Related topics: plants

When plant roots learned to follow gravity

Highly developed seed plants evolved deep root systems that are able to sense Earth's gravity. The how and when of this evolutionary step has, until now, remained unknown. Plant biologists at the Institute of Science and ...

Ammonium triggers formation of lateral roots

Despite the importance of changes in root architecture to exploit local nutrient patches, mechanisms integrating external nutrient signals into the root developmental program remain poorly understood. "Here, we show for the ...

Why roots don't grow in the shade

When a plant finds itself in too much shade, it redirects its resources to reach for light. Crop yield and root development stall as the plant focuses on growing taller, striving to rise above neighboring plants to access ...

Rusted root: Weedy rice repeatedly evolves 'cheater' root traits

Weedy rice is neither wild rice nor crop rice, but rice gone rogue that has shed some traits important to people. It also is an incredibly aggressive, potentially detrimental weed that pops up almost everywhere rice is grown, ...

The secret of mycorrhizal fungi

Fungi, specifically those that are "mycorrhizal," are natural allies of the forest because they improve tree nutrient acquisition. But which of the mycorrhizal feeding strategies yields the greatest tree diversity in a forest: ...

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