Entries by Magdalena Julkowska

Small but powerful: miRNA-derived peptides promote grape adventitious root formation

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Magdalena Julkowska, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-4259-8296  Although plant genomes typically contain hundreds of miRNA encoding genes, we know little about how miRNA expression is regulated (Wang et al., 2019). The expression of Arabidopsis miRNA171, which targets SCARECROW-like transcription factors involved in lateral root formation, was previously described to be […]

Extreme Engineering: How Antarctic Algae Adapt to Hypersalinity

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Magdalena Julkowska, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-4259-8296 Photosynthetic organisms can be found across most environments on Earth, including the most extreme ones. The McMurdo Valleys in Antarctica are among the driest and coldest places on the planet, and lakes in this region are permanently covered by 5 m of ice […]

Rapid changes: ABA-independent SnRK2s target mRNA decay

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Magda Julkowska [email protected]   In response to stress, secondary messengers and rapid and reversible protein phosphorylation contribute to signaling cascades that generate unique signatures indicating stress type and severity. Activation of stress-induced signaling cascades leads to changes in the transcriptome and ultimately to acclimatization to stress conditions. Changes in the transcriptome result not only from […]

Restriction Release: improved maize transformation efficiency

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Magdalena M. Julkowska [email protected] Improvement of crops using traditional breeding is too slow to ensure food production able to sustain the growing human population, especially in the face of climate change (Hickey et al., 2019). Transformation methods for monocot crops depend on the availability of immature embryos and are effective only for a limited number […]

Keep it steamy: improved quantification of the humidity within the leaf

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Magdalena M. Julkowska [email protected] Stomata are the gatekeepers of plant water status, regulating the balance between plant CO2 uptake and water loss. Stomatal conductance (gs) can be estimated by microscopy of wax or plastic leaf surface imprints, but this technique is time consuming and labor intensive. Another method for assessment of gs relies on measurements […]

Pinstatic acid as a dissection tool-kit for transcriptional and non-transcriptional auxin responses

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Author:         Magdalena M. Julkowska Affiliation:      Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University for Science & Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia   Auxin is one of the most studied plant hormones, and it comes in various forms. Whereas indole 3-acetic acid (IAA) is the most biologically active among the endogenous auxins, phenylacetic acid […]

Review: Developmental responses to water and salinity in root systems ($) (Annu Rev Cell Biol)

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Plants lack organs that are analogous to human ears, eyes or fingertips, yet they can detect changes in their environment. In this review, Dinneny describes how sensing heterogeneities in salt and water leads to changes in root architecture, optimizing soil foraging. The root tip typically follows the water gradient (hydrotropism), while it avoids soil patches […]

Breeding improves wheat productivity under contrasting agrochemical input levels (Nature Biotech.)

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Wheat breeding programs are releasing new cultivars almost every year for improved yield potential. But is this intensive breeding not compromising the plant performance under adverse environmental conditions? Voss-Fels et al. studied the elite cultivars of winter wheat released during the last 50 years, across multiple field trials with and without application of fertilizer, best-practice […]

Plant Science Research Weekly: June 21st

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Guest editor: Magdalena Julkowska Magda is a PostDoc at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST, Saudi Arabia) working with Prof. Mark Tester. Her main interests are (1) salt-induced changes in the root-to-shoot ratio in Arabidopsis, (2) study the expression patterns in plants with enhanced sodium accumulation in their roots and (3) development of […]