| Abstract Detail
Growth and Vegetative Development Roycewicz, Peter [1], Malamy, Jocelyn [2]. Studying Mechanisms of Root System Development in Arabidopsis and Dicot Crops. Even though several regulators of root development have been identified, many still remain elusive. Identification of novel genes has two main benefits. First, knowledge of novel root regulators is interesting from a developmental biology perspective. Secondly, knowledge of root system development may be useful for the improvement of agricultural crops. A mutant screen was developed in order to identify novel root system regulators in Arabidopsis thaliana. When wild-type (Ws) seedlings are grown under mild osmotic stress conditions (through the addition of additional salts or sugars to agar media), few or no lateral roots are formed after 14 days. The Feldmann T-DNA insertion collection was screened for mutants that produced abundant lateral roots under these conditions, and 9 mutant lines were identified. Even though all lines show an increased amount of lateral roots under osmotic stress conditions, some lines show the same amount or even less lateral roots on non-stress conditions. Further characterization of the altered root physiology in these mutants will be reported. In addition, work is currently under way to identify the causal genes in these mutants. These genes (and others previously identified) can presumably be used to alter root system architecture (RSA) in crop plants, with the goal of making crops that are more resistant to nutrient/drought stress conditions in the field. Currently, we are adapting our methods of studying RSA in Arabidopsis for tomato and soybean. In the future, these methods will be used to study the effects of perturbation of genes affecting RSA in a reverse genetics approach in tomato and soybean.
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1 - University of Chicago, Committee on Genetics, 1103 E. 57th St., EBC 209, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
2 - University of Chicago, Molecular genetics and cell biology
Keywords:
root development.
Presentation Type: Plant Biology Abstract
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P26060
Abstract ID:2071 |
