Professor MALCOLM BENNETT's Outputs (57)

ABA-auxin cascade regulates crop root angle in response to drought (2025)
Journal Article
Xiong, Y., Song, X., Mehra, P., Yu, S., Li, Q., Tashenmaimaiti, D., Bennett, M., Kong, X., Bhosale, R., & Huang, G. (2025). ABA-auxin cascade regulates crop root angle in response to drought. Current Biology, 35(3), 542-553.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.003

Enhancing drought resistance through the manipulation of root system architecture (RSA) in crops represents a crucial strategy for addressing food insecurity challenges. Abscisic acid (ABA) plays important roles in drought tolerance; yet, its molecul... Read More about ABA-auxin cascade regulates crop root angle in response to drought.

Root metaxylem area influences drought tolerance and transpiration in pearl millet in a soil texture dependent manner (2024)
Preprint / Working Paper
Affortit, P., Faye, A., Jones, D. H., Benson, E., Sine, B., Burridge, J., Ndoye, M. S., Barry, L., Moukouanga, D., Barnard, S., Bhosale, R., Pridmore, T., Gantet, P., Vadez, V., Cubry, P., Kane, N., Bennett, M., Atkinson, J. A., Laplaze, L., Wells, D. M., & Grondin, A. (2024). Root metaxylem area influences drought tolerance and transpiration in pearl millet in a soil texture dependent manner

Pearl millet is a key cereal for food security in drylands but its yield is strongly impacted by drought. We investigated how root anatomical traits contribute to mitigating the effects of vegetative drought stress in pearl millet.

We examined ass... Read More about Root metaxylem area influences drought tolerance and transpiration in pearl millet in a soil texture dependent manner.

The auxin efflux carrier PIN1a regulates vascular patterning in cereal roots (2024)
Journal Article
Fusi, R., Milner, S. G., Rosignoli, S., Bovina, R., De Jesus Vieira Teixeira, C., Lou, H., Atkinson, B. S., Borkar, A. N., York, L. M., Jones, D. H., Sturrock, C. J., Stein, N., Mascher, M., Tuberosa, R., O'Connor, D., Bennett, M. J., Bishopp, A., Salvi, S., & Bhosale, R. (2024). The auxin efflux carrier PIN1a regulates vascular patterning in cereal roots. New Phytologist, 244(1), 104-115. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19777

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is an important global cereal crop and a model in genetic studies. Despite advances in characterising barley genomic resources, few mutant studies have identified genes controlling root architecture and anatomy, which plays a... Read More about The auxin efflux carrier PIN1a regulates vascular patterning in cereal roots.

Glutaredoxin regulation of primary root growth is associated with early drought stress tolerance in pearl millet (2024)
Journal Article
de la Fuente, C., Grondin, A., Sine, B., Debieu, M., Belin, C., Hajjarpoor, A., Atkinson, J. A., Passot, S., Salson, M., Orjuela, J., Tranchant-Dubreuil, C., Brossier, J.-R., Steffen, M., Morgado, C., Dinh, H. N., Pandey, B. K., Darmau, J., Champion, A., Petitot, A.-. S., Barrachina, C., …Laplaze, L. (2024). Glutaredoxin regulation of primary root growth is associated with early drought stress tolerance in pearl millet. eLife, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.86169

Seedling root traits impact plant establishment under challenging environments. Pearl millet is one of the most heat and drought tolerant cereal crops that provides a vital food source across the sub-Saharan Sahel region. Pearl millet’s early root sy... Read More about Glutaredoxin regulation of primary root growth is associated with early drought stress tolerance in pearl millet.

Glutaredoxin regulation of primary root growth confers early drought stress tolerance in pearl millet (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
de la Fuente, C., Grondin, A., Sine, B., Debieu, M., Belin, C., Hajjarpoor, A., Atkinson, J. A., Passot, S., Salson, M., Orjuela, J., Tranchant-Dubreuil, C., Brossier, J.-R., Steffen, M., Morgado, C., Dinh, H. N., Pandey, B. K., Darmau, J., Champion, A., Petitot, A.-. S., Barrachina, C., …Laplaze, L. Glutaredoxin regulation of primary root growth confers early drought stress tolerance in pearl millet

Seedling root traits impact plant establishment under challenging environments. Pearl millet is one of the most heat and drought tolerant cereal crops that provides a vital food source across the sub-Saharan Sahel region. Pearl millet’s early root sy... Read More about Glutaredoxin regulation of primary root growth confers early drought stress tolerance in pearl millet.

Transcription factor bHLH121 regulates root cortical aerenchyma formation in maize (2023)
Journal Article
Schneider, H. M., Lor, V. S., Zhang, X., Saengwilai, P., Hanlon, M. T., Klein, S. P., Davis, J. L., Borkar, A. N., Depew, C. L., Bennett, M. J., Kaeppler, S. M., Brown, K. M., Bhosale, R., & Lynch, J. P. (2023). Transcription factor bHLH121 regulates root cortical aerenchyma formation in maize. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(12), Article e2219668120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2219668120

Root anatomical phenotypes present a promising yet underexploited avenue to deliver major improvements in yield and climate resilience of crops by improving water and nutrient uptake. For instance, the formation of root cortical aerenchyma (RCA) sign... Read More about Transcription factor bHLH121 regulates root cortical aerenchyma formation in maize.

Glutaredoxin regulation of primary root growth confers early drought stress tolerance in pearl millet (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
de la Fuente, C., Grondin, A., Sine, B., Debieu, M., Belin, C., Hajjarpoor, A., Atkinson, J. A., Passot, S., Salson, M., Orjuela, J., Tranchant-Dubreuil, C., Brossier, J.-R., Steffen, M., Morgado, C., Dinh, H. N., Pandey, B. K., Darmau, J., Champion, A., Petitot, A.-. S., Barrachina, C., …Laplaze, L. (2024). Glutaredoxin regulation of primary root growth confers early drought stress tolerance in pearl millet

Seedling root traits impact plant establishment under challenging environments. Pearl millet is one of the most heat and drought tolerant cereal crops that provides a vital food source across the sub-Saharan Sahel region. Pearl millet’s early root sy... Read More about Glutaredoxin regulation of primary root growth confers early drought stress tolerance in pearl millet.

Root angle is controlled by EGT1in cereal crops employing anantigravitropic mechanism (2022)
Journal Article
Fusi, R., Rosignoli, S., Lou, H., Sangiorgi, G., Bovina, R., Pattem, J. K., Borkar, A. N., Lombardi, M., Forestan, C., Milner, S. G., Davis, J. L., Lale, A., Kirschner, G. K., Swarup, R., Tassinari, A., Pandey, B. K., York, L. M., Atkinson, B. S., Sturrock, C. J., Mooney, S. J., …Salvi, S. (2022). Root angle is controlled by EGT1in cereal crops employing anantigravitropic mechanism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

Root angle in crops represents a key trait for efficient capture of soil resources. Root angle is determined by competing gravitropic versus anti-gravitropic offset (AGO) mechanisms. Here we report a new root angle regulatory gene termed ENHANCED GRA... Read More about Root angle is controlled by EGT1in cereal crops employing anantigravitropic mechanism.

Ethylene inhibits rice root elongation in compacted soil via ABA- and auxin-mediated mechanisms (2022)
Journal Article
Huang, G., Kilic, A., Karady, M., Zhang, J., Mehra, P., Song, X., Sturrock, C. J., Zhu, W., Qin, H., Hartman, S., Schneider, H. M., Bhosale, R., Dodd, I. C., Sharp, R. E., Huang, R., Mooney, S. J., Liang, W., Bennett, M. J., Zhang, D., & Pandey, B. K. (2022). Ethylene inhibits rice root elongation in compacted soil via ABA- and auxin-mediated mechanisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(30), Article e2201072119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201072119

Soil compaction represents a major agronomic challenge, inhibiting root elongation and impacting crop yields. Roots use ethylene to sense soil compaction as the restricted air space causes this gaseous signal to accumulate around root tips. Ethylene... Read More about Ethylene inhibits rice root elongation in compacted soil via ABA- and auxin-mediated mechanisms.

Root system size and root hair length are key phenes for nitrate acquisition and biomass production across natural variation in Arabidopsis (2022)
Journal Article
De Pessemier, J., Moturu, T. R., Nacry, P., Ebert, R., De Gernier, H., Tillard, P., Swarup, K., Wells, D. M., Haseloff, J., Murray, S. C., Bennett, M. J., Inze, D., Vincent, C. I., & Hermans, C. (2022). Root system size and root hair length are key phenes for nitrate acquisition and biomass production across natural variation in Arabidopsis. Journal of Experimental Botany, 73(11), 3569-3583

The role of root phenes in nitrogen (N) acquisition and biomass production was evaluated in 10 contrasting natural accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana L. Seedlings were grown on vertical agar plates with two different nitrate supplies. The low N treat... Read More about Root system size and root hair length are key phenes for nitrate acquisition and biomass production across natural variation in Arabidopsis.

Identification of QTL and underlying genes for root system architecture associated with nitrate nutrition in hexaploid wheat (2022)
Journal Article
GRIFFITHS, M., ATKINSON, J. A., Gardiner, L. J., SWARUP, R., POUND, M. P., WILSON, M. H., BENNETT, M. J., & WELLS, D. M. (2022). Identification of QTL and underlying genes for root system architecture associated with nitrate nutrition in hexaploid wheat. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 21(4), 917-932. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2095-3119%2821%2963700-0

The root system architecture (RSA) of a crop has a profound effect on the uptake of nutrients and consequently the potential yield. However, little is known about the genetic basis of RSA and resource adaptive responses in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.... Read More about Identification of QTL and underlying genes for root system architecture associated with nitrate nutrition in hexaploid wheat.

X-ray CT reveals 4D root system development and lateral root responses to nitrate in soil (2022)
Journal Article
Griffiths, M., Mellor, N., Sturrock, C. J., Atkinson, B. S., Johnson, J., Mairhofer, S., York, L. M., Atkinson, J. A., Soltaninejad, M., Foulkes, J. F., Pound, M. P., Mooney, S. J., Pridmore, T. P., Bennett, M. J., & Wells, D. M. (2022). X-ray CT reveals 4D root system development and lateral root responses to nitrate in soil. Plant Phenome Journal, 5(1), Article e20036. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppj2.20036

The spatial arrangement of the root system, termed root system architecture, is important for resource acquisition as it directly affects the soil zone explored. Methods for phenotyping roots are mostly destructive, which prevents analysis of roots o... Read More about X-ray CT reveals 4D root system development and lateral root responses to nitrate in soil.

Non-invasive hydrodynamic imaging in plant roots at cellular resolution (2021)
Journal Article
Pascut, F. C., Couvreur, V., Dietrich, D., Leftley, N., Reyt, G., Boursiac, Y., Calvo-Polanco, M., Casimiro, I., Maurel, C., Salt, D. E., Draye, X., Wells, D. M., Bennett, M. J., & Webb, K. F. (2021). Non-invasive hydrodynamic imaging in plant roots at cellular resolution. Nature Communications, 12, Article 4682. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24913-z

A key impediment to studying water-related mechanisms in plants is the inability to non-invasively image water fluxes in cells at high temporal and spatial resolution. Here, we report that Raman microspectroscopy, complemented by hydrodynamic modelli... Read More about Non-invasive hydrodynamic imaging in plant roots at cellular resolution.

Root angle in maize influences nitrogen capture and is regulated by calcineurin B-like protein (CBL)-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 15 (ZmCIPK15) (2021)
Journal Article
Schneider, H. M., Lor, V. S. N., Hanlon, M. T., Perkins, A., Kaeppler, S. M., Borkar, A. N., Bhosale, R., Zhang, X., Rodriguez, J., Bucksch, A., Bennett, M. J., Brown, K. M., & Lynch, J. P. (2022). Root angle in maize influences nitrogen capture and is regulated by calcineurin B-like protein (CBL)-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 15 (ZmCIPK15). Plant, Cell and Environment, 45(3), 837-853. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14135

Crops with reduced nutrient and water requirements are urgently needed in global agriculture. Root growth angle plays an important role in nutrient and water acquisition. A maize diversity panel of 481 genotypes was screened for variation in root ang... Read More about Root angle in maize influences nitrogen capture and is regulated by calcineurin B-like protein (CBL)-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 15 (ZmCIPK15).

Plant roots sense soil compaction through restricted ethylene diffusion (2021)
Journal Article
Pandey, B. K., Huang, G., Bhosale, R., Hartman, S., Sturrock, C. J., Jose, L., Martin, O. C., Karady, M., Voesenek, L. A. C. J., Ljung, K., Lynch, J. P., Brown, K. M., Whalley, W. R., Mooney, S. J., Zhang, D., & Bennett, M. J. (2021). Plant roots sense soil compaction through restricted ethylene diffusion. Science, 371(6526), 276-280. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf3013

© 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved. Soil compaction represents a major challenge for modern agriculture. Compaction is intuitively thought to reduce root growth by limiting the ability of roots to penetrate harder soils. We report that root gro... Read More about Plant roots sense soil compaction through restricted ethylene diffusion.

Arabidopsis antibody resources for functional studies in plants (2020)
Journal Article
Oh, J., Wilson, M., Hill, K., Leftley, N., Hodgman, C., Bennett, M. J., & Swarup, R. (2020). Arabidopsis antibody resources for functional studies in plants. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Article 21945. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78689-1

© 2020, The Author(s). Here we report creation of a unique and a very valuable resource for Plant Scientific community worldwide. In this era of post-genomics and modelling of multi-cellular systems using an integrative systems biology approach, bett... Read More about Arabidopsis antibody resources for functional studies in plants.

Positioning the Root Elongation Zone Is Saltatory and Receives Input from the Shoot (2020)
Journal Article
Baskin, T. I., Preston, S., Zelinsky, E., Yang, X., Elmali, M., Bellos, D., Wells, D. M., & Bennett, M. J. (2020). Positioning the Root Elongation Zone Is Saltatory and Receives Input from the Shoot. iScience, 23(7), Article 101309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101309

In the root, meristem and elongation zone lengths remain stable, despite growth and division of cells. To gain insight into zone stability, we imaged individual Arabidopsis thaliana roots through a horizontal microscope, and used image analysis to ob... Read More about Positioning the Root Elongation Zone Is Saltatory and Receives Input from the Shoot.

The CEP5 peptide promotes abiotic stress tolerance, as revealed by quantitative proteomics, and attenuates the AUX/IAA equilibrium in Arabidopsis (2020)
Journal Article
Smith, S., Zhu, S., Joos, L., Roberts, I., Nikonorova, N., Vu, L. D., Stes, E., Cho, H., Larrieu, A., Xuan, W., Goodall, B., Cotte, B. V. D., Waite, J. M., Rigal, A., Harborough, S. R., Persiau, G., Vanneste, S., Kirschner, G. K., Vandermarliere, E., Martens, L., …De Smet, I. (2020). The CEP5 peptide promotes abiotic stress tolerance, as revealed by quantitative proteomics, and attenuates the AUX/IAA equilibrium in Arabidopsis. Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, 19(8), 1248-1262. https://doi.org/10.1074/mcp.ra119.001826

Peptides derived from non-functional precursors play important roles in various developmental processes, but also in (a)biotic stress signaling. Our (phospho)proteome-wide analyses of C-terminally encoded peptide 5 (CEP5)-mediated changes revealed an... Read More about The CEP5 peptide promotes abiotic stress tolerance, as revealed by quantitative proteomics, and attenuates the AUX/IAA equilibrium in Arabidopsis.

Genetic analysis of the Arabidopsis TIR1/AFB auxin receptors reveals both overlapping and specialized functions (2020)
Journal Article
Prigge, M. J., Platre, M., Kadakia, N., Zhang, Y., Greenham, K., Szutu, W., Pandey, B. K., Bhosale, R. A., Bennett, M. J., Busch, W., & Estelle, M. (2020). Genetic analysis of the Arabidopsis TIR1/AFB auxin receptors reveals both overlapping and specialized functions. eLife, 9, Article e54740. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54740

© 2020, Prigge et al. The TIR1/AFB auxin co-receptors mediate diverse responses to the plant hormone auxin. The Arabidopsis genome encodes six TIR1/AFB proteins representing three of the four clades that were established prior to angiosperm radiation... Read More about Genetic analysis of the Arabidopsis TIR1/AFB auxin receptors reveals both overlapping and specialized functions.

CEP receptor signalling controls root system architecture in Arabidopsis and Medicago (2020)
Journal Article
Chapman, K., Ivanovici, A., Taleski, M., Sturrock, C. J., Ng, J. L., Mohd‐Radzman, N. A., Frugier, F., Bennett, M. J., Mathesius, U., & Djordjevic, M. A. (2020). CEP receptor signalling controls root system architecture in Arabidopsis and Medicago. New Phytologist, 226(6), 1809-1821. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16483

© 2020 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2020 New Phytologist Trust Root system architecture (RSA) influences the effectiveness of resources acquisition from soils but the genetic networks that control RSA remain largely unclear. We used rhizoboxes, X-r... Read More about CEP receptor signalling controls root system architecture in Arabidopsis and Medicago.