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Over the course of the last decade, the research team sought to create a molecular atlas of crop roots, where plants first detect the effects of drought and other environmental threats. In so doing, they uncovered genes that scientists can use to protect the plants from these stresses.
Their work, published today in the journal Cell, achieved a high degree of understanding of the root functions because it combined genetic data from different cells of tomato roots grown both indoors and outside.
"Frequently, researchers do lab and greenhouse experiments, but farmers grow things in the field, and this data looks at field samples too," said Neelima Sinha, a UC Davis professor of plant biology and the paper's co-author.
The data yielded information about genes that tell the plant to make three key things.
Xylem are hollow, pipe-like vessels that transport water and nutrients from the roots all the way up to the shoots. Without transport in xylem, the plant cannot create its own food via photosynthesis.
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