Nov12013

Papers:

Key review:

Key results:

Enjoy!

Questions and Considerations:

1. What features of the soil make root architecture important to plant health and productivity?

2. Conduct a cost-benefit analysis on root growth from the plant’s point of view.

3. Compare advantageous root architectures for a low Phosphorous environment from one that is drought-prone. Consider the combination.

4. What are differences in physiological versus architectural responses to stress?

5. How would you select the parents for a mapping population aimed at identifying genes controlling a trait of interest?

6. What is a near isogenic line (NIL), and how does Dro1-NIL differ from Dro1-kp?

7. When might a transgenic approach be insufficient for validating the function of a candidate gene (hint: consider the difference between Dro1-kp and Dro1-ir)

8. Were there any noted pleiotropic affects of Dro1-NIL on plant growth or productivity? What if the plants were grown under low P?

9. What evidence links Dro1 function directly to root architecture and not general auxin transport/ patterning or other growth defects?