Hortense Moreau: Plant Physiology First Author

Hortense Moreau, first author of “pH biosensing in the plant apoplast – a focus on root cell elongation”

Current position: PhD student in B&PMP lab, INRAE, Montpellier France

Education: Master degree in Plant Biology, University of Bordeaux

Non-scientific Interests: contemporary art museums, Italian food, thriller novels, pilates, hiking

Brief Bio: I grew up in Bordeaux, a French town well-known for its wines. During my studies in plant biology, I was fascinated by the interaction between plants and their environment and how climate changes is affecting plant development and nutritional qualities. Among other species, grapevine is facing temperature increase that negatively impacts wine quality. During my master internship in the EGFV lab in Villenave d’Ornon, I worked on the functional characterization of two transcription factors involved grape berry response to heat stress. During my PhD, I focus my interest on proton homeostasis in grape berry in relation with climate change. To this aim, I developed new genetically encoded fluorescent pH sensors adapted to acidic pH to perform in vivo pH measurements in living grape berry cells during their maturation. These sensors allowed to monitor pH changes at the cellular and subcellular level and to evaluate the impact of global warming on berry acidity.