How do lateral roots form

Here a large number of root hairs grow; very fine roots with large surface area to volume ratio. By having a large surface area and low volume it increases the efficiency of absorption of minerals and water. A common feature of almost all root systems is what is known as mycorrhizae.

A mycorrhizae is a relationship between the roots of a plant and fungi where both species usually benefit. The plant supplies the fungi with a constant source of sugars and the superior absorption abilities of the fungi help to provide the plant with an increased supply of water and nutrients. The fungi are far smaller than any root hair and therefore have a much smaller surface area to volume ratio and are much more efficient at absorbing nutrients such as nitrate, ammonium and phosphate.

Mychorrizal partnerships are most beneficial in nutrient poor soils. It is common knowledge that roots grow below ground, but in certain cases, plants will grow roots above ground from stems and even leaves. Plant roots such as these are labelled adventitious, a term used to describe a structure that grows in a strange place. The banyan tree is a great example of a species with adventitious roots, which have a large proportion of their roots above ground.

As it begins its life in the branches of a host tree, the young banyan tree germinates and grows its roots down to the soil, often wrapping itself around the host tree on the way down. Many mangrove species also grow adventitious roots from stems to provide support in an environment of constantly changing tide height and mangrove fruit germinate on the tree and begin to grow an adventitious root while they are still connected to the parent plant. Although roots can come in many forms and develop in a number of different ways, in nearly all circumstances their purpose remains constant and were developed as a mechanism to collect nutrients and water in a land based environment.

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Credit: Daniel von Wangenheim. More information: Daniel von Wangenheim et al. Early developmental plasticity of lateral roots in response to asymmetric water availability, Nature Plants DOI: Provided by Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission.

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Plant organ growth is not so different from animals Jan 17, Feb 04, Jul 01, Recrutement of a lateral root developmental pathway into root nodule formation of legumes Nov 26, The findings were published on December 20, in the online edition of Developmental Cell.

Plant root systems are mainly shaped by the lateral roots that grow from tissue inside the existing roots. These roots form from "lateral root founder cells" that are positioned at regularly-spaced intervals at a distance from the meristem tissue tissue responsible for growth.

Previous studies using Arabidopsis plants showed that lateral root founder cells are made from sites where there is high response to the chemical auxin, and indicated that transcription factor LBD16 induced by auxin may inhibit the cells near lateral root founder cells from forming roots.

This time, a joint research team, using plant model Arabidopsis, searched for the gene that is activated by transcription factor LBD16 and successfully identified the TOLS2 gene.

The TOLS2 gene is mainly expressed in lateral root founder cells and root germs. In Arabidopsis plants that overexpress TOLS2, the number of lateral roots decreases figure 1 , indicating that the TOLS2 gene can inhibit the formation of lateral root founder cells.

When they artificially created mature TOLS2 peptide and added it to a wild-type Arabidopsis, the number of lateral root founder cells and lateral roots decreased figure 2. RLK7 proteins express in the inner sheath of the roots where the lateral root founder cells are located , the endodermis and the dermal layer, but RLK7 expression could not be found in the lateral root founder cells. It is likely that these proteins suppress the formation of lateral roots in cells adjacent to lateral root founder cells.

Their results confirmed that the TOLS2 peptide and the RLK7 receptor are necessary to preserve the correct spacing between lateral root founder cells. From this analysis the research team proposed that Arabidopsis, by responding to auxin and inducing TOLS2 peptide in lateral root founder cells, through RLK7 receptors inhibits nearby lateral root founder cells in a non-cell-autonomous manner figure 3.

Professor Fukaki says, "If the mechanism for TOLS2 peptide-based inhibition of nearby lateral root founder cells is clarified in Arabidopsis, this will help us to understand root formation mechanisms in other plants such as crops and trees. And if other plants contain peptides that fulfil the same function as the TOLS2 peptide, we could potentially use this mechanism to artificially control root formation patterns for crops and trees.

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