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Grasses suppress shoot-borne roots to conserve water during drought

Grasses suppress shoot-borne roots to conserve water during drought

Authors :
Max J. Feldman
Frank Hochholdinger
Henry D. Priest
Thomas P. Brutnell
Ivan Baxter
Muh-Ching Yee
Rubén Rellán-Álvarez
José R. Dinneny
Tak Lee
Willian G. Viana
Charlotte Trontin
Hui Jiang
Jose Sebastian
Todd C. Mockler
Source :
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113:8861-8866
Publication Year :
2016
Publisher :
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016.

Abstract

Many important crops are members of the Poaceae family, which develop root systems characterized by a high degree of root initiation from the belowground basal nodes of the shoot, termed the crown. Although this postembryonic shoot-borne root system represents the major conduit for water uptake, little is known about the effect of water availability on its development. Here we demonstrate that in the model C4 grass Setaria viridis, the crown locally senses water availability and suppresses postemergence crown root growth under a water deficit. This response was observed in field and growth room environments and in all grass species tested. Luminescence-based imaging of root systems grown in soil-like media revealed a shift in root growth from crown-derived to primary root-derived branches, suggesting that primary root-dominated architecture can be induced in S. viridis under certain stress conditions. Crown roots of Zea mays and Setaria italica, domesticated relatives of teosinte and S. viridis, respectively, show reduced sensitivity to water deficit, suggesting that this response might have been influenced by human selection. Enhanced water status of maize mutants lacking crown roots suggests that under a water deficit, stronger suppression of crown roots actually may benefit crop productivity.

Details

ISSN :
10916490 and 00278424
Volume :
113
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....e8ae5add8b1934a39e3a76b6cfcb43d4
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1604021113