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SUMMARY:Systems analysis of lateral root development: an emerging story…
  - Malcolm Bennet\, Center for Plant Integrative Biology\, University of N
 ottingham
DTSTART:20091126T160000Z
DTEND:20091126T170000Z
UID:TALK20038@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ian Henderson
DESCRIPTION:Food security represents a major global issue. Significant imp
 rovements in crop yields are urgently required to meet the 50% increase in
  world population by 2050. The degree of root branching determines the eff
 iciency of water uptake and acquisition of nutrients in crops. Understandi
 ng the regulation of root branching is therefore of vital agronomic import
 ance. Lateral root branching can be divided into 2 distinct\, yet inter-co
 nnected\, developmental processes\; primordium initiation and emergence. T
 o date\, research has focused largely on lateral root (LR) initiation. How
 ever\, recent evidence suggests that LR emergence is an important checkpoi
 nt for root branching which is regulated by nutrients such as nitrate and 
 phosphate and hormone signals such as auxin.\n\nLateral root primordia (LR
 P) originate exclusively from pericycle cells located deep within the pare
 ntal root\, necessitating that new primordia emerge through several overla
 ying tissues. In a recent article published in Nature Cell Biology (Swarup
  et al [2008] 10:625-628) we described how LRP emergence is a highly regul
 ated process involving the active participation of cells in both new later
 al root primordia and the parental root. The hormone auxin originating fro
 m the developing lateral root appears to act as a local inductive signal w
 hich reprograms adjacent cells. Auxin induces the expression of a previous
 ly uncharacterized auxin influx carrier LAX3 in cortical and epidermal cel
 ls directly overlaying new primordia. Increased LAX3 activity reinforces t
 he auxin-dependent induction of a selection of cell wall remodelling enzym
 es\, promoting cell separation in advance of developing lateral root primo
 rdia. \n\nI will describe how we are employing a systems approach to study
  the gene regulatory networks and biomechanics associated with lateral roo
 t emergence. Our systems approach involves creating increasingly sophistic
 ated multi-cellular models of the lateral root emergence network\, populat
 ing them with experimental data\, and then testing the in-silico models pr
 edictive ability.\n
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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