Insights on How Plant Roots Develop

The exact mechanism of how plants regulate root formation has fascinated and frustrated scientists since the nineteenth century. The way that new lateral roots are formed and grow is vital to the integrity and architecture of the root system. Lateral roots originate deep within the parent root and must emerge through intervening layers of tissues before entering the soil. A group of international scientists reported how lateral root emergence is achieved in a paper published by Nature Cell Biology.

The scientists found out that new lateral roots reprogram the cells that overlay them, causing them to separate and enabling the new root to emerge. The developing roots secrete the phytohormone auxin to ‘manipulate’ adjacent cells. The hormone activates a group of cell wall remodeling enzymes that promotes the separation of overlaying cells. The scientists have also identified the genes that control this process. Malcolm Bennett, researcher from the University of Nottingham and one of the authors of the study, said that the discovery might enable the development of crops with improved root architecture.

Read more at http://communications.nottingham.ac.uk/News/Article/The_emerging_story_of_plant_roots.html The abstract of the paper is available at http://www.nature.com/ncb/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ncb1754.html