Judith Estefanía López Ponce
"My interest in plant–viroid interactions led me to join the ViroiDoc team. I’m especially drawn to studying how viroids move within and between cells, using microscopy to uncover new insights into these mechanisms."
Judith is ViroiDoc MSCA fellow in France (DC4) at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) under supervision of Prof. Manfred Heinlein and Prof. Todd Blevins and co-supervision of Dr. Laura Elvira González.
Individual Research Projects (IRP):
In vivo imaging of viroid RNA and associated host factors
Viroids are the smallest known plant pathogens, consisting of a circular, non-coding RNA molecule. Despite their simplicity, they can cause significant agricultural losses and pose an emerging threat to sustainable crop production due to increased international trade and climate change. Understanding how viroids interact with host plants is essential to develop new strategies for disease control.
Our project aims to visualize viroid RNA in living plant cells and to identify host factors involved in viroid trafficking. Using advanced RNA labeling techniques, including Broccoli aptamers, and dCAS-GFP, we will track the movement and localization of viroid RNA in vivo. These approaches will be combined with high-resolution confocal microscopy and complemented by affinity isolation or proximity labeling (TurboID) coupled to mass spectroscopy to identify host proteins that interact with the viroid RNA. Candidate proteins will be further validated by colocalization, FRET-FLIM, and reverse genetic approaches.
This technically challenging but innovative project will provide new insights into viroid biology, particularly into RNA movement and host interactions. Ultimately, our work will contribute to understanding how these minimal pathogens exploit plant systems, potentially pointing towards novel antiviral strategies.
J. E. Lopez Ponce, L. Elvira-Gonzalez, T. Blevins, M. Heinlein (CNRS)
The text above was submitted as poster abstract for the Viroids2025 conference in Bari, Italy.
Project activities
Judith presented her ViroiDoc IRP in a video and on poster at the International Conference Viroid 2025 - Viroids and viroid-like RNAs in Bari, Italy.
To mark the MSCA 30 years anniversary, ViroiDoc invites its doctoral candidates to share their mobility experiences in a blog series in 2026. Read Judith´s.
Judith took her one-month secondment in February 2026 at the IMBB–FORTH (UoC), Heraklion, Crete, under supervision of Dr. Kriton Kalantidis (host) and Dr. Konstantina Katsarou (supervision and guidance).