Supercomputer-powered 3D imaging of root systems to help breeders develop climate-change adapted plants for farmers
The shoots of plants get all of the glory, with their fruit and flowers and visible structure. But it's the portion that lies below the soil — the branching, reaching arms of roots and hairs pulling up water and nutrients — that interests plant physiologist and computer scientist, Alexander Bucksch, associate professor of Plant Biology at the University of Georgia.
The health and growth of the root system has deep implications for our future. Our ability to grow enough food to support the population despite a changing climate, and to fix carbon from the atmosphere in the soil are critical to our, and other species', survival. The solutions, Bucksch believes, lie in the qualities of roots.
"When there is a problem in the world, humans can move. But what does the plant do?" he asked. "It says, ‘Let's alter our genome to survive.' It evolves."
Continue reading at Texas Advanced Computing Center
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