Hydrosensing Project
Discovering How Plants Sense Water Stress
The Hydrosensing Project Team is on a mission to transform our understandingof how plants sense and respond to water availability. We aim to uncover the mechanisms plants use to perceive water stress, a key factor in their survival and productivity.
By combining cutting-edge genomics, structural biology, biophysics and imaging approaches, we strive to revolutionize crop resilience and pave the way for climate-proof agriculture.
Join us as we explore new frontiers in plant science, working towards a future where crops are better equipped to withstand the challenges of a changing climate.
Publications
Journal articles and preprints by the Hydrosensing project
Ethylene modulates cell wall mechanics for root responses to compaction
Zhang, J., Liu, Z., Farrar, E.J. et al. Ethylene modulates cell wall mechanics for root responses to compaction. Nature 649, 685–692 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09765-7
Developmental pathways in plants: Lessons from Arabidopsis for crop innovation
Malcolm J Bennett, Rahul Bhosale, Scott A Boden, Shu-Yan Chen, Tino Colombi, Toshiro Ito, Hong-Ju Li, Poonam Mehra, Lars Østergaard, Meng Li, Liu Liu, Nana Otsuka, Bipin K Pandey, Scott Poethig, Kalika Prasad, Yue Qu, Makoto Shirakawa, Ying Hua Su, Cao Xu, Wei-Cai Yang, Wen Jie Zhang, Xiaolan Zhang, Xian…
![Image: Description and validation of pMDS plasmid system for dual analysis of transcription and translation in plants. (A) Organization of pMDS1 vector showing reporters for transcription [mTurquoise (mTurQ)], translation (C-terminal mVenus), and a 2A self-cleaving peptide. (B) Organization of pMDS2 vector showing reporters for transcription (mTurQ), translation (N-terminal mVenus), and a 2A self-cleaving peptide. (C) Confocal image of pMDS1_SHRpro:SHR:mVenus:mTurQ showing gene expression (mTurQ) in the stele region and protein (mVenus) translocating to endodermis in the root meristem. (D) Confocal image of pMDS2_VAM3pro:mVenus:VAM3:mTurQ showing subcellular expression (mTurQ) in the nucleus and protein (mVenus) moving to the vacuole in the root epidermis. Red channel shows mCherry expression. nu, nucleus; vac, vacuole; *, endodermis of root meristem. Scale bar, 10 μM. Credit: Science Advances](https://hydrosensing.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/sciadv.adw9153-f1-600x403.webp)
Elucidating tissue and subcellular specificity of the entire SUMO network reveals how stress responses are fine-tuned in a eukaryote
Jason Banda et al. Elucidating tissue and subcellular specificity of the entire SUMO network reveals how stress responses are fine-tuned in a eukaryote Science Advances 11,eadw9153(2025). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adw9153
mTACT: A cell type-specific transportome-scale amiRNA toolbox to overcome functional redundancy in Arabidopsis
Moran Anfang, Shir Ben Yaakov, Ning Su, Anat Shafir, Jenia Binenbaum, Reem Haj Yahya, Xikai Yu, Carl Procko, Hamtual Bar, Joanne Chory, Julian I Schroeder, Yosef Fichman, Itay Mayrose, Eilon Shani, Yuqin Zhang, mTACT: A cell type-specific transportome-scale amiRNA toolbox to overcome functional redundancy in Arabidopsis, Plant Physiology, 2025;, kiaf682, https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiaf682
