Dr Estrella Luna-Diez

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

Dr Estrella Luna-Diez

School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham

Scientific Background

Research Interests

She is working in the following research projects:

Epigenetic mechanisms controlling long-lasting priming of defence for the protection of fruit postharvest. Initially funded by her BBSRC Future Leader Fellowship and later by the Horticulture Quality and Food Waste Network (BBSRC-funded), she studies the effect of priming agents in the protection of tomato harvest against grey mould. Tomato is a major crop world-wide and like other crops, substantial crop yields are lost to diseases. Grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) can cause the loss of over 50% of annual tomato crops. Novel technique development is essential to achieve a competent and eco-friendly tomato industry. Different priming agents are effective in inducing resistance against B. cinerea in tomato plants. However, little is known about whether these priming agents protects fruit from B. cinerea during tomato post-harvest storage. This project studies whether treatment of tomato plants with priming agents result in a long-lasting induced resistance against grey mould in tomato fruit. We study how long-lasting maintenance of priming is linked to epigenetic modifications such as changes in DNA methylation.
Priming of defence in oak against powdery mildew disease. Funded by the JABBS Foundations, Dr Luna-Diez is studying how oak seedlings and mature trees express priming of defence against the fungal pathogen that causes powdery mildew disease. Her group exploits different omics approaches to unravel the mechanisms that allow oaks to defend themselves and aims to disentangle the reasons why mature trees are less susceptible to the disease than seedlings.
Effect of elevated CO2 in plant immunity. Funded by the JABBS Foundations, her group is focussed in understanding the impact of elevated CO2 in the capacity of plants to activate defence mechanisms. Their group has recently identified that eCO2 triggers enhanced susceptibility to powdery mildew disease in oak seedlings (Sanchez-Lucas et al). Her group continues to study this to unravel the mechanisms of why this occurs and to identify the impact of eCO2 in mature trees.

MEMBRA: Understanding MEMory of UK treescapes for Better Resilience and Adaptation This is a large UKRI-funded project through the strategy of The Future of UK Treescapes. Dr Luna-Diez leads a group of 10 investigators on the understanding of how trees create, maintain and transmit memory of stress. For more information about this large project please visit the MEMBRA website.

Scientific Inspiration

Any woman that has made it to the top and has helped other women to get there.

Research Groups

MEMBRA

Plant Science and Food Security

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: Organised, collaborative and student-centred.

Provision of Training

You will receive technical training at first, leading to more independence later. Training will be done by myself or an expert in the required techniques (Post-doc/PhD student) if they are better qualified than me.

Progression Monitoring and Management

I will expect you to take ownership of your progression but I like to be kept up to date, and will expect to see evidence of method development/data generation results on a weekly basis.

Communication

I work flexible hours so I am known to email my team at all hours of the day and night, however I will not expect you to do the same. The team has a WhatsApp group chat with which we communicate during the week.

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me:

In a group meeting

At least once per week

In year 1 of PhD study

At least once per week

In year 2 of PhD study

At least once per week

In year 3 of PhD study

At least once per week

The meetings will be a mixture of face to face, via video chat or telephone and I am usually contactable for an instant response (if required) on every working day.

Working Pattern

Certain tasks in my lab need to occur at set times, and students need to be able to commit to a rota/timetable shared with other members of the team.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 1 week’s notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5000 words.

MIBTP Project Details

Current Projects (2025-26)

Primary supervisor for:

The role of somatic (epi)genetic variation in tree genome adaptation for climate change resilience

See the PhD Opportunities section to see if this project is currently open for applications via MIBTP.

Please Note: The main page lists projects via BBSRC Research Theme(s) quoted and then relevant Topic(s).

The role of somatic (epi)genetic variation in tree genome adaptation for climate change resilience

Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Marco Catoni

University of Registration: University of Birmingham

BBSRC Research Themes: Understanding the Rules of Life (Plant Science)

Project Outline

Rationale. In plants, unlike animals, somatic DNA mutations can be directly transferred to progenies or to vegetatively propagated material. Compared to herbaceous plants, trees can accumulate a greater number of somatic mutations and, as branches develop, these mutations are separated by centuries of growth resulting in subtle yet different genetic profiles. Tree somatic variation has enormous potential to generate intra-organism genetic variability, which can contribute to genetic plasticity in following generations and consequently play a key role in forest adaptation1. While not so much is known about the drivers of this plant genome plasticity, very recent findings in the model Arabidopsis point toward the association of DNA mutations with epigenetic marks (e.g DNA methylation)2. Crucially, epigenetic changes can be affected by environmental stimuli and/or stress.

In plants, epigenetic variation can induce changes in gene expression and alter physiological traits, and can be inherited across generations, like genetic mutations. In contrast to genetic variation, epigenetic marks are controlled directly by well-characterised enzymes, which have been extensively documented to respond directly to environmental challenges in multiples models3. Therefore, in plants, epigenetic variation can directly respond to environmental stimuli.

Main hypothesis. Stress-induced epigenetic changes in DNA methylation can trigger genetic somatic mutations in trees that are transmitted to following generations and impact phenotypes in the progenies.

Project outline. The student will investigate (epi)genetic variation in the most representative forest tree in the UK: Oak (Quercus robur). Due to available genetic resources, oak is an ideal species for high-throughput genomics analyses, yet only few studies have analysed its intra-organism variation. Importantly, the relationship between epigenetic and genetic variation has never been investigated in tree species. We will integrate (epi)genetic variation in relation to an environmental stimulus linked to climate change, i.e. enhanced atmospheric CO2 (eCO2), and a complex disease syndrome, i.e. Acute Oak Decline (AOD). Both analyses will frame the impact of biotic and abiotic stimuli on genome plasticity, marking breakthrough knowledge advances that challenge our current understanding of tree genome adaptation.

Objectives

Objective 1: To determine the genetic and epigenetic intra-organism variability of mature oaks. It is known that trees contain intra-organism (epi)genetic variation, but this has never been directly investigated. We will use different sequencing techniques to accurately interrogate such genetic and epigenetic differences in oak trees, producing a unique set of genomic data.

Objective 2: To evaluate how eCO2 and AOD affect intra-tree variability. Material will be obtained from trees growing at the BIFoR Free-air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) facilities exposed to eCO2, and from trees showing symptoms of AOD. (Epi)genetic profiles will be compared to control trees (grown under ambient CO2 or healthy).

Objective 3: To test the inheritability of (epi)genetic variation in progenies. We will estimate the transgenerational inheritability of such (epi)genetic events by evaluating the presence of the identified genome plasticity markers in the progenies of selected trees, formed at the same branches where leaf tissue was collected from. (Epi)genetic profiles will be compared against parental profiles to identify inherited loci, which will be further examined for their ability to affect gene expression upon stimuli.

This project will explore the redesign of the genetic tree adaptation concept and the environmental role in controlling the rate of plant genome plasticity.

Co-supervisor on projects with Dr Lindsey Compton and Dr Marco Catoni.

Previous Projects (2024-25)

Primary supervisor for:

CASE: Plant mobile signals for long-lasting fruit protection

Previous Projects (2023-24)

Primary supervisor for:

Impact of increasing environmental CO2 on oak defence priming