Hydropatterning

粮食安全是一个重大的全球性问题。迫切需要大幅提高作物产量，以满足到2050年世界人口增长50%的目标。根系分枝的程度决定了作物对水分的吸收和养分的获取效率。因此，了解侧根（LR）发育的调控具有重要的农艺意义。我们最近使用一种新的x射线成像形式观察到，根分支受到土壤中水分分布的深刻影响。侧根（LR）在主根与水接触的一侧形成，但很少在干燥的一侧形成，使用一种称为“水模式”的机制，这种机制在迄今研究的所有植物物种中都高度保守。这个项目将研究水纹是如何在根的湿面而不是干面形成新的分支的。为了帮助我们的研究，我们已经确定了几个对这个过程很重要的基因和过程。这包括一种叫做ARF7的特殊蛋白质，它调节根分支的形成位置。我们将测试根干燥侧的ARF7蛋白是否被另一种称为SUMO的蛋白修饰，从而导致ARF7失活。我们将在项目开始时执行一系列实验来测试这个想法。接下来，我们将发现ARF7和SUMO在哪里以及如何调节侧根水花纹。最后，我们将探索这是否是一种高度保守的机制，所有的植物都继承自第一批殖民干旱土地的陆地植物。这项研究将提供控制根分枝的关键基因和过程的信息，帮助科学家设计控制根分枝的策略，提高作物产量。

Food security represents a major global issue. Significant improvements in crop yields are urgently required to meet the 50% increase in world population by 2050. The degree of root branching determines the efficiency of water uptake and acquisition of nutrients in crops. Understanding the regulation of lateral root (LR) development is therefore of vital agronomic importance. We have recently observed using a new form of X-ray imaging that root branching is profoundly influenced by the distribution of water in soil. Lateral roots (LR) form on the side of the main root in contact with water, but rarely on the dry side, using a mechanism termed 'hydropatterning' that is highly conserved in all plant species studied to date. This project will investigate how hydropatterning actually works to cause new branches to form on the wet, but not dry, side of a root. To help our studies, we have already identified several genes and processes that are important for this process. This includes a special protein called ARF7 that regulates where root branches are formed. We will test whether the ARF7 protein on the dry side of a root is modified by another protein called SUMO, causing ARF7 to become inactivated. We will perform a series of experiments to test this idea at the start of the project. Next, we will find out where and how ARF7 and SUMO regulate lateral root hydropatterning. Finally, we will explore whether this is a highly conserved mechanism that all plants have inherited from the very first land plants that colonised dry land. The knowledge gained from this study will provide information about the key genes and processes controlling root branching, helping scientists design strategies to manipulate root branching and enhance crop yield.