Crosstalk between gibberellin signaling and iron uptake in plants: an Achilles’ heel for modern cereal varieties?

Plants utilize sophisticated morphological and physiological mechanisms to acquire iron from soil. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Wild et al. (2016) find that the hormone signal gibberellic acid is key in integrating these responses, raising questions about the impact of altering GA responses in modern cereal varieties on iron acquisition

Root Development: Cytokinin Transport Matters, Too!

SummaryUnlike the plant hormone auxin, the mechanism and function of cytokinin transport is poorly characterised. Two new studies now demonstrate that cytokinins transported from shoot to roots via the phloem are critical for creating mutually exclusive auxin and cytokinin signalling domains that control root vascular patterning

One gene, many proteins: mapping cell-specific alternative splicing in plants

Pre-mRNA alternative splicing (AS) generates protein variants from a single gene that can create novel regulatory opportunities. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Li et al. (2016) present a high-resolution expression map of AS events in Arabidopsis root tissues, giving insight into cell-type- and stage-specific AS mechanisms in plants

Fractional boundary value problems: Analysis and numerical methods

This is the author's PDF of an article published in Fractional calculus and applied analysis 2011. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.comThis journal article discusses nonlinear boundary value problems.Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologi

Plant biology: building barriers... in roots

The Casparian strip is an important barrier regulating water and nutrient uptake into root tissues. New research reveals two peptide signals and their co-receptors play critical roles patterning and maintaining barrier integrity

Extracting multiple interacting root systems using X-ray micro computed tomography

Root system interaction and competition for resources is an active research area that contributes to our understanding of roots’ perception and reaction to environmental conditions. Recent research has shown this complex suite of processes can now be observed in a natural environment (i.e. soil) through the use of X-ray micro Computed Tomography (µCT), which allows non-destructive analysis of plant root systems. Due to their similar X-ray attenuation coefficients and densities, the roots of different plants appear as similar greyscale intensity values in µCT image data. Unless they are manually and carefully traced, it has previously not been possible to automatically label and separate different root systems grown in the same soil environment. We present a technique, based on a visual tracking approach, which exploits knowledge of the shape of root cross-sections to automatically recover 3D descriptions of multiple, interacting root architectures growing in soil from X-ray µCT data. The method was evaluated on both simulated root data and real images of two interacting winter wheat Cordiale (Triticumaestivum L.) plants grown in a single soil column, demonstrating that it is possible to automatically segment different root systems from within the same soil sample. This work supports the automatic exploration of supportive and competitive foraging behaviour of plant root systems in natural soil environments

Hybrid vertex-midline modelling of elongated plant organs

We describe a method for the simulation of the growth of elongated plant organs, such as seedling roots. By combining a midline representation of the organ on a tissue scale and a vertex-based representation on the cell scale, we obtain a multiscale method, which is able to both simulate organ growth and incorporate cell-scale processes. Equations for the evolution of the midline are obtained, which depend on the cell-wall properties of individual cells through appropriate averages over the vertex-based representation. The evolution of the organ midline is used to deform the cellular-scale representation. This permits the investigation of the regulation of organ growth through the cell-scale transport of the plant hormone auxin. The utility of this method is demonstrated in simulating the early stages of the response of a root to gravity, using a vertex-based template acquired from confocal imaging. Asymmetries in the concentrations of auxin between the upper and lower sides of the root lead to bending of the root midline, reflecting a gravitropic response

The Effect of Foam Rolling for Three Consecutive Days on Muscular Efficiency and Range of Motion

Background Foam rolling (FR) has been shown to alleviate some symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage and has been suggested to increase range of motion (ROM) without negatively impacting strength. However, it is unclear what neuromuscular effects, if any, mediate these changes. Methods In a randomized, crossover design, 16 healthy active males completed 2 min of rest or FR of the knee extensors on three consecutive days. Mechanical properties of vastus lateralis (VL) and rectus femoris (RF) were assessed via Tensiomyography. Knee extension maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and knee flexion ROM were also assessed, and surface electromyography amplitude (RMS) was recorded during a submaximal isometric contraction (50% of MVC). Measures were performed before and after (0, 15, and 30 min) FR or rest. Results MVC was reduced on subsequent days in the rest condition compared to FR (p = 0.002, pη2 = 0.04); ROM was not different across time or condition (p = 0.193, pη2 = 0.01). Stiffness characteristics of the VL were different on the third day of FR (p = 0.002, pη2 = 0.03). RMS was statistically reduced 0, 15, and 30 min after FR compared to rest (p = 0.006, pη2 = 0.03; p = 0.003, pη2 = 0.04; p = 0.002, pη2 = 0.04). Conclusions Following FR, MVC was elevated compared to rest and RMS was transiently reduced during a submaximal task. Excitation efficiency of the involved muscles may have been enhanced by FR, which protected against the decline in MVC which was observed with rest

Uncovering root compaction response mechanisms: new insights and opportunities

Compaction disrupts soil structure, reducing root growth, nutrient and water uptake, gas exchange, and microbial growth. Root growth inhibition by soil compaction was originally thought to reflect the impact of mechanical impedance and reduced water availability. However, using a novel gas diffusion-based mechanism employing the hormone ethylene, recent research has revealed that plant roots sense soil compaction. Non-compacted soil features highly interconnected pore spaces that facilitate diffusion of gases such as ethylene which are released by root tips. In contrast, soil compaction stress disrupts the pore network, causing ethylene to accumulate around root tips and trigger growth arrest. Genetically disrupting ethylene signalling causes roots to become much less sensitive to compaction stress. Such new understanding about the molecular sensing mechanism and emerging root anatomical traits provides novel opportunities to develop crops resistant to soil compaction by targeting key genes and their signalling pathways. This expert view discusses these recent advances and the molecular mechanisms associated with root–soil compaction responses

On the evaluation of methods for the recovery of plant root systems from X-ray computed tomography images

X-ray micro computed tomography (µCT) allows non-destructive visualisation of plant root systems within their soil environment and thus offers an alternative to commonly used destructive methodologies for the examination of plant roots and their interaction with the surrounding soil. Various methods for the recovery of root system information from X-ray CT image data have been presented in the literature. Detailed, ideally quantitative, evaluation is essential, in order to determine the accuracy and limitations of the proposed methods, and to allow potential users to make informed choices between them. This, however, is a complicated task. Three-dimensional ground truth data is expensive to produce, and the complexity of X-ray CT data means that manually generated ground truth may not be definitive. Similarly, artificially generated data is not entirely representative of real samples. The aims of this work are to raise awareness of the evaluation problem and to propose experimental approaches that allow the performance of root extraction methods to be assessed, ultimately improving the techniques available. To illustrate the issues, tests are conducted using both artificially generated images and real data samples