The function of a plant’s roots go well beyond simply serving as an anchor in the ground. The roots act as the plant’s mouth, absorbing, storing and channeling water and nutrients essential for survival.
Researchers have devoted tremendous effort to engineering plants that are more effective at these tasks in order to develop hardier forms that can withstand drought or low-nutrient conditions.
In a new investigation, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have taken another step toward achieving this goal. They identified two proteins that regulate whether a cell in plant roots forms a hair cell, which increases surface area for absorption, or a non-hair cell. Plants that overexpressed one of these regulators thrived despite being deprived of a key nutrient, phosphorous.
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Such plants, which produce more hair cells and thus can more readily absorb water from the soil, could also do well under conditions predicted to be more prevalent under climate change, notably in widespread droughts.
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[Read the full study here.]
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Penn Team Identifies Genetic Target for Growing Hardier Plants Under Stress
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