Joseph
MCKENNA
BBSRC Discovery Fellow, Assistant Professor
School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, United Kingdom
Plant Cytoskeleton and Organelle Organisation and Dynamics
We uncover how plant cells are built, organised, and rapidly rewired under stress, by decoding the dynamic behaviour of the cytoskeleton and organelles. Using cutting-edge super-resolution microscopy, spinning disk confocal imaging, and proximity labelling proteomics we map how cellular architecture is assembled and controlled in living plant cells.
Our long-term goal is ambitious and applied: to engineer cytoskeletal and organelle dynamics to reshape plant traits and enhance resilience to a changing climate.
Our current projects are
I
Actin–ER connections and engineering plant traits. We are identifying how the actin cytoskeleton physically connects to and regulates the ER, and how this relationship can be harnessed to reprogramme plant cell behaviour and traits. (BBSRC Discovery Fellowship funded)
II
Peri-nuclear actin and nuclear reorganisation during temperature shock. We investigate how peri-nuclear actin networks are organised, how they respond to temperature stress, and how these changes reshape intranuclear organisation and function. (AGILE funded)
III
Organelle biogenesis via phase separation. We are dissecting the mechanism that drives protein storage vacuole formation, building on our work showing this is powered by phase separation of seed storage proteins. We are now defining the molecular steps behind this process with collaborators (Professor Lorenzo Frigerio and Professor Roland Knorr).
IV
Plasma membrane organisation and environmental signalling. We also study how the plant plasma membrane is patterned and compartmentalised, and how disrupting this organisation alters key signalling proteins involved in stress sensing and pathogen perception. This work is supported by BBSRC equipment funding for a lattice SIM and spinning disk confocal microscopy with ring-TIRFa/a>.
Five Main Publications
Developmental fates and N2-fixing efficiency of terminally-differentiated versus undifferentiated bacteroids from legume nodules
Carmen Sánchez-Cañizares*, Raphael Ledermann*, Joseph McKenna*, Thomas J Underwood, Marcela Mendoza-Suárez, Rob Green, Karunakaran Ramakrishnan, Alison K East, Isabel Webb, Charlotte Kirchhelle, Beatriz Jorrín, Gerhard Saalbach, Euan K James, Flavia Moreira-Leite, Jason Terpolilli, Philip S Poole (2025) Plant Physiology. 2025/12/9:koaf613. *Shared first authorship
Wetting of phase-separated droplets on plant vacuole membranes leads to a competition between tonoplast budding and nanotube formation
Halim Kusumaatmaja, Alexander I May, Mistianne Feeney, Joseph F McKenna, Noboru Mizushima, Lorenzo Frigerio, Roland L Knorr (2021) PNAS. 118:36:e2024109118
Maize (Zea mays L.) Nucleoskeletal Proteins Regulate Nuclear Envelope Remodeling and Function in Stomatal Complex Development and Pollen Viability
Joseph F McKenna, Hardeep K Gumber, Zachary M Turpin, Alexis M Jalovec, Andre C Kartick, Katja Graumann, Hank W Bass. (2021). Frontiers in Plant Science. 2021/2/17:645218.
The cell wall regulates dynamics and size of plasma-membrane nanodomains in Arabidopsis.
Joseph Franics McKenna, Daniel J Rolfe, Stephen ED Webb, Andrea Frances Tolmie, Stanley W Botchway, Marisa L Martin-Fernandez, Chris Hawes, John Runions. (2019). PNAS. 116:26:12857-12862.
Identification and characterization of genes encoding the nuclear envelope LINC complex in the monocot species Zea mays.
Hardeep K Gumber, Joseph F McKenna, Amado L Estrada, Andrea F Tolmie, Katja Graumann, Hank W Bass. (2019). Journal of Cell Science. 132:3:jcs221390