Belgium

Our research aims to elucidate the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in regulating cell wall (CW) biomechanics during plant growth, bridging a critical gap in the growth regulatory pathway. Understanding these growth regulatory processes is essential for plant biology, particularly in plant-pathogen interactions and stress responses. By integrating ROS signaling with CW integrity pathways, we want to create a mechanistic framework that could form the basis for future fundamental and agricultural advancements.

Using a microfluidics setup and automated pumping system, we quantified the oscillatory dynamics of growth, cytoplasmic calcium, extracellular pH, ROS, and CW charge in wild-type and mutant root hairs of Arabidopsis thaliana. These mutants were affected in transmembrane and cytoplasmic receptor-like kinases  and ROS-generating proteins.  Additionally, we examined the effects of modulating ROS presence on the oscillatory dynamics and CW integrity by adding ROS and ROS scavengers to growing root hairs through live-cell imaging.

To further dissect the growth regulatory network, we used complementary approaches to analyze interactions among the key proteins, conducted kinase activity assays, and reconstituted pathways in HEK cells. Finally, we modeled potential protein complexes within this ROS-related growth regulatory pathway, linking it to the recently identified CW integrity sensing module that regulates root hair growth.

SEB Conference 2025

Unraveling the molecular basis of ROS-mediated cell wall biomechanics during Arabidopsis root hair cell growth

technical paper

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Understanding how muscle contractions are coordinated to maintain stability and efficiency across varied locomotor tasks remains a key biomechanics challenge. Indirect evidence suggests that antagonist muscle co-activation stabilizes joints, but muscle force data remains limited, leaving the role of antagonist action in musculoskeletal energy transfer unresolved. We took a multi-scale approach, using Guinea fowl(Numida meleagris) to determine how an antagonist muscle pair generate and distribute energy during unsteady movement such as drop landings, slip–trip perturbations, and treadmill decelerations). We combined fascicle-scale (sonomicrometry), muscle-scale (tendon buckles, EMG) and musculoskeletal-scale (force plates, 3D motion capture) observations with center-of-mass analyses. Thereby, we captured a continuum of responses spanning from rapid perturbations to sustained decelerations. During drop landings, antagonist force and torque generation by tibialis anterior and lateral gastrocnemius facilitates controlled energy dissipation by adjusting limb stiffness to prevent joint collapse upon impact. Treadmill locomotion reveals antagonist torque overlaps at both toe-on and toe-off that manifest at low levels even during steady locomotion and increases during deceleration. Taken together, our direct, multi-scale measurements of antagonist muscle action indicate that co-contraction employs flexible mechanisms—adjusting timing and magnitude to perturbation severity—to foster robust, adaptable locomotion under diverse conditions. Thus, our study refreshes and refines traditional views of antagonist action and provides a framework for bio-inspired robotics and intervention strategies for efficient yet stable movement.

Feathered Balance: the roles of muscle antagonist action during locomotor perturbations.

Species with short lifespans (e.g. weeks) experience environmental heterogeneity, both spatially and temporarily, including seasonal changes that occur across generations. Balancing selection, a process that maintains genetic diversity within populations by shifting allele frequencies as environmental conditions change, may facilitate rapid adaptation to fluctuating environments. Understanding the genomic and physiological mechanisms driving fast adaptive responses in organisms can improve our ability to predict whether and how taxa may adapt to human-led climate change. In this study, we leverage a wild population of the copepod Eurytemora affinis from the Baltic Sea (Kiel, Germany) to identify the genomic and physiological responses to rapid environmental change. Copepods were collected at four timepoints from spring to summer of 2024 and common-gardened over three generations to two experimental temperature regimes simulating the local seasonal sea surface conditions (7o C and 16o C). We measured metabolic and feeding rates, and key fitness traits: growth and number of eggs per female. Additionally, whole-genome sequencing of 30 pooled individuals, collected in both spring and summer was used to identify rapid adaptation over a 13-year time period (2009, 2011, 2015, 2022). We found nearly 1,000 loci consistently responding to seasonal variation across all years, indicating ongoing rapid evolution via balancing selection. Cold-adapted populations from our common-garden experiments had lower energy requirements and outperformed warm-adapted populations in growth and fecundity in all but one collection, highlighting potential trade-offs in adaptation to fluctuating environments. These findings provide strong evidence of rapid evolutionary responses to seasonal change, affecting the physiological performance of Eurytemora affinis.

Exploring the genomic and physiological basis of adaptation to seasonal variation in the copepod Eurytemora affinis

Thermal plasticity allows insects to adjust physiological traits in response to changing environmental temperatures. In temperate winter climates, low temperatures often coincide with shorter daylight periods. Photoperiod, the duration of darkness and daylight in a 24-hour cycle, affects many aspects of insect physiology, including seasonal plasticity and circadian rhythms. The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, historically confined to tropical regions, is expanding its geographic range into poleward, temperate climates where it would experience varied temperature and photoperiod conditions. Ae. aegypti is capable of cold acclimation under a standard tropical photoperiod (12h:12h). Cold acclimation reduces injury and enables survival at otherwise lethal low temperatures. To test whether the ability to acclimate is tied to photoperiod, and when during the lifecycle photoperiod is important to Ae. aegypti thermal tolerance, we used an extreme photoperiod outside of their typical range (20h:4h), introduced at three different life stages; during egg development, during adult acclimation, and at the parental generation. A chill coma onset (CCO) assay was used to confirm the capacity for cold acclimation. Here, we present the first evidence of a photosensitive acclimation phenotype in this species. Extreme photoperiod significantly influenced CCO temperature, however, the magnitude of plasticity depends on when during development a light-cycle was introduced. To investigate the possible molecular mechanisms underlying this photosensitive acclimation phenotype, we are using qPCR to measure expression of known clock genes. This approach will help us gain a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between photoperiod cues and cold acclimation in Ae. aegypti.

Is thermal plasticity in Aedes aegypti sensitive to photoperiod?

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is an emerging environmental stressor in urban aquatic ecosystems, increasingly co-occurring with chemical pollutants. Light pollution disrupts circadian rhythms in various organisms, affecting essential biological processes such as reproduction, hormone regulation, and stress responses. However, its long-term and transgenerational effects remain understudied. This study assessed ALAN’s impact on zebrafish (Danio rerio) reproduction and offspring development. Adult zebrafish were exposed to either 0 or 10 lux during the night for 10 weeks, with reproductive output assessed biweekly. Egg viability at 0 and 24 hours was recorded, and F1 embryos were exposed to the same light conditions. Embryo development was monitored for 120 hours post-fertilization (hpf), evaluating mortality, hatching success, malformations, and heart rate at 48 hpf. To assess transgenerational effects, offspring from both exposure groups underwent acute exposure to 3,4-dichloroaniline (3,4-DCA) (0.375–6 mg/L) under control light conditions (0 lux). Results indicate that ALAN-exposed adults laid fewer and lower-quality eggs than controls. Additionally, parental ALAN exposure significantly increased offspring heart rate, regardless of their own light exposure. Offspring from ALAN-exposed parents also exhibited heightened sensitivity to 3,4-DCA, with increased mortality at 1.5 and 3 mg/L. These findings highlight ALAN as a key environmental stressor affecting zebrafish reproduction, development, and transgenerational responses to pollutants. This study underscores the need to integrate light pollution into ecotoxicological risk assessments and consider its ecological implications for aquatic ecosystems.

Lights out: Transgenerational effects of artificial light at night on zebrafish

The social environment during early life can play a pivotal role in the development of the behavioural phenotype. As colonial breeding species experience significant variation in their social environment, with central parts typically showing higher concentrations of territories then peripheral parts, the parental territory choice could have consequences for the their offspring’s behavioural phenotype. To accommodate these effects parents might pre-adjust their offspring via maternal effects to match the post-hatching conditions.
We tested in lesser black-backed gulls whether the fact that chicks in dense breeding areas are exposed to more aggression impinges on their movement activity and exploratory behaviour. We cross-fostered full clutches between and within high- and low-density parts of the colony, used ultra-wideband tags to track free-ranging chicks, and collected data on the chicks’ exploratory phenotype in an open field test. Post-fledging exploratory movements of juveniles were studied over a 20-day period using GPS tracking.
We found that movement activity and exploratory behaviour measured different aspect of the chicks phenotype, but both were affected by the social environment. Chicks reared in denser areas had a lower movement activity, and chicks in high breeding densities were less explorative, which was reinforced by pre-natal maternal effects. When studying exploratory aspects of foraging post-fledging, only habitat preferences were weakly linked to the chicks’ exploratory phenotype pre-fledging. We conclude that offspring adjust their behaviour to their early social environment, facilitated by maternal effects, but the (as yet limited) juvenile data suggest that these effects are not lasting.

Growing up in a crowd - the early life of lesser black-backed gull chicks

Transactional scaffolding (TS) is an innovation that has recently been applied to the pedagogic approach in a first year (SCQF7) module in Comparative Anatomy and Physiology at Edinburgh Napier University. The technique aims to enhance self-actualisation of new HE learners by increasing engagement with virtual learning environments (VLE) and improved self-knowledge of attendance and engagement; with the goal of promoting connections between theory and practice.The idea of TS has grown out of the work of Salmon (2019) and Smith (2023). Salmon (2019) promotes the idea of strongly structured learning within VLE. Whilst the findings of Smith (2023) showed that for most learners the strongest motivational factors to study are transactional. Many learners are slow to engage in self-actuation activities unless they see how these contribute to their achievement of their intended qualification and graduate destination.Transactional scaffolding harnesses data from VLE engagement and attendance monitoring to allow learners to unlock access to learning material and summative assessments. Crucially, the approach provides opportunities for learners to latterly compensate for earlier poor engagement and is relatively unlaborious for academic staff and requires no dedicated administrative support. It allows learners to confidentially rank themselves within the cohort in terms of attendance, engagement and progress within a single online environment.The initial intervention appears to have significantly improved student evaluation of the investigated module compared with previous cohorts. Overall student satisfaction increased from 89% in 2023 to 98% in 2024. Student attendance at on-line learning events improved from 10% to 95%.

Transactional scaffolding improves learning engagement within blended learning environments in  Scottish Higher Education

There is increasing evidence in STEM education that creativity and innovation occur in spaces at the edge and in-between. This talk presents research, conducted at a STEMMB-focused university, that employed a mixed-methods approach to explore student transitions between formal and informal learning spaces. Applying an ecological lens helped to reveal tensions between timetabled and non-timetabled spaces which students navigate as part of their learning experience. These insights informed the redesign of campus transitional spaces across multiple departments to foster more serendipitous learning experiences and collaboration within the university community. The research highlights the untapped potential of in-between transitional spaces for creativity, innovation, and learning—an area that warrants further exploration.

Beyond the classroom: rethinking the ecology of learning spaces in STEM education 

Coffee trees (Coffea spp.)are highly susceptible to changes in environmental conditions and agricultural practices. Concurrently, it is also one of the most valued, consumed and traded crops worldwide due to its economic relevance and health effects. Coffee drink is recognized for its psychostimulant effects and antioxidant properties, which are linked to its chemical composition, rich in alkaloids, phenolic compounds and diterpenes. These bioactive compounds are not only associated with beneficial health effects but also play an important role in ecological interactions and plant performance. From the quality perspective, the chemical composition of unroasted green beans and the accumulation of non-volatile and bioactive compounds will determine the sensorial profile and value in the market. Reversely, their relative composition is highly influenced by the genetic background, geographical origin, corresponding environmental growing conditions, agricultural practices and post-harvesting processing. Aiming to underscore the complex interplay between all these factors, we employed metabolomics to access the content of major coffee's bioactive compounds in Brazilian specialty coffee beans produced in different locations. De-pulping processing increased the sensory score by 1.5% and the content of chlorogenic acid derivatives by 5.8%. Altitude, ferulic acid,p-coumaric acid, sweetness, and acidity were predictors distinguishing the samples. Higher-quality coffees were linked to higher-altitude regions and increased soil organic carbon stock. Theobromine, theophylline, ferulic acid, and p-coumaric acid were linked with sustainable management practices and coffee quality. These findings provide novel insights for coffee quality assessment with a focus on their bioactive compounds and sustainable agricultural practices.

Metabolomics-based approach to distinguish specialty coffee beans from different origins and processing practices based on their bioactive chemical profile

In Plant Factories with Artificial Lighting (PFAL), the photoperiod can be reduced to save electricity, but a large daily reduction leads to a decrease in plant growth and Light Use Efficiency (LUE). The reduction in plant growth is linked to the decrease in the total amount of light provided to the plant, known as the Daily Light Integral (DLI). The loss in LUE is linked to photoperiod duration and the plant's circadian rhythm. When the photoperiod matches the circadian rhythm, plants enter circadian resonance, maximizing LUE because photosynthetic capacity and light availability are synchronized. When the photoperiod is reduced, the circadian resonance state can be disrupted, altering LUE. To better characterize the link between photoperiod duration and LUE, we carried out two experiments, in which we studied the carbohydrate contents, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and photosystem II efficiency. In the first experiment, lettuces were grown under a photoperiod inducing a periodic 4-hour mismatch with the circadian rhythm. This mismatch did not disrupt the circadian regulation of stomatal conductance, photosystem II efficiency, or sugar metabolism. In the second experiment, larger periodic mismatches of 6 and 12 hours were induced to reduce energy consumption by 12.5% or 25%. The 12.5% modality was the better compromise between agronomical parameters and energy savings. With 25% energy savings, the circadian regulation of stomatal conductance was altered, leading to a significant reduction in LUE. These findings highlight the need to consider circadian rhythms in photoperiod management within PFAL to optimize LUE and reduce energy consumption.

Circadian rhythm and photosynthesis in controlled environment agriculture: limits and opportunities

Some sacoglossan sea slugs are able to acquire and retain chloroplasts from their algal prey, enabling them to use light energy for the synthesis of organic compounds, a process known as kleptoplasty. However, the lifespan of these stolen chloroplasts (kleptoplasts) is limited and these sea slugs require regular feeding to maintain high levels of photosynthetic activity. Lipids, essential molecules for cell membrane stability, energy storage, and signaling, are key to chloroplast retention and functionality within the host animal cells. This study used advanced lipidomics techniques (C18-LC-HR-MS & MS/MS) to investigate lipid profile shifts associated with the decline in photosynthetic capacity of kleptoplastidic sea slugs under different feeding and starvation conditions. In the sea slugs Elysia viridis and Elysia crispata, glycolipids – exclusive to chloroplast membranes – declined noticeably in the absence of algal food sources. The rate of decline was different in E. viridis depending on the algal species previously consumed, indicating that the chloroplast donor plays a crucial role in chloroplast retention. Furthermore, sterols from both plant and animal sources increased in sea slugs experiencing reduced photosynthetic capacity, likely due to chloroplast degradation and stress-induced lipid synthesis. These findings revealed how kleptoplastidic sea slugs adapt their lipid metabolism to environmental stress, shedding light on their strategies to cope with fluctuations in algal availability and photosynthetic capacity

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Feathered Balance: the roles of muscle antagonist action during locomotor perturbations.

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