Charles Spillane in Galway and includes Mary O’Connell at the University of Nottingham as a co-author and investigates the selective pressures that are applied to parentally imprinted genes.
The penultimate paper is from Aberystwyth and uses microCT imaging to determine grain parameters in wheat and barley whilst the final paper is from Queens Mary University of London looks at nonphotochemical quenching in Berteroa incana.
Stuart Sullivan is first author on this work from John Christie’s lab
at the University of Glasgow in which they investigate the functional
significance of dephosphorylation of the NON-PHOTOTROPIC HYPOCOTYL 3
(NPH3) protein that occurs following activation of Phototropin receptor
kinases. They show that plant greening (de-etiolation) enhances
phototropic responses that are coincident with reduced NPH3
dephosphorylation and increased plasma membrane retention of the
protein. They further investigate other genetic and environmental
factors that impact NPH3 dephosphorylation, which allows young seedlings
to maximise their establishment under changing light conditions.
Papanatsiou M, Petersen J, Henderson L, Wang Y, Christie JM, Blatt MR (2019) Optogenetic manipulation of stomatal kinetics improves carbon assimilation, water use, and growth. Science. doi: 10.1126/science.aaw0046
Maria Papanatsiou is lead author on this work from the University of Glasgow that occured in the labs of Mike Blatt
and John Christie. They aimed to address a phenomonen that occurs
during changing environmental conditions in which stomatal dynamics lag
behind biochemical photosynthetic changes. This prevents plants from
maximising their outputs due to inefficiencies in gas and water
exchange. In this work they express a synthetic blue light-gated K+
channel BLINK1 in guard cells. This introduced a K+ conductance to these
cells resulting in accelerated stomatal opening under light exposure
and closing after irradiation. Ultimately they show that this
significantly increases biomass without incurring a water use cost. This
approach has clear potential for improving plant productivity under
changing environmental conditions.
Calixto CPG, Tzioutziou NA, James AB, Hornyik C, Guo W, Zhang R, Nimmo HG, Brown JWS (2019) Cold-Dependent Expression and Alternative Splicing of Arabidopsis Long Non-coding RNAs. Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00235
Open Access
Cristiane
Calixto and John Brown from the University of Dundee and the James
Hutton Institute lead this study into alternative splicing of lncRNAs in
response to cold. This is a follow-up to their large scale scale study
on the extent of alternative splicing in Arabidopsis.
The authors identified 135 lncRNA genes with cold-dependent
differential expression (DE) and/or differential alternative splicing
(DAS), some of which were highly sensitive to small temperature changes.
This system identified a set of lncRNAs that could be targets for
future research aimed at understanding how plants respond to cold and
freezing stresses.
Dóczi R, Hatzimasoura E, Farahi Bilooei S, Ahmad Z, Ditengou FA, López-Juez E, Palme K, Bögre L (2019) The MKK7-MPK6 MAP Kinase Module Is a Regulator of Meristem Quiescence or Active Growth in Arabidopsis. Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00202
Robert Doczi
is the first author on this UK, Hungarian and German collaboration that
is led from Royal Holloway University of London. They use genetic
approaches to show that the MKK7-MPK6 MAP kinase module is a suppressor
of meristem activity. They use mkk7 and mpk6 mutants as
well as overexpression lines to demonstrate that perturbation of the
MAPK signaling pathway alters both shoot and root meristem development
and plays important roles in the control of plant developmental
plasticity.
Tuteja R, McKeown PC, Ryan P, Morgan CC, Donoghue MTA, Downing T, O’Connell MJ, Spillane C (2019) Paternally expressed imprinted genes under positive Darwinian selection in Arabidopsis thaliana. Mol Biol Evol. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msz063
Open Access
Reetu Tuteja from the National University of Ireland at Galway is first author on this paper that includes Mary O’Connell from the University of Nottingham.
The authors used Arabidopsis to look at 140 endosperm-expressed genes
that are regulated by genomic imprinting and found that they were
evolving more rapidly than expected. This investigation was extended
across 34 other plant species and they found that paternally, but not
maternally imprinted genes were under positive selection, indicating
that imprinted genes of different parental origin were subject to
different selective pressures. This data supports a model wherein
positive selection effects paternally-expressed genes that are under
continued conflict with maternal sporophyte tissues.
Hughes N, Oliveira HR, Fradgley N, Corke FMK, Cockram J, Doonan JH, Nibau C (2019) μCT trait analysis reveals morphometric differences between domesticated temperate small grain cereals and their wild relatives. Plant J doi: 10.1111/tpj.14312
Nathan Hughes and Candida Nibau at the Aberystwyth University lead
this work that uses microCT imaging alongside novel image analysis
techniques and mathematical modeling to assess grain size and shape
across accessions of wheat and barley. They find that grain depth is a
major driver of shape change and that it is also an excellent predictor
of ploidy levels. In addition they have developed a model that enables
the prediction of the origin of a grain sample from measurements of its
length, width and depth.
Wilson S, Ruban AV (2019) Enhanced NPQ affects long-term acclimation in the spring ephemeral Berteroa incana. Biochim Biophys Acta Bioenerg. doi: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2019.03.005
This study is led by Sam Wilson and Alexander Ruban at QMUL and investigates nonphotochemical quenching in the Arabidopsis-relative Berteroa incana. They show that light tolerance and ability to recover from light stress is greatly enhanced in Berteroa compared to Arabidopsis. This is due to faster synthesis of zeaxanthin and a larger xanthophyll cycle (XC) pool available for deepoxidation. This result gives B.incana a greater capacity for protective NPQ allowing enhanced light-harvesting capability when acclimated to a range of light conditions. The authors suggest this short-term protection prevents the need for the metabolic toll of making long-term acclimations.
I
want to let you know that the ICAR
2020 conference webpage is up and that we (NAASC)
are doing new and exciting things for ICAR 2020 – Seattle!
In
response to community feedback we’ve gathered an External Advisory Board to
discuss approaches to better meet the needs of plant science researchers and
educators interested in a moderate sized conference such as ICAR, and that
focuses on the resources, techniques, and fundamental research taking place in
Arabidopsis labs and in other labs that depend on Arabidopsis knowledge and
resources.
We
consistently heard that attendees prioritize the chance to present their
work, especially in a talk; that most want greater diversity in the
invited speakers list and in conference session topics. In response
we’ve dramatically changed our and we anticipate a highly engaging and more
diverse program in Seattle next summer.
Please share this call with your students and postdocs as we’ve reserved a number of sessions to be organized by early-career researchers.
31 July 2019: Deadline to apply to organize and invite speakers for a community-proposed ICAR 2020 symposium.
Selected symposia organizers will be provided budgets to enable them to recruit speakers for their sessions. Proposers may be at any career stage and are not limited to faculty submitters.
We are seeking community input on invited speakers for the non-community organized part of the program, and on the new themes we’ve developed with significant discussion with our international External Advisory Board.
Finally- we are putting significant emphasis on building, engaging, and supporting the diversity of our community, be it new parents, under-represented minorities, LGBTQ scientists, students, and others. We’re engaging in various approaches to enable fuller participation and inter-personal connections and are soliciting input via our survey/proposal submission mechanism, where we’ll invite folks to join and/or lead various groups at ICAR 2020.
As part of our diversity and inclusion endeavor, a NAASC subcommittee launched the DiversifyPlantScilist in February and there are nearly 250 plant scientists that have signed up.
Beyond ICAR, our DiversifyPlantSci list could be value to you– e.g. as you and colleagues consider inviting visiting speakers for local seminars. Please see the description below; I encourage you to join (if applicable) and please share with your labs and colleagues.
We’ve even gotten some press in Science Magazine! “Just last week, a group of plant scientists started a new database for women, members of underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups, people who identify as LGBTQ, and people with disabilities; as of today, 124 plant scientists are already on the list.” (now up to nearly 250)
Over the past few weeks the GARNet coordinator, Geraint Parry, has been voted as Chairman of the UK Plant Science Federation (UKPSF), where he will represent the ideas of the GARNet community on this national committee.
So what’s the difference?
During anedotal conversations there is some confusion in the community regarding the difference between GARNet and UKPSF. To clarify:
GARNet is a BBSRC-funded community network that is focused on supporting researchers that are involved in fundamental plant science. These activities include knowledge exchange through online (website and blog) and social media platforms, organisation of meetings and workshops as well as representing the needs of fundamental plant scientists in discussions with the BBSRC or in government consultations on relevant topics, such as gene editing, big data or immigration policy.
GARNet is a member of UKPSF, which has a much broader remit that is currently primarily focused on education and policy. The UKPSF was founded in 2011 with the ambitious aim of bringing together plant scientists across all disciplines, from Arabidopsis to Ecology, in order to provide a unified voice for UK plant science.
Over the subsequent years the management of UKPSF has moved within the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) as a Special Advisory Committee. Therefore any organisation that is a member of RSB has the option of interacting with the UKPSF. Currently there are 21 member organisations that, as originally planned, cross the spectrum of UK plant science and include participants from academia, education, industry, learned societies and publishers. Each member organisation provides input into the advisory board that meets twice yearly whilst more immediate decisions are made by the UKPSF Executive Committee, which meets four times annually. The members of the Executive Commitee are listed here so please contact any of them if you have an issue that you feel needs to be raised. The Chairpersons email is geraint@garnetcommunity.org.uk yet contact information for all other members can be easily found online and they will be happy to receive your correspondence.
What is the role of UKPSF?
In its early years UKPSF organised an annual broad-based conference that brought together people with an interest in different areas of plant science who might not ordinarily communicate. However this conference has not taken place over the past few years, due in part to the challenges of finding a place for a very general meeting in an already packed conference and workshop schedule.
With over 18000 members the RSB is the largest society that focuses on all areas of the biological sciences. Therefore the primary role of the UKPSF is to ensure that plant science is represented throughout RSB activities and more generally within the wider public and scientific communities.
Growing the Future
Over the past few years members of UKPSF have interacted with the community to produce the ‘Growing the Future’ report. This important document outlines the exciting potential for UK plant science to tackle many societal challenges over the coming decades through ‘Improving crops and agricultural systems, ‘Plant health and biosecurity’, ‘Plant biotechnology’ and ‘Biodiversity and ecosystems’. This document was introduced at a breakfast reception at the House of Commons on January 29th in an event that included contributions from Stephen Metcalfe MP, Lord Matt Ridley, UKPSF Chair Rick Mumford, Professor Dale Sanders from the John Innes Centre and Professor Belinda Clarke from AgriTech East.
Where now for UKPSF?
Following publication of ‘Growing the Future’ the challenge for UKPSF is to now follow up on the recommendations outlined the document in order to support plant-focused activities at RSB.
Initially the executive are working with RSB to promote plant science in their career-facing activities during Biology Week 2019. Secondly members of the committee are involved in policy discussions on the future of genetic technologies in the UK. This primarily will occur during a ‘Workshop on Genetic Technologies’ on May 10th and the recommendations from this forum will be disseminated through usual Royal Society of Biology channels. In addition UKPSF are working with Celia Knight to promote the undergraduate RSB Plant Health Studentships that are funded through DEFRA, the BSPP, N8 Agrifood and the David Colegrave Foundation.
Future UKPSF activities will primarily rely
on funding from RSB so there is limited scope to what can be achieved individually
through direct activities of the committee ‘on
the ground’. However the significant reach of RSB is extremely useful in
promoting the outstanding resources developed by member organisations that aim
to develop an educational and public interest in plant science.
Please get in contact with UKPSF if you would like the executive group to suggest any specific activities with which they could be involved.
This edition of the GARNet research roundup begins with a study from
the John Innes Centre that investigates the role of auxin in the control
of fruit development in Capsella.
Auxin is also a central focus of the next paper that is from SLCU, in which the authors characterise the role of different types of auxin transport during shoot development. The third paper, also from Cambridge, identifies a new function for members of the DUF579 enzyme family. The final paper from Cambridge reports on an outstanding citizen science project that looks at how different temperature and light conditions influence the growth of spring onions.
The next paper is from the University of Glasgow and investigates the
role of the SNARE protein complex during vesicle transport in
Arabidopsis.
The final two papers include authors from the University of Nottingham. Firstly Anthony Bishopp leads research that defines determinants of vascular patterning across plant species. Finally Don Grierson is a co-author on work that has identified novel signaling components involved in the response to hypoxia in Persimmon and Arabidopsis.
Dong Y, Jantzen F, Stacey N, Łangowski Ł, Moubayidin L, Šimura J, Ljung K, Østergaard L (2019) Regulatory Diversification of INDEHISCENT in the Capsella Genus Directs Variation in Fruit Morphology. Curr Biol. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.01.057
Open Access
This research from Lars Ostergaard’s lab
in the John Innes Centre is led by Yang Dong. The work is primarily
conducted in Capsella and investigates the role of the INDEHISCENT (IND)
protein in this plant, which has fruits that are morphologically
distinct from those in Arabidopsis. Expression of CrIND controls fruit
shape by influencing auxin biosynthesis leading to auxin accumulation in
specific maxima that are localised to the fruit valves.
van Rongen M, Bennett T, Ticchiarelli F, Leyser O (2019) Connective
auxin transport contributes to strigolactone-mediated shoot branching
control independent of the transcription factor BRC1. PLoS Genet. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008023
Martin Van Rongen is the lead author on this research performed under the supervision of Ottoline Leyser at the Sainsbury Lab, Cambridge University. They investigate the hormonal signals that underpin the remarkable plasticity of shoot patterning, focusing on a genetic analysis of connective auxin transport (CAT), which moves the hormone across the stem (in contrast to up-down polar transport). Using multiple pin mutant plants, they show CAT is important in the regulation of strigolactone-mediated shoot branching. However shoot branching controlled by the BRANCHED1 transcription factor is reliant on the ABCB19 auxin export protein and is not significantly influenced by the activity of PIN proteins. Martin van Rongen discusses this paper on the GARNet YouTube channel.
Temple, H, Mortimer, JC, Tryfona, T, et al (2019) Two members of the DUF579 family are responsible for arabinogalactan methylation in Arabidopsis. Plant Direct. https://doi.org/10.1002/pld
Open Access
Henry Temple
works with Paul Dupree at the University of Cambridge and leads this
study that identifies a novel activity of two DUF579 enzymes in the
methylation of glucuronic acid within highly glycosylated
arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs). This differs from all other previously
characterized DUF579 members that have been previously shown to
methylate glucuronic acid within the cell wall component xylan.
Brestovitsky, A, Ezer, D (2019) A mass participatory experiment provides a rich temporal profile of temperature response in spring onions. Plant Direct. 2019; 3: 1– 11. https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.126
Open Access
This citizen science project led by Anna Brestovitsky and Daphne Ezer was performed in collaboration with the BBC Terrific Scientific
program. In this study primary school students from across the UK
recorded the growth of spring onions over a two-week period, which was
then cross-referenced with detailed hourly meteorological data. This
allowed the authors to discern the effect of minute temperature and
light changes on plant growth and perhaps more importantly demonstrated
that even the youngest researchers, when involved a well-designed
citizen science project, can yield very useful data.
Zhang B, Karnik RA, Alvim JC, Donald NA, Blatt MR (2019) Dual Sites for SEC11 on the SNARE SYP121 Implicate a Binding Exchange during Secretory Traffic. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.18.01315
Open Access
Ben Zhang and Rucha Karnik are first authors on this paper that continues Mike Blatt‘s
lab’s study of SNARE proteins, which are involved in vesicle
trafficking. This study defines a new amino acid motif within SNARE
SYP121 that is needed for the binding of the SEC11 protein but is not
involved in binding plasma membrane K+ channels. This motif is essential
for assembly of the entire SNARE complex yet does not influence the
interaction of SYP121 with the uptake of K+ ions.
Mellor N, Vaughan-Hirsch J, Kümpers BMC, Help-Rinta-Rahko H, Miyashima S, Mähönen AP, Campilho A, King JR, Bishopp A (2019) A core mechanism for specifying root vascular patterning can replicate the anatomical variation seen in diverse plant species. Development. doi: 10.1242/dev.172411
Open Access
Nathan
Mellor is first author on this work led by the lab of Anthony Bishopp
at the University of Nottingham. The primary accomplishment of this work
is in the development of a mathematical model that is able to predict
the role of auxin in the specification of vascular patterning during
embryonic development. This model has been tested through experimental
interrogation of both transgenic Arabidopsis plants and in a range of
other species with different vascular development patterns. Importantly
they show that a heterologous auxin input might not be as critical in
vascular development when compared to growth patterns that arise from
spatial constraints. The authors show that this model has broad
relevance to define early vascular patterning across plant species.
Zhu QG, Gong Z, Huang J, Grierson D, Chen KS, Yin XR (2019) High-CO2/hypoxia-responsive transcription factors DkERF24 and DkWRKY1 interact and activate DkPDC2 promoter. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.18.01552
Open Access
Don Greirson
is a co-author on this Chinese-led study that identifies a set of
transcription factors from Persimmon ((Diospyros kaki). These TFs are
involved in responses to high CO2 and the authors show that their
Arabidopsis orthologs play a similar role. The authors introduce a new
response module that may be important during this key environmental
response.
Over the past thirty years the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC) has represented the global Arabidopsis community through its collaborative oversight of the annual International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR), production of a MASC annual report and preparation of the series of decadal Roadmaps that have helped coordinate the future activities of the community. In[…]
https://meetings.embo.org/event/20-plant-systems This EMBO Workshop on international Plant Systems Biology (iPSB) is the central gathering of plant systems biology researchers from across the world. Climate change poses unique challenges for how to feed and power humanity without further degrading the environment. Plant science therefore is a key discipline in meeting the challenge of adapting food and[…]
The spring season of #UKPlantSciPresents begins on January 12th and we have a strong schedule set until the end of April! Each webinar is at Tuesday afternoon at 3pm GMT (or BST)! Registration is free and webinars will be made freely available soon after the event. Although closed captioning/subtitles are not available for live webinars,[…]
The previously awesome #GARNetPresents webinar series is morphing into the #UKPlantSciPresents webinar series. This series has the aim of promoting plant science excellence across the UK! UK plant science research uses many different experimental organisms such as Arabidopsis, Wheat, Brassicas, Brachypodium, Marchantia, Physomitrella and many others. This webinar series is supported by both GARNet and[…]
Contents: – Society Updates– Introducing Quantitative Plant Biology– Congratulations to Ottoline Leyser– Conference Updates– Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme– Introducing CHAP– Twenty Years of GARNet– GARNet Research Roundup– MASC Publication Update– Plant RNA Interactome Capture– Update on new BBSRC Projects– Spotlight on University of Nottingham Download here: https://www.garnetcommunity.org.uk/sites/default/files/newsltr/GARNish33_Online_Final_0.pdf
Marcel Bach-Pages works with Gail Preston at the University of Oxford and we discuss a new protocol to identify the RNA-Binding Proteome from Arabidopsis leaves. This community-focused work includes full instructions for use of the protocol and they provide an accessible list of proteins that they have identified. This research is published in Biomolecules and[…]
This edition of GARNet Research Roundup begins with a remarkable four papers that include work from Caroline Dean’s lab at the John Innes Centre. The first two papers are collaborations with members of Martin Howard’s lab and look at the molecular mechanisms that control long-term cold sensing or the antisense regulation of FLC respectively. The[…]
Christos Velanis works at the University of Edinburgh and discusses work published in PloS Genetics entitled ‘The domesticated transposase ALP2 mediates formation of a novel Polycomb protein complex by direct interaction with MSI1, a core subunit of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2)‘. http://blog.garnetcommunity.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Velanis_edit-13072020-09.32.mp3Pumi Perera is co-first author on this work from the Goodrich lab that[…]
This has been a challenging time for both conference organisers and conference venues. Most 2020 plant science conferences have cancelled, postponed or majorly changed their events. Below is a non-exhaustive list of the changes that have been made to different conferences. Up to date as July 6th 2020. (download)
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