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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.

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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.

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