Scientists Study Root Growth, Function, for Improved Crops

The Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) at The University of Nottingham will break new ground in the current understanding of plant growth as it focuses on cutting-edge research into the little-studied area of root growth, function and response to environmental cues. A greater understanding of plant roots, particularly how they respond to different levels of moisture, nutrients and salt in the soil, could pave the way for the development of new drought-resistant crops that can thrive in arid areas and coastal margins of the developing world.

Scientists will develop a 'virtual root' using the latest mathematical modeling techniques. Through computer models that exactly mimic biological processes, researchers will be able to observe what is happening at every stage from the molecular scale upwards. The first ‘virtual root’ will be that of the simple weed Arabidopsis, a species routinely used for molecular genetic studies. CPIB researchers ultimately aim to integrate their ‘virtual root’ with those of other international projects that model shoot and leaf development, leading to a generic computer model of a whole plant.  

Read the press release at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/public-affairs/press-releases/index.phtml?menu=pressreleases&code=GET-116/07&create_date=27-jun-2007.