Tiny shoot apical meristems demand precision and patience. During my PhD, I measured oxygen directly by inserting a 3 or 10 µm microsensor into the meristem.

Very happy that this work is now published in Molecular Plant.
Link: doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...

Our undergraduate researcher Jennifer Marron @jennamarron.bsky.social is graduating this semester and looking for a job! If you are looking for a candidate with molecular and computational biology skills as well as great time management and work ethic, look no further! Otherwise, please repost!

FocalPlane features… quantitative plant imaging across scales Thursday 30 April, 15:00 BST (UTC+1) Organised by Alex Johnson and Joe McKenna Image of Beatrice Lace (University of Freiburg) Multiplexing and Endogenous Fluorescence Discrimination Using FLIM in Plants Image of Simon Gilroy (University of Wisconsin–Madison) Do plants feel pain? How imaging has brought plant wound signaling into the human timescale. #FocalPlaneFeatures focalplane.biologists.com Image of a segmented root

We are excited to launch a new webinar series, Macro to micro: quantitative plant imaging across scales, organised by @ajcellbio.bsky.social and @joemckenna.bsky.social. Our first webinar will featured talks from @blace.bsky.social and Simon Gilroy.

focalplane.biologists.com/2026/03/30/n...

It’s not just plant mitochondria that remain small and lack mtDNA- functional specialisation of axonal mitochondria www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

High-frequency biparental inheritance of plant mitochondria upon chilling stress and loss of a genome-degrading nuclease - Nature Plants Maternal inheritance of mitochondria breaks down in the cold when a mitochondrial DNA degrading nuclease is defective, resulting in biparental inheritance that can rescue mitochondrial mutations and g...

Mitochondria can indeed be inherited from the father! 🍀
In this new study, we uncovered the molecular mechanisms underlying mitochondrial inheritance in Nicotiana tabacum. @natplants.nature.com

doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Check out this article summarising the recent Flora in Focus conference! Summing up some wonderful advances in plant imaging 🌱🔬💥

Mitochondrial fusion safeguards stomatal defence in plants - Nature Plants Plants close their stomata to block pathogen entry, but how this defence is supported at the organelle level remains unclear. Our study reveals that immune signalling promotes MIRO1-dependent mitochon...

All together now 🗣️🗣️ : mitochondrial dynamics are vital *even in plants*! 🗣️🗣️ Fantastic work looking looking at the prime candidate for the mysterious & elusive plant mito fusion factors: MIRO1

The momentum for plant mito dynamics is picking up 💪🏻

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

PhD opportunity in the newly minted RO2T Respiration Group! Please share!
Interested in root biology, oxygen dynamics, imaging & modelling? We’re recruiting a PhD student at the University of Nottingham.
Deadline 15th February.
jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
#plantscijobs #plantscience

Schematic showing interaction of mitochondrial fusion with Notch signaling. (A) Mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have fragmented mitochondria and active Notch signaling. The Notch intracellular domain (NICD) accumulates in the nucleus, where it regulates CBF1-dependent transcription, resulting in maintenance of fragmented mitochondria. Increased capacitative Ca2+ entry and calcineurin A (CnA) activity stimulate Notch1 signaling, maintaining the stem cell state. During differentiation of ESCs into cardiomyocytes, Notch signaling is reduced, which is accompanied by mitochondrial fusion due to increased expression of the fusion proteins Opa1, Mfn1 and Mfn2 (Mfn1/2). (B) Drosophila neural stem cells (NSCs) have fused mitochondria and active Notch signaling. Increased NICD in the nucleus results in Suppressor of Hairless [Su(H)]-mediated transcription and increased Opa1 and Marf expression. Opa1 and Marf maintain fused mitochondria and support the formation of intermediate progenitor cells. Created in BioRender by Rikhy, R., 2025. https://BioRender.com/wqklpid. This figure was sublicensed under CC-BY 4.0 terms.

In their Review, Rahul Kumar Verma, Somya Madan and Richa Rikhy discuss mitochondrial dynamics and signalling in stem cell differentiation.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Reshaping Organellar Translation and tRNA Metabolism: The Consequences of Photosynthesis Loss and Massive Horizontal Gene Transfer The transition to holoparasitism in plants precipitates the loss of photosynthesis, fundamentally altering the selective landscape acting on organellar genomes. These changes raise questions about the...

Great collaboration with the Sanchez-Puerta lab and colleagues! @lfceriotti.bsky.social @organelledchaos.bsky.social @jumpinggenomes.bsky.social @chusteckisci.bsky.social @achristensenphd.bsky.social (and others not on bsky)

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

More evidence for the sphere of influence model- local mtDNA quality determines local mitochondrial function, even when part of an interconnected network- and drives selection! Beautiful work

1. Apply for one of the positions below (lab or theory) by Jan 18th
2. Learn interdisc skills and discover cool new things about how mitochondria move and socialise
3. Explore some of Norway's beautiful nature (both the below, Rundemanen and Gullfjellet, <10km from work)

Apply here for an incredible mentor, cool science and a beautiful city in which to work! ✨

Review title

Review sections graphic

Sub compartments of mitochondria graphic

Mitochondrial.dynamics graphic

🔬 Curious about #mitochondria #imaging but unsure where to begin? Our review might help! 🚀📜🧪

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

#Quantitative #Microscopy #SuperResolution #AcademicSky #ScienceSky #CellBiology #mtDNA

Finding balance: the dynamic interplay between H3K27me3 writers and erasers in regulating environmental plasticity and memory Subject to an ever-changing world, plants must respond to harmful conditions and environmental fluctuations. Their evolutionary success can be attributed to their plasticity in both perceiving and in...

So happy to see this work finally online!

In this Research Review, I discuss the emerging roles of H3K27me3 writers (the enzymes that lay it down) and erasers (the enzymes that remove it) in controlling plant adaptation 🌿🌡️❄️🦠

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

Check out the editorial 'Plant Mitochondrial Biology' special issue; home to our paper 'Running on empty: Mitochondria Without DNA Exhibit Differential Motility&Connectivity' @achristensenphd.bsky.social

Editorial onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Paper onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

We just released a new major version of TrackMate (v8), the cell and organelle tracking plugin of Fiji.

It ships many new features, detailed below, but that are articulated around the following:

🚀 Our new paper is out @natmethods.nature.com!

Kuffer & Marzilli engineered conditionally stable MS2 & PP7 coat proteins (dMCP & dPCP) that degrade unless bound to RNA, enabling ultra–low-background, single-mRNA imaging in live cells.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧬 www.addgene.org/John_Ngo/

A privilege to attend the 9th annual Computational Plant Biology workshop last week at @slcuplants.bsky.social heard inspiring talks, got direct help and advice with pipeline bottlenecks and explored some very pretty places!

Nice to see a small summary of our research findings in the Plantae Research Weekly! ☺️🌱

The image shows one straight magenta line and, close to it, another wavy green line.

This might be one of the simplest images I captured, but very fascinating nonetheless, as it shows how tight the cytoplasm in a plant cell is. The cytosol and all other organelles are squished between the plasma membrane (magenta) and the central vacuole (its membrane is green)
#MicroscopyMonday

Congratulations Anne Marie!!!! 🥳🥳

I'm happy to share new work in collaboration with Elena Koslover's lab! First author Keaton developed a mathematical framework for diffusion of soluble material through mitochondrial networks. Then, Lewis lab PhD candidate Camryn used live cell imaging to parameterize... 1/3

Mitochondrial transfer is a fascinating phenomenon where cells shuttle mitos. The therapeutic potential is compelling and observational science is solid but the mechanism is a black box.
Excellent Viewpoint in @naturemetabolism.bsky.social breaks down one of cell biology’s biggest emerging mysteries

Cytoplasmic inheritance: The transmission of plastid and mitochondrial genomes across cells and generations (Kin Pan Chung) doi.org/10.1093/plph... #PlantScience

The only meeting I’ve ever been to with a fun fair at night! #brumforever #NGS2025

It’s been a wonderful meeting so far at #NGS2025 the ECR community is a great place to be right now, and we’ve had some fascinating talks and workshops. Loved presenting my work on mtDNA and mito dynamics #plantscience

Please RT! Call for Fellows! If you’re a structural biologist and wanting to start your lab by applying for an external Fellowship then we at Imperial may be excited to host you. Synthetic biologists too.. Please submit expression of interest with details below 🙏

www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperi...

Got papped yesterday at the @biology.ox.ac.uk research showcase spreading the good word about mitochondrial dynamics! So fun being in the new LaMB building and interacting with psych/bio colleagues 🌱🧠

(You can check out the paper I was soapboxing about here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...)

Congrats, Joanna! New article out in collaboration with our Microscopy Core!