Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Literature review › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Literature review › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Nitrate and glutamate as environmental cues for behavioural responses in plant roots
AU - Forde, Brian
AU - Walch-Liu, Pia
PY - 2009/6
Y1 - 2009/6
N2 - As roots explore the soil, they encounter a complex and fluctuating environment in which the different edaphic resources (water and nutrients) are heterogeneously distributed in space and time. Many plant species are able to respond to this heterogeneity by modifying their root system development, such that they colonize the most resource-rich patches of soil. The complexities of these responses, and their dependence on the implied ability to perceive and integrate multiple external signals, would seem to amply justify the term 'behaviour'. This review will consider the types of behaviour that are elicited in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana by exposure to variations in the external concentrations and distribution of two different N compounds, nitrate and glutamate. Molecular genetic studies have revealed an intricate N regulatory network at the root tip that is responsible for orchestrating changes in root growth rate and root architecture to accommodate variations in the extrinsic and intrinsic supply of N. The review will discuss what is known of the genetic basis for these responses and speculate on their physiological and ecological significance.
AB - As roots explore the soil, they encounter a complex and fluctuating environment in which the different edaphic resources (water and nutrients) are heterogeneously distributed in space and time. Many plant species are able to respond to this heterogeneity by modifying their root system development, such that they colonize the most resource-rich patches of soil. The complexities of these responses, and their dependence on the implied ability to perceive and integrate multiple external signals, would seem to amply justify the term 'behaviour'. This review will consider the types of behaviour that are elicited in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana by exposure to variations in the external concentrations and distribution of two different N compounds, nitrate and glutamate. Molecular genetic studies have revealed an intricate N regulatory network at the root tip that is responsible for orchestrating changes in root growth rate and root architecture to accommodate variations in the extrinsic and intrinsic supply of N. The review will discuss what is known of the genetic basis for these responses and speculate on their physiological and ecological significance.
KW - Arabidopsis thaliana
KW - ANR1
KW - lateral roots
KW - MADS-box
KW - NRT1.1
KW - nutrient sensor
KW - primary root
KW - root architecture
KW - signal transduction
KW - transceptor
U2 - 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01927.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01927.x
M3 - Literature review
VL - 32
SP - 682
EP - 693
JO - Plant, Cell and Environment
JF - Plant, Cell and Environment
SN - 0140-7791
IS - 6
ER -