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Elenor Kennedy

@ebkennedy.bsky.social

52 followers 12 following 8 posts

Post-graduate researcher in the Carella lab! Mad about moss and the evolution of plant immunity 🌱 (they/them)

Posts Replies Media

Reposted by Elenor Kennedy

Mauricio Contreras @mpcontreras.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Super cool work! Congrats @philcarella.bsky.social and team!

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Reposted by Elenor Kennedy

bioRxiv Plant Bio @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Canonical NLR immune receptor architecture enforces EDS1-dependency onto divergent TIR domains www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…

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Elenor Kennedy @ebkennedy.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

2. Some TIR domains can function independently of both EDS1 and catalytic activity, pointing toward possible alternative signalling mechanisms. 3. Protein architecture matters: expressing TIRs in different protein contexts can alter their mechanism. Worth keeping in mind!

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Elenor Kennedy @ebkennedy.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

So what does this mean? 1. Many non-seed plant TIR domains can signal through EDS1 in N. benthamiana, even though their native lineages lack EDS1...

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Elenor Kennedy @ebkennedy.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

We then extended this approach to animal and bacterial TIR domains. Remarkably, the chimeric TIR-NLR architecture was even sufficient to impose EDS1-dependence on a bacterial TIR domain! 🧫

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Elenor Kennedy @ebkennedy.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Surprisingly, when we expressed these same TIR domains on a chimeric TIR-NLR scaffold, they reverted to EDS1-dependence. This suggests that TIR domain mechanism can be influenced by protein architecture.

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Elenor Kennedy @ebkennedy.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

To investigate this, we expressed TIR-eYFP fusions from across land plant evolution in WT and eds1 N. benthamiana 🌱 Most TIRs were EDS1-dependent. However, some moss and Ginkgo TIR domains functioned independently of both EDS1 and conserved catalytic residues, suggesting alternative mechanisms.

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Elenor Kennedy @ebkennedy.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

In seed plants, TIR-NLR immune receptors rely on TIR NADase activity to produce small signalling molecules that are perceived by EDS1 to trigger immunity. However, non-seed plants lack EDS1, raising the question: how do their TIR domains function? 🤔

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Elenor Kennedy @ebkennedy.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

We investigated the EDS1-dependence of TIR domains from across the spectrum of land plant evolution, and found that TIR-NLR architecture itself can influence TIR domain activity, even for animal and bacterial TIRs.

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Elenor Kennedy @ebkennedy.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@khongsamchia.bsky.social Extremely excited to share the first pre-print from my PhD project in the Carella lab, co-first authored with @khongsamchia.bsky.social 🎉 (Thread below ⬇️) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Huge thanks to all co-authors and the #CarellaCapybaras for all the support 😊

biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Elenor Kennedy

Stefan A. Rensing @rensingstefan.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

...and 10 new phylogenetically diverse hornwort genomes here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... @fernway.bsky.social @jandevries.bsky.social @watertoland.bsky.social

nature.com

Pan-phylum genomes of hornworts reveal conserved autosomes but dynamic accessory and sex chromosomes - Nature Plants

This study presents 11 new hornwort (Anthocerotophyta) genomes that clarify the structure and evolution of sex and accessory chromosomes in bryophytes and shed new light on the early evolution of land plants.

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Reposted by Elenor Kennedy

Laura Moody @moodytomato.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

📢 To all molecular mossers 📢 The Moss Workshop will be held in (not always as sunny as this) Oxford next year (30th June until 2nd July 2026). More details will follow soon, but in the meantime please make a note of the dates 😃 👍

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Reposted by Elenor Kennedy

Phil Carella @philcarella.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

New Preprint! We identified Pseudomonas in wild liverworts and explored what makes them virulent. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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