Mary Williams @PlantTeaching

@plantteaching

Promoting SciComm, teaching, equity & inclusion in plant biology. #PlantScience PI NSF RCN: ROOT&SHOOT. Features Editor ThePlantCell, PlantPhysiology @PlantTeaching@genomic.social 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· 19d

Today's fun photo. Do you know what it is? Answer in alt-text.

A photo looking down on willow roots submerged in a stream, with the plant leaves and sky reflected in the water.
Willow roots turn red when submerged!

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· 23d

@plantphys.bsky.social is 100 years old! We are celebrating this accomplishment with a symposium at #PlantBio2026 We start with a look back at the first and current issue.

100 years of plant physiology. A photo of the cover from the first edition.

Plant Physiology:a comprehensive journal from the very beginning.

Plant Physiology covers a wide range of topics.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· 24d

Applications to join the ROOT & SHOOT SI-MI mentor training close Monday July 20!! Last chance! rootandshoot.org/simi2026/ This is a fantastic free online course, running from late August through late Nov. If you're at #PlantBio2026 ask me about it, but don't delay!

Applications are NOW OPEN for the SI-MI mentoring course. Applications close on July 20. www.rootandshoot.org/SIMI2026

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· 25d

#PlantBio2026. Mike Blatt is giving two webinars on the OnGuard modeling system, email him if you would like to attend!

OnGuard
Nguyen et al 2023 Plant Cell Environment
Interactive webinar, email Mike Michael.blatt @glasgow.ac.uk

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· 25d

#PlantBio2026. Mike Blatt is giving two webinars on the OnGuard modeling system, email him if you would like to attend!

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· 25d

#plantbio2026 Come see me at my poster tonight 000-018 and learn about the Assistant Features Editor program of @theplantcell.bsky.social & @plantphys.bsky.social 💚

000-018
"The best thing that ever happened to me"

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jul 12

#WildflowerHour Not quite aquatic, but these beautiful bellflowers were abundant along the River Kelvin in Glasgow today, Campanula spp. And as a bonus, the rowan that we thought was dead 7 years ago has made a fantastic recovery and is producing fruit for the first time since it revived. 💚

Purple bellflowers with a glimpse of the river behind them.

A fruiting rowan tree with feathery leaves and clusters of flowers in front of a blue sky.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jul 10

#PlantScience Res Weekly(2/2) plantae.org/plant-scienc... What’s up with stromules? Single-cell stem cell dynamics; Not all arbuscules pull the same weight; Long non-coding RNA in rice blast disease; Retrotransposons ➡️site-specific genome editing @sebamorenor.bsky.social @jenmcgaley.bsky.social

Diagram showing how the pathogen-produced long non-coding RNA interacts and sequesters a rice miRNA that normally promotes disease resistance. By interfering with this miRNA, the viral lncRNA enhances its pathogenicity.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jul 10

#PlantScience Research Weekly: July 10, 2026 plantae.org/plant-scienc... Lichen super pangenome reveals interaction repertoires; Maize multi-omics predicts phenotypes; Role of Tre6P in root development; A host-viral regulatory circuit affects chloroplast stability (1/2) @bobvanburen.bsky.social

Diagram showing the various vegetative and reproductive maize traits evaluated through the multi-omics project.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jul 8

What an incredible #ProudMama moment, watching my son David become Dr. David. His PhD is from Loughborough University University in England with a focus on exercise and heat physiology 💪

Mary and Dr. David in his PhD robes posing in front of the university sign
.

Happy Dr. David in his hood and academic robes.

Thoughtful David about to receive his diploma.

David and Mahnoor waiting in the very hot line to get into the graduation hall.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jul 7

I'm so thankful to @naascarabidopsis.bsky.social for the Community Impact award, shared with @yoselin.bsky.social & Sterling Field. www.arabidopsiscommunity.org/news-events/.... It's especially sweet as I'll retire from ASPB Dec 31, 2026. I'm leaving my job so I'll have more time for my work 😉

2026 Arabidopsis Community Impact Awards.
Early Career - Dr. Sterling Field, BASF and Michigan State University, USA.
Later Career - Dr. Yoselin Benitez Alfonso, Leeds Univ, UK and Dr. Mary Williams, ASPB, UK.
Portraits of each of the awardees appears above their name and position.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jul 4

I had a laptop catastrophe so have spent the past few days resetting my computer from a blank state. It's made me realise how very, very happy I am that I started using Firefox many years ago. Unlike all the other browsers I've been disabling, it feels like it is here for ME. @firefox.com 🦊

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 26

PSRW June 26 plantae.org/plant-scienc... (3/3) Cryo-EM of moss plasmodesmata; What happens after plasmodesmata close?; MAPK signaling in potato stress tolerance; Wall softening is key to snapping the Venus trap closed @madic.bsky.social @pdchristine.bsky.social @alepanda.bsky.social

Diagram showing putative ways that flytrap walls might soften, including changes to cellulose microfibrils, alterations in wall pectins, proton influx, rapid exocytosis, can calcium efflux.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 26

Plant Science Research Weekly June 26 plantae.org/plant-scienc... (2/3) Plastoglobules sequester enzymes for nitrogen metabolism; CP26’s structural role in NPQ; C4 in rice, it’s starting to happen!; SAM8 acts as a molecular water sensor @janelangdale.bsky.social

Shown in green, SAM9 protein is dispersed in the nucleus in control conditions, but when osmotic stress is induced through D2O it forms condensates. The top panels show tobacco cells and the bottom panel shows yeast cells.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 26

#PlantScience Research Weekly: June 26 plantae.org/plant-scienc... Special issue on Plant Evolution; Temp effects on stomatal development & dynamics; Evolution of cytokinin signaling; Peering into pyrenoids; New tech for Lunar fertilizers (1/3) @mjonikas.bsky.social @ivedesmet1978.bsky.social

Drawing of a Chlamydomonas algal chloroplast showing the dense Rubisco condensate in green, with thylakoid membranes penetrating it shown in dark pink. The thylakoids concentrate CO2 and release it in the Rubisco condensate, promoting its carboxylation reaction.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 24

It's going to be hot today so we took the dog for an early walk / swim to Boden Boo, the Clyde River beach under the Erskine Bridge. What a gorgeous view 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌞

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 23

View from my house, Glasgow Scotland. June 23, 10 pm. I ❤️ June in Scotland. Condolences to everyone suffering from the heat, but the weather is heavenly here in the west of Scotland right now. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

A view over trees, hills and houses, looking west from Glasgow. The sky is blue and pink with a few clouds.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 23

I get my hair cut on Argyle Street, a busy road in the west end of Glasgow. Directly across from my hairdresser is the 2025 Tree of the Year, the 170 year old Argyle Ash. It's looking lovely today under blue skies 💚🌿 www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-...

Looking up into the canopy of a huge, healthy ash tree with blue sky above it.

Mary's face peers down to the camera as she tries to frame the shot of the stunning tree above her.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 21

Sunny #Solstice walk along the River Kelvin. When I first came to Glasgow, I thought it was so cool that the city named a river after a scientist. Later, I learned that Lord Kelvin took his name after the river 💙 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Ke...

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 13

We survived another week. It's finally the weekend!! My dog knows how to relax. 💖

A black Labrador is lying on a red sofa with her paws in the air, looking passively towards the camera.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 12

10 years ago we celebrated my eldest son's graduation from university with a summer solstice trip to Orkney, where my great, great, great grandfather was born. The days were insanely long & the weather was frigid (a lot like we are experiencing in Glasgow right now ❄️). Its an awe-inspring place! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Kevin and David between the stones. Two young men dressed in foul weather gear stand between Neolitic standing stones with a grey flat sky behind them. One is waving.

Mary lying on her belly on the cliff edge looking for puffins. She's wearing a puffy coat with the hood over her head, peering over the cliff edge.

Outside the burial maound at Maeshowe (5000 years old).

Mary, Kevin and David in a hail storm at Skara Brae, a 5000 year old Neolitic village. They are wearing hats and hoods and very windblown, but smiling.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 11

Our garden right now (yes, it's raining). I get no credit, it's all thanks to the work of my husband, and our wet spring. Pretty, isn't it?

A flower bed filled with life, poppies, fox gloves, lupin and a hydrangea about to pop. A clematis is climbing the sandstone wall of the house.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 10

Ella Baron on social division and the spread of disinformation – cartoon www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

64,000 repetitions make one truth, Aldous Huxley.
A man lies in bed looking at his phone with a glazed stare. He is surrounded by Musk, Trump, Farage, Robinson.
They are chanting, "I'm awfully glad I'm a beta. We're much better than the gammas and deltas. I don't want to play with delta children and episilons are still worse... I'm so glad I'm a beta"

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 5

Plant Science Research Weekly, June 5 plantae.org/plant-scienc... (2/2) N-terminal acylation coordinates growth and stress response; Early-morning flowering to escape heat; Selective autophagy protects plants from self-damage; Extrinsic and intrinsic contributors to identity in cells & people

The image shows two rice plants, each beside a watch indicating the time (8:30 am). In the wild-type rice the anthers have not emerged, but in the emf3-1D mutant the anthers are emerged, promoting pollenation before the day gets too hot.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· Jun 5

#PlantScience Research Weekly, June 5 2026 plantae.org/plant-scienc... Special issues: Crop resilience, also AI in plant science; Review: walls of streptophyte algae and land plants, Review of SCOOP signaling; Plant OpenCRISPR1 in rice (1/2) @ntnuchanlab.bsky.social

Crop breeding in the intelligent design era: integration of biotechnology, informatics, and AI is accelerating the transition from molecular design (Breeding 3.0) to intelligent design breeding (Breeding 4.0).

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· May 31

Bye-bye May, you got there in the end. 💚💚💚

A flower bed bursting with life, including red poppies, purple foxgloves, and pink lupin.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· May 30

We visited our friends (and their dogs) who recently moved to a farm near Kilmarnock, and the dog was in heaven 💚. Watching dogs frolic is one of the best ways to escape from the cold cruel world we are becoming.

A black and a chocolate lab standing side by side, surrounded by ferns.

A very dusty dog who was recently rolling in dust, with a gog on each side of her. An open barn is behind them.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· May 27

Cultivating “scientific identity”: insights from plant cell and developmental biology (Drew and Nagel, 2026 @theplantcell.bsky.social) Very nice comparison of how intrinsic and extrinsic factors help shape identity, in people and guard cells 💚 doi.org/10.1093/plce...

A drawing showing that social identity in scientists develops through self and non-self signals, which can combine to increase mobility and success in science.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· May 26

I know it's too hot for many of you, but in Glasgow this weather is HEAVENLY! I worked in the garden before and after work, in a t-shirt ❤️. Hubby is a clematis fan 💚. The very wet spring has really stimulated our flowers, as well as the weeds. Don't get me started on my feelings about stick willy 🤬.

Four clematis flowers, purple, pale pink, fuchsia, and white.

Mary Williams @PlantTeaching@plantteaching· May 25

At 22 degrees, it's not "hot", but everything is relative, so this Scottish black Labrador is trying to stay cool by lying under the hedge inside the ferns. (I think the second photo has a Jurassic Park vibe 🦖.)