Temperature changes in the root ecosystem affect plant functionality

Auxin‐dependent regulation of cell division rates governs root thermomorphogenesis

“…Quantification of cells at different stages of the cell cycle supports this conclusion. While ambient temperatures well above 30°C seem to inevitably result in severe reduction of cell division in the root apical meristem (González‐García et al , 2022), we observed that at 28°C more cells entered the cell cycle (Fig 3E), and likewise more cells were actively dividing (Fig 3F) in comparison to plants grown at 20°C. These findings are complementing a wealth of data from the last 60+ years that describe acceleration of the cell cycle and increased cell division rates caused by elevated temperatures across species (e.g., Erickson, 1959; Murin, 1966, 1981; Silk et al , 1989; Silk, 1992; Grif et al , 2002; Hanzawa et al , 2013; Yang et al , 2017).…”

Recent insights into metabolic and signalling events of directional root growth regulation and its implications for sustainable crop production systems

“…Plant responses to enhanced illumination are also overlapping with temperature sensing, and also elevated temperatures result in root growth arrest and delimited ability to expand root surface, which correlates with reduced nutrient uptake ( Calleja-Cabrera et al., 2020 ; Ghatak et al., 2020 ; Kim et al., 2020 ; D E Lima et al., 2021 ; González-García et al., 2022 ). To study thermal-related stress responses of roots a novel device was recently introduced by González-García et al (2022) , namely the TGRooZ device that allows to apply temperature gradients to roots grown on agar supplemented medium and additionally shade them from direct illumination ( González-García et al., 2022 ). Even if the air is heated up, below ground temperatures drop gradually when the root grows deeper into the soil, which allows efficient root system architecture establishment compared to plants with shoots and roots exposed to the same elevated temperature ( González-García et al., 2022 ).…”

“…To study thermal-related stress responses of roots a novel device was recently introduced by González-García et al (2022) , namely the TGRooZ device that allows to apply temperature gradients to roots grown on agar supplemented medium and additionally shade them from direct illumination ( González-García et al., 2022 ). Even if the air is heated up, below ground temperatures drop gradually when the root grows deeper into the soil, which allows efficient root system architecture establishment compared to plants with shoots and roots exposed to the same elevated temperature ( González-García et al., 2022 ). Furthermore, the comparison of roots grown in constant heat to those grown along a temperature gradient in the TGRooZ device showed that constant heat stress applied to the root reduces especially phosphate uptake and also delimits beneficial bacterial community assembly ( González-García et al., 2022 ).…”

“…Even if the air is heated up, below ground temperatures drop gradually when the root grows deeper into the soil, which allows efficient root system architecture establishment compared to plants with shoots and roots exposed to the same elevated temperature ( González-García et al., 2022 ). Furthermore, the comparison of roots grown in constant heat to those grown along a temperature gradient in the TGRooZ device showed that constant heat stress applied to the root reduces especially phosphate uptake and also delimits beneficial bacterial community assembly ( González-García et al., 2022 ). Grafting experiments demonstrated the importance of controlled root-soil interaction, which attracts beneficial microbes and delimits pathogen accumulation ( Cardarelli et al., 2020 ; Muramoto et al., 2022 ).…”

“…Roots evolved to grow into the soil, sense environmental changes and adjust their architecture and growth direction to maximize water and nutrient uptake and avoid obstacles and toxic compounds ( De Pessemier et al., 2013 ; Pierik and Testerink, 2014 ; Kolb et al., 2017 ; Gupta et al., 2020 ; Zhang and Friml, 2020 ; D E Lima et al., 2021 ; Karlova et al., 2021 ; Leftley et al., 2021 ; González-García et al., 2022 ). As the so-called hidden half of the plant, roots are not easy to phenotype under natural growth conditions ( Piñeros et al., 2016 ; Atkinson et al., 2019 ).…”