Underground tuning: quantitative regulation of root growth

Plants display a high degree of phenotypic plasticity that allows them to tune their form and function to changing environments. The plant root system has evolved mechanisms to anchor the plant and to efficiently explore soils to forage for soil resources. Key to this is an enormous capacity for pla...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental botany 2015-02, Vol.66 (4), p.1099-1112
Main Authors: Satbhai, Santosh B., Ristova, Daniela, Busch, Wolfgang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arabidopsis - genetics
Arabidopsis - growth & development
Arabidopsis - physiology
Arabidopsis - radiation effects
Environment
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
Light
Phenotype
Plant Growth Regulators - metabolism
Plant Roots - genetics
Plant Roots - growth & development
Plant Roots - physiology
Plant Roots - radiation effects
REVIEW PAPER
Soil
Stress, Physiological
Water - physiology
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Summary:Plants display a high degree of phenotypic plasticity that allows them to tune their form and function to changing environments. The plant root system has evolved mechanisms to anchor the plant and to efficiently explore soils to forage for soil resources. Key to this is an enormous capacity for plasticity of multiple traits that shape the distribution of roots in the soil. Such root system architecture-related traits are determined by root growth rates, root growth direction, and root branching. In this review, we describe how the root system is constituted, and which mechanisms, pathways, and genes mainly regulate plasticity of the root system in response to environmental variation.
ISSN:0022-0957
1460-2431
DOI:10.1093/jxb/eru529