Professor MICHAEL HOLDSWORTH's Outputs (39)

ERFVIIs as transducers of oxygen-sensing in the evolution of land plant response to hypoxia (2025)
Journal Article
Dalle Carbonare, L., van Veen, H., Shukla, V., Perri, M., Bui, L., Holdsworth, M. J., & Licausi, F. (2025). ERFVIIs as transducers of oxygen-sensing in the evolution of land plant response to hypoxia. Molecular Plant, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2025.05.015

The transcriptional response to low oxygen (hypoxia) in flowering plants is transduced through group VII Ethylene Response Factor (ERFVII) transcription factors, whose proteolysis is oxygen-dependent via the PLANT CYSTEINE OXIDASE (PCO) N-degron path... Read More about ERFVIIs as transducers of oxygen-sensing in the evolution of land plant response to hypoxia.

Geography, altitude, agriculture and hypoxia (2024)
Journal Article
Holdsworth, M. J., Liu, H., Castellana, S., Abbas, M., Liu, J., & Perata, P. (2025). Geography, altitude, agriculture and hypoxia. Plant Physiology, 197(1), Article kiae535. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiae535

Reduced oxygen availability (hypoxia) represents a key plant abiotic stress in natural and agricultural systems, but conversely it is also an important component of normal growth and development. We review recent advances that demonstrate how genetic... Read More about Geography, altitude, agriculture and hypoxia.

ERFVII action and modulation through oxygen-sensing in Arabidopsis thaliana (2023)
Journal Article
Zubrycka, A., Dambire, C., Dalle Carbonare, L., Sharma, G., Boeckx, T., Swarup, K., Sturrock, C. J., Atkinson, B. S., Swarup, R., Corbineau, F., Oldham, N. J., & Holdsworth, M. J. (2023). ERFVII action and modulation through oxygen-sensing in Arabidopsis thaliana. Nature Communications, 14, Article 4665. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40366-y

Oxygen is a key signalling component of plant biology, and whilst an oxygen-sensing mechanism was previously described in Arabidopsis thaliana, key features of the associated PLANT CYSTEINE OXIDASE (PCO) N-degron pathway and Group VII ETHYLENE RESPON... Read More about ERFVII action and modulation through oxygen-sensing in Arabidopsis thaliana.

A phloem‐localized Arabidopsis metacaspase (AtMC3) improves drought tolerance (2023)
Journal Article
Pitsili, E., Rodriguez‐Trevino, R., Ruiz‐Solani, N., Demir, F., Kastanaki, E., Dambire, C., de Pedro-Jové, R., Vercammen, D., Salguero-Linares, J., Hall, H., Mantz, M., Schuler, M., Tuominen, H., Van Breusegem, F., Valls, M., Munné-Bosch, S., Holdsworth, M. J., Huesgen, P. F., Rodriguez-Villalon, A., & Coll, N. S. (2023). A phloem‐localized Arabidopsis metacaspase (AtMC3) improves drought tolerance. New Phytologist, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19022

Increasing drought phenomena pose a serious threat to agricultural productivity. Although plants have multiple ways to respond to the complexity of drought stress, the underlying mechanisms of stress sensing and signaling remain unclear. The role of... Read More about A phloem‐localized Arabidopsis metacaspase (AtMC3) improves drought tolerance.

An oxygen-sensing mechanism for angiosperm adaptation to altitude (2022)
Journal Article
Abbas, M., Sharma, G., Dambire, C., Marquez, J., Alonso-Blanco, C., Proaño, K., & Holdsworth, M. J. (2022). An oxygen-sensing mechanism for angiosperm adaptation to altitude. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04740-y

Flowering plants (angiosperms) can grow at extreme altitudes, and have been observed growing as high as 6,400 metres above sea level1,2; however, the molecular mechanisms that enable plant adaptation specifically to altitude are unknown. One distingu... Read More about An oxygen-sensing mechanism for angiosperm adaptation to altitude.

Allelic shift in cis-elements of the transcription factor RAP2.12 underlies adaptation associated with humidity in Arabidopsis thaliana (2022)
Journal Article
Lou, S., Guo, X., Liu, L., Song, Y., Zhang, L., Jiang, Y., Zhang, L., Sun, P., Liu, B., Tong, S., Chen, N., Liu, M., Zhang, H., Liang, R., Feng, X., Zheng, Y., Liu, H., Holdsworth, M. J., & Liu, J. (2022). Allelic shift in cis-elements of the transcription factor RAP2.12 underlies adaptation associated with humidity in Arabidopsis thaliana. Science Advances, 8(18), Article eabn8281. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn8281

Populations of widespread species are usually geographically distributed through contrasting stresses, but underlying genetic mechanisms controlling this adaptation remain largely unknown. Here, we show that in Arabidopsis thaliana, allelic changes i... Read More about Allelic shift in cis-elements of the transcription factor RAP2.12 underlies adaptation associated with humidity in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Mitochondrial retrograde signaling through UCP1-mediated inhibition of the plant oxygen-sensing pathway (2022)
Journal Article
Barreto, P., Dambire, C., Sharma, G., Vicente, J., Osborne, R., De Carvalho, J. E., Yassitepe, J., Gibbs, D. J., Maia, I. G., Holdsworth, M. J., & Arruda, P. (2022). Mitochondrial retrograde signaling through UCP1-mediated inhibition of the plant oxygen-sensing pathway. Current Biology, 32(6), 1403-1411.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.037

Mitochondrial retrograde signaling is an important component of intracellular stress signaling in eukaryotes. UNCOUPLING PROTEIN (UCP)1 is an abundant plant inner-mitochondrial membrane protein with multiple functions including uncoupled respiration... Read More about Mitochondrial retrograde signaling through UCP1-mediated inhibition of the plant oxygen-sensing pathway.

A Yeast-Based Functional Assay to Study Plant N-Degron – N-Recognin Interactions (2022)
Journal Article
Kozlic, A., Winter, N., Telser, T., Reimann, J., Rose, K., Nehlin, L., Berckhan, S., Sharma, G., Dambire, C., Boeckx, T., Holdsworth, M. J., & Bachmair, A. (2022). A Yeast-Based Functional Assay to Study Plant N-Degron – N-Recognin Interactions. Frontiers in Plant Science, 12, Article 806129. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.806129

The N-degron pathway is a branch of the ubiquitin-proteasome system where amino-terminal residues serve as degradation signals. In a synthetic biology approach, we expressed ubiquitin ligase PRT6 and ubiquitin conjugating enzyme 2 (AtUBC2) from Arabi... Read More about A Yeast-Based Functional Assay to Study Plant N-Degron – N-Recognin Interactions.

Comparative Biology of Oxygen Sensing in Plants and Animals (2020)
Journal Article
Gibbs, D. J., & Holdsworth, M. J. (2020). Comparative Biology of Oxygen Sensing in Plants and Animals. Current Biology, 30(8), R362-R369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.03.021

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. Aerobic respiration is essential to almost all eukaryotes and sensing oxygen is a key determinant of survival. Analogous but mechanistically different oxygen-sensing pathways were adopted in plants and metazoan animals, and inclu... Read More about Comparative Biology of Oxygen Sensing in Plants and Animals.

The PRT6 N-degron pathway restricts VERNALIZATION 2 to endogenous hypoxic niches to modulate plant development (2020)
Journal Article
Labandera, A.-M., Tedds, H. M., Bailey, M., Sprigg, C., Etherington, R. D., Akintewe, O., Kalleechurn, G., Holdsworth, M. J., & Gibbs, D. J. (2021). The PRT6 N-degron pathway restricts VERNALIZATION 2 to endogenous hypoxic niches to modulate plant development. New Phytologist, 229(1), 126-139. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16477

© 2020 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2020 New Phytologist Trust VERNALIZATION2 (VRN2), an angiosperm-specific subunit of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), is an oxygen (O2)-regulated target of the PCO branch of the PRT6 N-degron pathway of u... Read More about The PRT6 N-degron pathway restricts VERNALIZATION 2 to endogenous hypoxic niches to modulate plant development.

The Arabidopsis thaliana N-recognin E3 ligase PROTEOLYSIS1 influences the immune response (2019)
Journal Article
Till, C. J., Vicente, J., Zhang, H., Oszvald, M., Deery, M. J., Pastor, V., Lilley, K. S., Ray, R. V., Theodoulou, F. L., & Holdsworth, M. J. (2019). The Arabidopsis thaliana N-recognin E3 ligase PROTEOLYSIS1 influences the immune response. Plant Direct, 3(12), Article e00194. https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.194

N-degron pathways of ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis (formerly known as the N-end rule pathway) control the stability of substrate proteins dependent on the amino-terminal (Nt) residue. Unlike yeast or mammalian N-recognin E3 ligases, which each recog... Read More about The Arabidopsis thaliana N-recognin E3 ligase PROTEOLYSIS1 influences the immune response.

The plant N‐degron pathways of ubiquitin‐mediated proteolysis (2019)
Journal Article
Holdsworth, M. J., Vicente, J., Sharma, G., Abbas, M., & Zubrycka, A. (2020). The plant N‐degron pathways of ubiquitin‐mediated proteolysis. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 62(1), 70-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.12882

The amino‐terminal residue of a protein (or amino‐terminus of a peptide following protease cleavage) can be an important determinant of its stability, through the Ubiquitin‐Proteasome‐System associated N‐degron pathways. Plants contain a unique combi... Read More about The plant N‐degron pathways of ubiquitin‐mediated proteolysis.

Ethylene-mediated nitric oxide depletion pre-adapts plants to hypoxia stress (2019)
Journal Article
Hartman, S., Liu, Z., Van Veen, H., Vicente, J., Reinen, E., Martopawiro, S., Zhang, H., Van Dongen, N., Bosman, F., Bassel, G. W., Visser, J. W., Bailey-Serres, J., Theodoulou, F. L., Hebelstrup, K. H., 10 Gibbs, D. J., Holdsworth, M. J., Sasidharan, R., & Voesenek, L. A. (2019). Ethylene-mediated nitric oxide depletion pre-adapts plants to hypoxia stress. Nature Communications, 10, Article 4020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12045-4

Timely perception of adverse environmental changes is critical for survival. Dynamic changes in gases are important cues for plants to sense environmental perturbations, such as submergence. In Arabidopsis thaliana, changes in oxygen and nitric oxide... Read More about Ethylene-mediated nitric oxide depletion pre-adapts plants to hypoxia stress.

The Scope, Functions, and Dynamics of Posttranslational Protein Modifications (2019)
Journal Article
Millar, A. H., Heazlewood, J. L., Giglione, C., Holdsworth, M. J., Bachmair, A., & Schulze, W. X. (2019). The Scope, Functions, and Dynamics of Posttranslational Protein Modifications. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 70, 119-151. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-arplant-050718-100211

© 2019 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved. Assessing posttranslational modification (PTM) patterns within protein molecules and reading their functional implications present grand challenges for plant biology. We combine four perspectives on PTMs... Read More about The Scope, Functions, and Dynamics of Posttranslational Protein Modifications.

Oxygen-dependent proteolysis regulates the stability of angiosperm polycomb repressive complex 2 subunit VERNALIZATION2 (2018)
Journal Article
Gibbs, D. J., Tedds, H. M., Labandera, A.-M., Bailey, M., White, M. D., Hartman, S., Sprigg, C., Mogg, S. L., Osborne, R., Dambire, C., Boeckx, T., Paling, Z., Voesenek, L. A., Flashman, E., & Holdsworth, M. J. (2018). Oxygen-dependent proteolysis regulates the stability of angiosperm polycomb repressive complex 2 subunit VERNALIZATION2. Nature Communications, 9, Article 5438. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07875-7

The polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) regulates epigenetic gene repression in eukaryotes. Mechanisms controlling its developmental specificity and signal-responsiveness are poorly understood. Here, we identify an oxygen-sensitive N-terminal (N-) d... Read More about Oxygen-dependent proteolysis regulates the stability of angiosperm polycomb repressive complex 2 subunit VERNALIZATION2.

A regulatory module controlling GA-mediated endosperm cell expansion is critical for seed germination in Arabidopsis (2018)
Journal Article
Sánchez-Montesino, R., Bouza-Morcillo, L., Marquez, J., Ghita, M., Duran-Nebreda, S., Gómez, L., Holdsworth, M. J., Bassel, G., & Oñate-Sánchez, L. (2019). A regulatory module controlling GA-mediated endosperm cell expansion is critical for seed germination in Arabidopsis. Molecular Plant, 12(1), 71-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2018.10.009

A key component of seed germination is the interplay of mechanical forces governing embryo growth and the surrounding restraining endosperm tissue. Endosperm cell separation is therefore thought to play a critical role in the control of this developm... Read More about A regulatory module controlling GA-mediated endosperm cell expansion is critical for seed germination in Arabidopsis.

Genetic interactions between ABA signalling and the Arg/N-end rule pathway during Arabidopsis seedling establishment (2018)
Journal Article
Zhang, H., Gannon, L., Jones, P. D., Rundle, C. A., Hassall, K. L., Gibbs, D. J., Holdsworth, M. J., & Theodoulou, F. L. (2018). Genetic interactions between ABA signalling and the Arg/N-end rule pathway during Arabidopsis seedling establishment. Scientific Reports, 8(1), Article 15192. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33630-5

The Arg/N-end rule pathway of ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis has multiple functions throughout plant development, notably in the transition from dormant seed to photoautotrophic seedling. PROTEOLYSIS6 (PRT6), an N-recognin E3 ligase of the Arg/N-end... Read More about Genetic interactions between ABA signalling and the Arg/N-end rule pathway during Arabidopsis seedling establishment.

Distinct branches of the N‐end rule pathway modulate the plant immune response (2018)
Journal Article
Vicente, J., Mendiondo, G. M., Pauwels, J., Pastor, V., Izquierdo, Y., Naumann, C., Movahedi, M., Rooney, D. J., Gibbs, D. J., Smart, K., Bachmair, A., Gray, J. E., Dissmeyer, N., Castresana, C., Ray, R. V., Gevaert, K., & Holdsworth, M. J. (2019). Distinct branches of the N‐end rule pathway modulate the plant immune response. New Phytologist, 221(2), 988-1000. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15387

© 2018 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust The N-end rule pathway is a highly conserved constituent of the ubiquitin proteasome system, yet little is known about its biological roles. Here we explored the role of the N-end rule... Read More about Distinct branches of the N‐end rule pathway modulate the plant immune response.

Sumoylation and phosphorylation: hidden and overt links (2018)
Journal Article
Tomanov, K., Nukarinen, E., Vicente, J., Mendiondo, G. M., Winter, N., Nehlin, L., Weckwerth, W., Holdsworth, M. J., Teige, M., & Bachmair, A. (in press). Sumoylation and phosphorylation: hidden and overt links. Journal of Experimental Botany, https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ery167

Post-translational modifications are essential mediators between stimuli from development or the environment and adaptive transcriptional patterns. Recent data allow a first glimpse at how two modifications, phosphorylation and sumoylation, act inter... Read More about Sumoylation and phosphorylation: hidden and overt links.

Finite indentation of highly curved elastic shells (2018)
Journal Article
Pearce, S. P., King, J. R., Steinbrecher, T., Leubner-Metzger, G., Everitt, N. M., & Holdsworth, M. J. (2018). Finite indentation of highly curved elastic shells. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 474(2209), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2017.0482

Experimentally measuring the elastic properties of thin biological surfaces is non-trivial, particularly when they are curved. One technique that may be used is the indentation of a thin sheet of material by a rigid indenter, whilst measuring the app... Read More about Finite indentation of highly curved elastic shells.