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The emerging story of plant roots
July 16, 2008An international group of European and US scientists led by the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology at The University of Nottingham have uncovered a fascinating new insight into the unseen side of plant biology - the root.
Although less visible than shoots, leaves and flowers, plant roots are critical to our lives. They provide the crops we eat with water, nutrients, a firm anchor and a place to store food.
Roots are complex branching organs and show a wide variation in the way they grow through the soil to exploit the available resources.
The way that new lateral roots are formed and grow is key to this process. Lateral roots originate deep within the parent root and must emerge through intervening layers of tissues before entering the soil. Despite its importance to the integrity and architecture of the root system, little is known about the regulation of lateral root emergence.
This question has fascinated, yet frustrated, scientists since the nineteenth century.
A paper appearing in Nature Cell Biology reveals for the very first time how lateral root emergence is achieved. It reports that new lateral roots reprogramme the cells that overlay them, causing them to separate and enabling the new root to emerge. In short, the scientists have discovered how new roots open the door to the world outside.
Professor Malcolm Bennett, Biology Director for the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology and Head of Division of Plant and Crop Sciences, said: "In addition to providing new biological insight into lateral root emergence, we have identified a large number of genes that control this process.
"This is really important because this may enable us to breed crops with improved root architecture in the future."
The Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) is funded by the Systems Biology joint initiative of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which has provided £27m for six specialised centres across the UK. The Division of Plant and Crop Sciences is one of the largest communities of plant scientists in the UK. Around 160 people work in the division, which welcomes visiting scientists from all over the world, reinforcing its reputation as a world renowned centre.
This international collaboration involved over 20 scientists from laboratories based in Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, USA and UK.
The University of Nottingham
The way that new lateral roots are formed and grow is key to this process. Lateral roots originate deep within the parent root and must emerge through intervening layers of tissues before entering the soil. Despite its importance to the integrity and architecture of the root system, little is known about the regulation of lateral root emergence.
This question has fascinated, yet frustrated, scientists since the nineteenth century.
A paper appearing in Nature Cell Biology reveals for the very first time how lateral root emergence is achieved. It reports that new lateral roots reprogramme the cells that overlay them, causing them to separate and enabling the new root to emerge. In short, the scientists have discovered how new roots open the door to the world outside.
Professor Malcolm Bennett, Biology Director for the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology and Head of Division of Plant and Crop Sciences, said: "In addition to providing new biological insight into lateral root emergence, we have identified a large number of genes that control this process.
"This is really important because this may enable us to breed crops with improved root architecture in the future."
The Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) is funded by the Systems Biology joint initiative of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which has provided £27m for six specialised centres across the UK. The Division of Plant and Crop Sciences is one of the largest communities of plant scientists in the UK. Around 160 people work in the division, which welcomes visiting scientists from all over the world, reinforcing its reputation as a world renowned centre.
This international collaboration involved over 20 scientists from laboratories based in Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, USA and UK.
The University of Nottingham
Biology Current Events and Biology News RSSHuman genomics in China
Ten years ago, the Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai (South Center, hereafter) was established in the Zhangjiang HiTech Park of Pudong District in Shanghai. To commemorate this important event, which marks the beginning of the Genomics Era in China, we specially organize a series of mini-reviews for this special issue.
Avian flu becoming more resistant to antiviral drugs, says University of Colorado study
A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the resistance of the avian flu virus to a major class of antiviral drugs is increasing through positive evolutionary selection, with researchers documenting the trend in more than 30 percent of the samples tested.
Lost in translation
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Spookfish uses mirrors for eyes
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Study Yields Clues About the Evolution of Epilepsy
Two children have a seizure. One child never has another seizure. Twenty years later, the other child has a series of seizures and is diagnosed with epilepsy. A study being led by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is looking at what could possibly happen in the development of these two children that would lead to such extreme variations in their neurologic health.
Plant polymerases IV and V are special forms of Polymerase II
It's a little like finding out that Superman is actually Clark Kent. A team of biologists at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered that two vital cellular components, nuclear RNA Polymerases IV and V (Pol IV and V), found only in plants, are actually specialized forms of RNA Polymerase II, an essential enzyme of all eukaryotic organisms, including humans.
Old gastrointestinal drug slows aging, McGill researchers say
Recent animal studies have shown that clioquinol - an 80-year old drug once used to treat diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders - can reverse the progression of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.
Study on origin of mutation that causes Fatal Familiar Insomnia
A PhD thesis at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has studied the origin of the mutation that causes Fatal Familiar Insomnia (FFI). In the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country there is a high rate of carriers of this mutation - 50%of all the cases registered in the whole of Spain.
Team finds breast cancer gene linked to disease spread
A team of researchers at Princeton University and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has identified a long-sought gene that is fatefully switched on in 30 to 40 percent of all breast cancer patients, spreading the disease, resisting traditional chemotherapies and eventually leading to death.
Cell Biologists Identify New Tumor Suppressor for Lung Cancer
Cancer and cell biology experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have identified a new tumor suppressor that may help scientists develop more targeted drug therapies to combat lung cancer.
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