Temperature responses of roots: impact on growth, root system architecture and implications for phenotyping
Kerstin A. Nagel A D , Bernd Kastenholz A , Siegfried Jahnke A , Dagmar van Dusschoten A , Til Aach B , Matthias Mühlich B , Daniel Truhn B , Hanno Scharr A , Stefan Terjung A C , Achim Walter A and Ulrich Schurr AA Institute of Chemistry and Dynamics of the Geosphere ICG-3: Phytosphere, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
B Lehrstuhl für Bildverarbeitung, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany.
C EMBL, EMBL Heidelberg, Meyerhofstr. 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
D Corresponding author. Email: k.nagel@fz-juelich.de
Functional Plant Biology 36(11) 947-959 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP09184
Submitted: 20 July 2009 Accepted: 11 September 2009 Published: 5 November 2009
Abstract
Root phenotyping is a challenging task, mainly because of the hidden nature of this organ. Only recently, imaging technologies have become available that allow us to elucidate the dynamic establishment of root structure and function in the soil. In root tips, optical analysis of the relative elemental growth rates in root expansion zones of hydroponically-grown plants revealed that it is the maximum intensity of cellular growth processes rather than the length of the root growth zone that control the acclimation to dynamic changes in temperature. Acclimation of entire root systems was studied at high throughput in agar-filled Petri dishes. In the present study, optical analysis of root system architecture showed that low temperature induced smaller branching angles between primary and lateral roots, which caused a reduction in the volume that roots access at lower temperature. Simulation of temperature gradients similar to natural soil conditions led to differential responses in basal and apical parts of the root system, and significantly affected the entire root system. These results were supported by first data on the response of root structure and carbon transport to different root zone temperatures. These data were acquired by combined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). They indicate acclimation of root structure and geometry to temperature and preferential accumulation of carbon near the root tip at low root zone temperatures. Overall, this study demonstrated the value of combining different phenotyping technologies that analyse processes at different spatial and temporal scales. Only such an integrated approach allows us to connect differences between genotypes obtained in artificial high throughput conditions with specific characteristics relevant for field performance. Thus, novel routes may be opened up for improved plant breeding as well as for mechanistic understanding of root structure and function.
Additional keywords: Brassica napus, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, root branching, temperature gradient, Zea mays.
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Arnd Kuhn for providing the temperature boxes and to Wilhelm Genzer for building the PVC-inserts for the sand-filled temperature box. We thank Richard Poiré for his help with thermocouples and Georg Dreissen for his assistance during image acquisition.
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