A corn plant knows how to find water in soil with the very tips of its roots, but some varieties, including many used for breeding high-yielding corn in the U.S., appear to have lost a portion of that ability, according to a Stanford-led study.
A corn plant knows how to find water in soil with the very tips of its roots, but some varieties, including many used for breeding high-yielding corn in the U.S., appear to have lost a portion of that ability, according to a Stanford-led study. With climate change increasing droughts, the findings hold potential for developing more resilient varieties of corn.
The study, published in the journal Science, uncovers genetic mechanisms behind root “hydropatterning,” or how plant roots branch toward water and avoid dry spaces in soil. In particular, the researchers discovered that ethylene, a plant hormone known to help bananas ripen, also influences how roots grow to seek water.
“Plants are sophisticated in the way that they ‘see’ where water is in soil, and the genes that are responsible for that play an important role in helping the plant create a root system that is optimized for efficient water uptake,” said José Dinneny, the study’s senior author and a professor of biology in Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences.
Read More: Stanford University
Researchers Johannes Scharwies and José Dinneny stand in front of corn plants grown to study root responses to moisture at the Stanford Greenhouse Facility. (Photo Credit: LiPo Ching, Stanford University)
