Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Feb;225(3):1111-1119.
doi: 10.1111/nph.15955. Epub 2019 Aug 29.

Dynamics in plant roots and shoots minimize stress, save energy and maintain water and nutrient uptake

Borjana Arsova  1 , Kylie J Foster  2 , Megan C Shelden  3 , Helen Bramley  4 , Michelle Watt  1
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Dynamics in plant roots and shoots minimize stress, save energy and maintain water and nutrient uptake

Borjana Arsova et al. New Phytol. 2020 Feb.
Free article

Abstract

Plants are inherently dynamic. Dynamics minimize stress while enabling plants to flexibly acquire resources. Three examples are presented for plants tolerating saline soil: transport of sodium chloride (NaCl), water and macronutrients is nonuniform along a branched root; water and NaCl redistribute between shoot and soil at night-time; and ATP for salt exclusion is much lower in thinner branch roots than main roots, quantified using a biophysical model and geometry from anatomy. Noninvasive phenotyping and precision agriculture technologies can be used together to harness plant dynamics, but analytical methods are needed. A plant advancing in time through a soil and atmosphere space is proposed as a framework for dynamic data and their relationship to crop improvement.

Keywords: agriculture; cell-specific; drought stress; nitrogen; plasticity; root architecture; salinity tolerance; transporters.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • The salinity challenge.
    Sanders D. Sanders D. New Phytol. 2020 Feb;225(3):1047-1048. doi: 10.1111/nph.16357. New Phytol. 2020. PMID: 31894589 Free PMC article.

References

    1. Ayadi M, Cavez D, Miled N, Chaumont F, Masmoudi K. 2011. Identification and characterization of two plasma membrane aquaporins in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum) and their role in abiotic stress tolerance. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 49: 1029-1039.
    1. Bao Y, Aggarwal P, Robbins NE, Sturrock CJ, Thompson MC, Tan HQ, Tham C, Duan L, Rodriguez PL, Vernoux T et al. 2014. Plant roots use a patterning mechanism to position lateral root branches toward available water. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 111: 9319-9324.
    1. Bramley H, Turner NC, Turner DW, Tyerman SD. 2009. Roles of morphology, anatomy, and aquaporins in determining contrasting hydraulic behavior of roots. Plant Physiology 150: 348.
    1. Bramley H, Turner NC, Turner DW, Tyerman SD. 2010. The contrasting influence of short-term hypoxia on the hydraulic properties of cells and roots of wheat and lupin. Functional Plant Biology 37: 183-193.
    1. Bramley H, Turner DW, Tyerman SD, Turner NC. 2007. Water flow in the roots of crop species: the influence of root structure, aquaporin activity, and waterlogging. Advances in Agronomy 96: 133-196.

LinkOut - more resources