Plant roots sense soil compaction through restricted ethylene diffusion

Bipin K. Pandey; Guoqiang Huang; Rahul Bhosale; Sjon Hartman; Craig J. Sturrock; Lottie Jose; Olivier C. Martin; Michal Karady; Laurentius A. C. J. Voesenek; Karin Ljung; Jonathan P. Lynch; Kathleen M. Brown; William R. Whalley; Sacha J. Mooney; Dabing Zhang; Malcolm J. Bennett

doi:10.1126/science.abf3013

Plant roots sense soil compaction through restricted ethylene diffusion

Bipin K. Pandey
, Guoqiang Huang
, Rahul Bhosale
, Sjon Hartman
, Craig J. Sturrock
, Lottie Jose
, Olivier C. Martin
, Michal Karady
, Laurentius A. C. J. Voesenek
, Karin Ljung
, Jonathan P. Lynch
, Kathleen M. Brown
, William R. Whalley
, Sacha J. Mooney
, Dabing Zhang
, Malcolm J. Bennett

Sub Plant Ecophysiology

School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington LE12 5RD, UK.
Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic and Developmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
Universities of Paris-Saclay, Paris and Evry, CNRS, INRAE, Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay (IPS2), Bât. 630, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
Laboratory of Growth Regulators, Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Science of Palacký University, CZ-78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Department of Plant Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden AL5 2JQ, UK.
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Waite Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064, Australia.
School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Soil compaction represents a major challenge for modern agriculture. Compaction is intuitively thought to reduce root growth by limiting the ability of roots to penetrate harder soils. We report that root growth in compacted soil is instead actively suppressed by the volatile hormone ethylene. We found that mutant Arabidopsis and rice roots that were insensitive to ethylene penetrated compacted soil more effectively than did wild-type roots. Our results indicate that soil compaction lowers gas diffusion through a reduction in air-filled pores, thereby causing ethylene to accumulate in root tissues and trigger hormone responses that restrict growth. We propose that ethylene acts as an early warning signal for roots to avoid compacted soils, which would be relevant to research into the breeding of crops resilient to soil compaction.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	276-280
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	371
Issue number	6526
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf3013
Publication status	Published - 15 Jan 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Supported by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/G023972/1, BB/R013748/1, BB/L026848/1, BB/M018431/1, BB/PO16855/1, BB/M001806/1, BB/M012212, and BB/P016855/1); ERC FUTUREROOTS Advanced grant 294729; Future- Food Beacon and Challenge Grant-Royal Society (CHG\R1\170040) (B.K.P.); National Key Technologies Research and Development Program of China, Ministry of Science and Technology grants 2016YFD0100804 and 2016YFE0101000, and National Natural Science Foundation of China grants 31970803 and 31861163002 (D.Z.); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Project (2019M661486) and Shanghai Post-doctoral Excellent Program (2018063) (G.H.); BBSRC Discovery and Future Food Beacon Nottingham Research Fellowships (R.B.); NWO grant 824.14.007 (S.H.); Saclay Plant Sciences-SPS (ANR-17-EUR-0007) (O.C.M.); Czech Science Foundation (20-25948Y) (M.K.); and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, the Swedish Research Council, and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (K.L.).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.

Access to Document

10.1126/science.abf3013

science.abf3013Final published version, 996 KBLicence: Taverne

Cite this

Pandey, B. K., Huang, G., Bhosale, R., Hartman, S., Sturrock, C. J., Jose, L., Martin, O. C., Karady, M., Voesenek, L. A. C. J., Ljung, K., Lynch, J. P., Brown, K. M., Whalley, W. R., Mooney, S. J., Zhang, D., & Bennett, M. J. (2021). Plant roots sense soil compaction through restricted ethylene diffusion. Science, 371(6526), 276-280. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf3013

@article{5382e43305c54a9b92a3960f9cc9fa21,

title = "Plant roots sense soil compaction through restricted ethylene diffusion",

abstract = "Soil compaction represents a major challenge for modern agriculture. Compaction is intuitively thought to reduce root growth by limiting the ability of roots to penetrate harder soils. We report that root growth in compacted soil is instead actively suppressed by the volatile hormone ethylene. We found that mutant Arabidopsis and rice roots that were insensitive to ethylene penetrated compacted soil more effectively than did wild-type roots. Our results indicate that soil compaction lowers gas diffusion through a reduction in air-filled pores, thereby causing ethylene to accumulate in root tissues and trigger hormone responses that restrict growth. We propose that ethylene acts as an early warning signal for roots to avoid compacted soils, which would be relevant to research into the breeding of crops resilient to soil compaction.",

author = "Pandey, \{Bipin K.\} and Guoqiang Huang and Rahul Bhosale and Sjon Hartman and Sturrock, \{Craig J.\} and Lottie Jose and Martin, \{Olivier C.\} and Michal Karady and Voesenek, \{Laurentius A. C. J.\} and Karin Ljung and Lynch, \{Jonathan P.\} and Brown, \{Kathleen M.\} and Whalley, \{William R.\} and Mooney, \{Sacha J.\} and Dabing Zhang and Bennett, \{Malcolm J.\}",

note = "Funding Information: Supported by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/G023972/1, BB/R013748/1, BB/L026848/1, BB/M018431/1, BB/PO16855/1, BB/M001806/1, BB/M012212, and BB/P016855/1); ERC FUTUREROOTS Advanced grant 294729; Future- Food Beacon and Challenge Grant-Royal Society (CHG\textbackslash{}R1\textbackslash{}170040) (B.K.P.); National Key Technologies Research and Development Program of China, Ministry of Science and Technology grants 2016YFD0100804 and 2016YFE0101000, and National Natural Science Foundation of China grants 31970803 and 31861163002 (D.Z.); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Project (2019M661486) and Shanghai Post-doctoral Excellent Program (2018063) (G.H.); BBSRC Discovery and Future Food Beacon Nottingham Research Fellowships (R.B.); NWO grant 824.14.007 (S.H.); Saclay Plant Sciences-SPS (ANR-17-EUR-0007) (O.C.M.); Czech Science Foundation (20-25948Y) (M.K.); and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, the Swedish Research Council, and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (K.L.). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.",

year = "2021",

month = jan,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1126/science.abf3013",

language = "English",

volume = "371",

pages = "276--280",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "6526",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Plant roots sense soil compaction through restricted ethylene diffusion

AU - Pandey, Bipin K.

AU - Huang, Guoqiang

AU - Bhosale, Rahul

AU - Hartman, Sjon

AU - Sturrock, Craig J.

AU - Jose, Lottie

AU - Martin, Olivier C.

AU - Karady, Michal

AU - Voesenek, Laurentius A. C. J.

AU - Ljung, Karin

AU - Lynch, Jonathan P.

AU - Brown, Kathleen M.

AU - Whalley, William R.

AU - Mooney, Sacha J.

AU - Zhang, Dabing

AU - Bennett, Malcolm J.

N1 - Funding Information: Supported by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/G023972/1, BB/R013748/1, BB/L026848/1, BB/M018431/1, BB/PO16855/1, BB/M001806/1, BB/M012212, and BB/P016855/1); ERC FUTUREROOTS Advanced grant 294729; Future- Food Beacon and Challenge Grant-Royal Society (CHG\R1\170040) (B.K.P.); National Key Technologies Research and Development Program of China, Ministry of Science and Technology grants 2016YFD0100804 and 2016YFE0101000, and National Natural Science Foundation of China grants 31970803 and 31861163002 (D.Z.); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Project (2019M661486) and Shanghai Post-doctoral Excellent Program (2018063) (G.H.); BBSRC Discovery and Future Food Beacon Nottingham Research Fellowships (R.B.); NWO grant 824.14.007 (S.H.); Saclay Plant Sciences-SPS (ANR-17-EUR-0007) (O.C.M.); Czech Science Foundation (20-25948Y) (M.K.); and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, the Swedish Research Council, and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (K.L.). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.

PY - 2021/1/15

Y1 - 2021/1/15

N2 - Soil compaction represents a major challenge for modern agriculture. Compaction is intuitively thought to reduce root growth by limiting the ability of roots to penetrate harder soils. We report that root growth in compacted soil is instead actively suppressed by the volatile hormone ethylene. We found that mutant Arabidopsis and rice roots that were insensitive to ethylene penetrated compacted soil more effectively than did wild-type roots. Our results indicate that soil compaction lowers gas diffusion through a reduction in air-filled pores, thereby causing ethylene to accumulate in root tissues and trigger hormone responses that restrict growth. We propose that ethylene acts as an early warning signal for roots to avoid compacted soils, which would be relevant to research into the breeding of crops resilient to soil compaction.

AB - Soil compaction represents a major challenge for modern agriculture. Compaction is intuitively thought to reduce root growth by limiting the ability of roots to penetrate harder soils. We report that root growth in compacted soil is instead actively suppressed by the volatile hormone ethylene. We found that mutant Arabidopsis and rice roots that were insensitive to ethylene penetrated compacted soil more effectively than did wild-type roots. Our results indicate that soil compaction lowers gas diffusion through a reduction in air-filled pores, thereby causing ethylene to accumulate in root tissues and trigger hormone responses that restrict growth. We propose that ethylene acts as an early warning signal for roots to avoid compacted soils, which would be relevant to research into the breeding of crops resilient to soil compaction.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85099957471

U2 - 10.1126/science.abf3013

DO - 10.1126/science.abf3013

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 371

SP - 276

EP - 280

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6526

ER -

Plant roots sense soil compaction through restricted ethylene diffusion

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this