Root Hairs: An under-explored target for sustainable cereal crop production

Tsang, Ian; Atkinson, Jonathan A; Rawsthorne, Stephen; Cockram, James; Leigh, Fiona

Abstract

To meet the demands of a rising human population, plant breeders will need to develop improved crop varieties that maximize yield in the face of increasing pressure on crop production. Historically, the optimization of crop root architecture has represented a challenging breeding target due to the inaccessibility of the root systems. Root hairs, single cell projections from the root epidermis, are perhaps the most overlooked component of root architecture traits. Root hairs play a central role in facilitating water, nutrient uptake, and soil cohesion. Current root hair architectures may be suboptimal under future agricultural production regimes, coupled with an increasingly variable climate. Here, we review the genetic control of root hair development in the world’s three most important crops—rice, maize, and wheat—and highlight conservation of gene function between monocots and the model dicot species Arabidopsis. Advances in genomic techniques including gene editing combined with traditional plant breeding methods have the potential to overcome many inherent issues associated with the design of improved root hair architectures. Ultimately, this will enable detailed characterization of the effects of contrasting root hair morphology strategies on crop yield and resilience, and the development of new varieties better adapted to deliver future food security.

Citation

Tsang, I., Atkinson, J. A., Rawsthorne, S., Cockram, J., & Leigh, F. (2024). Root Hairs: An under-explored target for sustainable cereal crop production. Journal of Experimental Botany, 75(18), 5484–5500. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erae275

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 17, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jun 19, 2024
• Publication Date: Sep 27, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 14, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 19, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Experimental Botany
• Print ISSN: 0022-0957
• Electronic ISSN: 1460-2431
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 75
• Issue: 18
• Pages: 5484–5500
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erae275
• Keywords: Arabidopsis, crops, gene function, maize (Zea mays L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), sustainable food production, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/36307009
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/75/18/5484/7696010