Roots are just as likely to be damaged by hungry insects as the rest of the plant. But while lots is known about how plants respond to above ground damage, below ground this is still in the dark. A group of international researchers set out to find out more.
Tag Archives: Roots
Subtle nudges
Most of us know penicillin as an antibiotic. It is made by the soil dwelling Penicillin rubens fungus. Now this fungus has many brothers and sisters, some of which like to nestle themselves between the cells of roots. For the plant this is positive as colonized plants grow more roots. Now a new study by Spanish a Czech researchers shows that Penicillin melinii enhances root growth with subtle nudges.
Fuelling the repair
When plants are wounded, they quickly set to heal themselves. These unplanned cell divisions and growth require extra fuel. How the plant makes sure this fuel reaches the wound site is not clear. Now a new paper from Israeli scientists shows that while this extra fuel reaches the wound site in the form of sucrose, it is actually glucose that feeds the wound adjacent cells.
Bending due to gravity
Place a plant on its side and its roots and shoots quickly grow down and up again. The plant sensed that the direction of gravity changed and adjusted its growth accordingly. But how plants regulate this temporary adjustment was not exactly known. Now a group of international researchers show that one part of the answer is the temporarily activating the auxin response factor ARF19.
