[Seminar] Cell communication determines root architecture
Tom Beeckman, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Belgium
| When |
10 Mar, 2017
from
12:00 pm to 01:00 pm |
|---|---|
| Where | Auditorium |
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Plants for Life 2017 - Invited Speakers
Title: Cell communication determines root architecture
Speaker: Tom Beeckman
Affiliation: Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium | VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Technologiepark, Belgium
Host: Plants for Life PhD Program
Abstract:
Root architecture is a trait that strongly contributes to the performance of plants. The way how plant root systems colonize the soil will be determinative for the all or not thriving growth of the above ground parts. Because plants are sessile organisms, the exploration of soil in search of water and nutrients is mainly dependent on steering and controlling cell division and elongation.
The presence of an endogenous tissue layer in which, on a regular basis, stem cells with high cell division competence are deposited represents a powerful instrument through which plants can easily generate new lateral root branches. These branches are not arbitrarily formed along a root axis, but their spacing is rather determined by an endogenous patterning mechanism that guarantees an even distribution of lateral organs over the entire length of the root. New insights in this patterning mechanism will discussed with the emphasis on putative cellular and tissue communication systems that are involved.
