Root hairs aid soil penetration by anchoring the root surface to pore walls

Journal of Experimental Botany
A Glyn BengoughB M McKenzie

Abstract

The physical role of root hairs in anchoring the root tip during soil penetration was examined. Experiments using a hairless maize mutant (Zea mays: rth3-3) and its wild-type counterpart measured the anchorage force between the primary root of maize and the soil to determine whether root hairs enabled seedling roots in artificial biopores to penetrate sandy loam soil (dry bulk density 1.0-1.5g cm(-3)). Time-lapse imaging was used to analyse root and seedling displacements in soil adjacent to a transparent Perspex interface. Peak anchorage forces were up to five times greater (2.5N cf. 0.5N) for wild-type roots than for hairless mutants in 1.2g cm(-3) soil. Root hair anchorage enabled better soil penetration for 1.0 or 1.2g cm(-3) soil, but there was no significant advantage of root hairs in the densest soil (1.5g cm(-3)). The anchorage force was insufficient to allow root penetration of the denser soil, probably because of less root hair penetration into pore walls and, consequently, poorer adhesion between the root hairs and the pore walls. Hairless seedlings took 33h to anchor themselves compared with 16h for wild-type roots in 1.2g cm(-3) soil. Caryopses were often pushed several millimetres out of the soil before the roots ...Continue Reading

References

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Jun 12, 2012·Annals of Botany·Tracy A ValentineA Glyn Bengough
Jul 19, 2013·Journal of Experimental Botany·Rebecca E HalingTimothy S George
Mar 4, 2014·PloS One·Ali SadeghiBarbara Mazzolai
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Jul 2, 2014·The Arabidopsis Book·Claire GriersonJohn Schiefelbein
Mar 6, 2015·Scientific Reports·Chiara LucarottiLucia Beccai

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Citations

Mar 7, 2017·Trends in Plant Science·Jennifer E Schmidt, Amélie C M Gaudin
Oct 5, 2017·Physical Biology·Evelyne KolbMarie-Béatrice Bogeat-Triboulot
Sep 6, 2018·Journal of Integrative Plant Biology·Tie-Yuan LiuJianhua Zhang
Oct 6, 2018·The New Phytologist·Nicolai KoebernickTiina Roose
Dec 24, 2018·Scientific Reports·Sheikh M F RabbiIain M Young
Apr 5, 2020·Communications Biology·Sarah De BaetsClaire S Grierson
May 5, 2017·Scientific Reports·Naoki YanagisawaYoshikatsu Sato
Sep 11, 2019·Journal of Experimental Botany·José CorreaTobias Wojciechowski
Sep 28, 2020·Trends in Plant Science·Thanyakorn RongsawatHervé Sentenac
Aug 29, 2021·Plant, Cell & Environment·Dorien J VanheesJonathan P Lynch
Oct 31, 2021·Plant, Cell & Environment·Yutao ZouChrista Testerink
Nov 2, 2021·The Plant Journal : for Cell and Molecular Biology·Jonathan P Lynch
Dec 3, 2021·Plant, Cell & Environment·Pawandeep S KohliJitender Giri

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