@cellwalldynamics.com
We study how plants and algae actively percieve and use their cell walls to grow, adapt, and respond to stress. Based at Umeå Plant Science Centre 🇸🇪 and NTNU 🇳🇴. Read more about our projects: https://www.cellwalldynamics.com
We asked Demetrio and Bastien, the first authors of our recent study on RLKs in green algae, about the motivation, bioinformatic advances, and open questions behind the work—and what this means for algal sensing and evolution. Read more in our blog post: www.cellwalldynamics.com/new-paper-re...
More from the lab soon. We hope 2026 will be a publication-rich year, so follow along for updates! 🌿🧪📄
Graphical abstract with three panels linking green algae receptor-like kinases (RLKs) to cell wall integrity (CWI) sensing. Left: aquatic scene with diverse Chlorophyta forms and a label “34 Chlorophyta species analysed”. Centre: computer screen labelled “Sequence AND Structure” (sequence text and a protein structure under a magnifying glass), with “736 putative RLKs identified” and “5× increase over previous counts”. Right: “CWI sensing molecular toolkit” showing algae with “composite ectodomains” built from modules labelled Lectin, LRR, and LysM, and a question about whether these ectodomain modules interact in plants, illustrated with Arabidopsis thaliana and separate module blocks marked with question marks.
Where this goes next: biochemical and biophysical assays to test what these ectodomains bind, plus better profiling of algal wall composition. And look for the standalone equivalents of the composite ectodomains in plants. Predictions are useful, but binding and function decide the story. 🧪
Figure 4 from Marcianò, Dauphin et al., 2026. Time-calibrated phylogeny and relative abundance of receptor-like kinases (RLKs) across representative green lineages. The tree shows estimated divergence times in million years, aligned with major geological eons, eras, and periods. For each species, the bar on the right indicates the proportion of RLKs among all kinase-domain–containing proteins. Divergence times are based on published molecular clock estimates; taxa lacking reliable calibration data were excluded.
The time-calibrated phylogeny panel puts RLKs on an evolutionary timeline and shows their relative abundance across green lineages. It helps frame which receptor features may be old, and which may be lineage-specific. ⏳🌱
Figure 3B from Marcianò, Dauphin et al., 2026. The bipartite organization of putative RLK A0A9D4TVN9 (blue) with corresponding region overlapping to the Arabidopsis thaliana LRR-receptor BRI1 (red; PDB entry: 4m7e) and the fucose-binding lectin from Morone saxatilis (yellow; PDB entry: 3cqo). The graphical views below protein structures display annotated domains along the protein sequence, combining domain predictions from pLM-BLAST with structural matches identified via Foldseek; Residue ranges for each domain are indicated in brackets.
Here we can see an example of a “bipartite” ectodomain that combines an LRR-like region with lectin-like features, which could couple peptide and glycan perception in a single receptor.
Light micrograph showing many Chlorella vulgaris (NIES-2170) cells in the field of view. Obtained via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Chlorella vulgaris became our case study: 36 RLKs, with 13 containing LRRs, and Foldseek predicts 12 ectodomains with folds close to Arabidopsis LRR-RLKs.
Another pattern shows up clearly in the domain-architecture views: many algal RLKs are modular. Single proteins often combine motifs from different functional groups, which makes signal integration at the surface plausible. These are however not common in land plants!
Figure 2 from Marcianò, Dauphin et al., 2026. A comparative analysis reveals 7 distinct functional groups in newly-identified RLK's ectodomains. (A) Predictions obtained through Foldseek and pLM-BLAST analyses on RLK's ectodomain from Nine Chlorophyta species were sorted into 7 functional groups according to their biological role or function. Pie charts show the percentage of annotated regions corresponding to a given entry both grouped together and mapped for each species (B) Annotated regions having Carbohydrate active enzyme moieties that contained glycosyl hydrolases (GH), transferases (GT) or lyases. (C) Annotated regions having Carbohydrate binding domain moieties (including different lectin families and pectinesterase-related binding domains). The overall distribution shows distinct CBD features in a species dependent manner (Adair et al. 1987; Spain and Funk 2022; Poulhazan et al. 2024). Others: Metal binding and oxidoreduction; Defense; Apoptosis; Viral-related proteins.
The top functional groups were carbohydrate-active enzymes (32.6%) and cell wall anchoring/adhesion (22.1%), followed by signalling-related modules, proteases, interaction domains, and carbohydrate-binding domains. This diversity hints at many ways to “read” the wall. 🧱🔬
After building the catalogue, we asked what the “sensor” parts look like. In nine focal species, we annotated extracellular motifs for 94% of predicted RLKs, giving a structured way to compare what algae may detect at the cell surface. 🧩
Figure 1A from Marcianò, Dauphin et al., 2026. Phylogenic tree for selected species, based on NCBI taxonomy browser. Note that C. dessicata has recently been reclassified as Nannochloris dessicata and its lineage is not as clear, sharing closer ancestry with Auxenochlorellae (Sanders et al. 2022). And number of putative RLKs identified using the pipeline presented in this study (blue), against the number of RLKs identified in previous studies (in yellow) (Yin et al. 2024) (Liu et al. 2024) (Gong and Han 2021).
We screened available UniProt proteomes covering 34 Chlorophyta species and identified 736 sequences that fit RLK criteria. Earlier work reported 137, so this is a large jump in coverage! 📈
Figure 1A from Marcianò, Dauphin et al., 2026. Using available proteomes from Chlorophyta species, protein sequences containing the kinase-like domain were extracted and subsequently filtered through DeepTMHMM (Halgren et al. 2022). Sequences with predicted signal peptide and at least one transmembrane domain were subjected to 3D structure prediction using AlphaFold3, and the predicted extracellular region (i.e., ectodomain) was selected for further analyses. The identification of functional domains present in the ectodomains was performed through Foldseek and pLM-BLAST tools to gain overall insight on protein function.
We first defined the basic receptor layout: an extracellular part outside the cell, a membrane segment, and an intracellular kinase. We built a #Bioinformatics pipeline that searches for that full logic taking into consideration both sequence and structure 💻🧬
If “integrity” can mean both "damage" and “no damage”, what is the cue a cell can detect? Wall fragments, shifts in wall chemistry, but also forces at the wall–membrane interface. We wanted to treat this as more than a sequence-homology problem, because shape and physics can matter. ⚙️🧠
We talk about “cell wall integrity” a lot. But what does it mean? For multicellular plants, wall changes can be part of normal growth. For many unicellular algae, a compromised wall is more likely to signal damage 🌿🌊🧱
New year, new paper, and a lab milestone: our first original research article is finally out. We explored how green algae sense what happens outside the cell and asked a simple question: how much of the plant #CellWallIntegrity receptor toolkit already exists in green algae?🧵
doi.org/10.1111/ppl....
Last weekend we celebrated the winter holidays with a Christmas Potluck. From shared experiments to shared meals, gratitude for the teamwork that binds us, and hope for discoveries ahead. Grateful for our team in Umeå and Trondheim 🎄🔬
Our blog entry: www.cellwalldynamics.com/a-christmas-...
Klaudia and Julie after receiving their awards.
Klaudia with her poster. Klaudia’s poster, “Stress-Proofing Plants: The Role of ZAT11 & ZAT18 in Cell Wall Defense”, told the story of two transcription factors, ZAT11 and ZAT18, as central players in the cell wall integrity (CWI) pathway. Her work revealed that these transcription factors do not act in isolation: they regulate each other’s expression and influence the activity of the CWI receptor THESEUS1, a key node in translating wall damage into cellular responses. By combining RNA-seq data, mutant analysis, and stress assays, she showed how ZAT11 and ZAT18 respond differently to stresses such as salt and cellulose inhibition, offering new insight into how plants fine-tune their defences while maintaining growth.
🎉 Proud moment for our lab!
PhD student Klaudia Ordyniak won the Best Poster Award at the #SPPSPhD2025 conference for her work on transcription factors ZAT11 & ZAT18 in cell wall integrity 🌿👏
Also cheers to another UPSC colleague, Julie Ducla, for winning Best Presentation! bit.ly/46xCUZZ
🌱 Meet Manju, our new PhD student in the Cell Wall Dynamics team! From the Newah Indigenous community in Nepal🇳🇵 to Umeå, she’ll work on the VR-funded Watchers on the Wall project, using advanced tools to study how plant cell walls sense and respond to stress.
🔗 Read her interview: bit.ly/3JAsZK7
Starting now!
A laptop on a wooden bench at the University of British Columbia, showing a presentation slide titled “From Integrity to Division: How cell wall status controls the cell cycle in plants” by Laura Bacete and team member Nancy Soni. In the background, the UBC water fountain and the words “University of British Columbia” are visible, with people and trees around under a clear blue sky.
Attending the 2025 International Conference on Plant Cell Wall Biology at UBC? Don’t miss the next session—I’ll be presenting my team member Nancy Soni’s work on the link between the cell wall and the cell cycle. Hope to see you there!
🧪🌾Are you at Plant Biology Europe #PBE2025 in Budapest and interested in cell walls?
Don't miss the talks of Nanci Soni (Cell Biology) and Demtrio Marcianò (Phytohormones & Other Transmitters) tomorrow!
Nasrin Sabooni presented her poster at #ICAR2025 in Ghent🇧🇪 on transcription factors shaping cell wall integrity in Arabidopsis & cotton🌿🧵
From evolution to stress & fibre development—she’s got it covered!
🔗 www.cellwalldynamics.com/nasrin-saboo...
#PlantScience #StressResilience #Cotton #Arabidopsis
Our PI Laura Bacete has been elected to the Young Academy of Sweden! 🎉 She’ll contribute to research policy, outreach, and interdisciplinary collaboration—bringing plant cell & molecular biology into broader discussions 🌱🧪
More here: www.cellwalldynamics.com/laura-bacete...
Bastien Dauphin during his presentation at the UK Plant Biomechanics Conference 2025. Thanks Yoselin Benitez Alfonso for the picture :)
And continuing with conference news—postdoc Bastien Dauphin just gave a great talk at the UK Plant Biomechanics Conference 2025 🎤🌿
He’s using chemo-optogenetics to trigger local changes in the plant cell wall. New tools, new insights!
#PlantBiomechanics #CellWallDynamics #Optogenetics
🎉 Big news! Our very own Nancy Soni and Demetrio Marcianò will be speaking at Plant Biology Europe 2025! #PBE2025 🧬🌱
🧪 Two talks, one big theme: how cell walls talk to the rest of the cell.
Read more on our web page! 👇 www.cellwalldynamics.com/nancy-soni-a...
🚀 Interested in collaboration or just love cell wall science? Hit us up! Let’s chat plant mechanics, stress responses, and the future of agriculture. 🌱🤝 #PlantScience #Biotech #AcademicSky
🥦 Eat the Wall! – Yes, we study cell walls in food too! Understanding plant walls could help improve crop quality and make nutrients more available. Better food, better nutrition! 🍏🌽
www.cellwalldynamics.com/eat-the-wall
⚡ Stress Knocking on the Wall – What happens when plants panic? We study how stress signals affect cell walls and if we can tweak these responses for stronger crops! 🌍🌿
www.cellwalldynamics.com/stress-knock...
🛠️ Creating Better Tools – We’re designing precision tech to track and manipulate cell walls in real-time. Because science needs better ways to see what’s actually happening! 👀🔬
www.cellwalldynamics.com/precision-to...
