The Layered Effect: A Single-Cell Map of Corn’s Root Reveals a Regulator of Cellular Diversity
Published:06 Dec.2021 Source:New York University
A new study uses novel single-cell profiling techniques to reveal how plants add new cell layers that help them resist climate stressors like drought or flooding. The research focuses on corn -- a critically important crop around the world -- in an effort to create a cell-by-cell map of the plant's root system, which mediates drought stress and absorbs nutrients and fertilizer from the soil.
"We discovered how corn expands its cortex tissue, which makes up much of the crop's root system. Adding layers to the cortex tissue is a key evolutionary feature that generates ways for plants to tolerate drought and flooding and improve nutrient uptake," said Kenneth Birnbaum, a professor in New York University's Department of Biology and Center for Genomics and Systems Biology and the senior author of the paper, which appears in the journal Science.