Roots compete for and share resources with neighboring
The new paper, "Redox-mediated Quorum Sensing in Plants," which is scheduled to be published Sept. 13 in PLOS ONE, is based on collaborative research by scientists at Florida Tech, Emory University and the University of Richmond. It answers some of the fundamental questions about how plants coordinate their growth and development in the soil.
And because the same reactions at work in root growth are also used by plants to fight off infections, these findings could significantly improve our understanding of plant immunity and lead to substantial boosts in crop yields.
"It turns out that plants use chemistry to create a highly accurate map of the road ahead for a particular root—the same chemistry that people once employed to develop black-and-white photos," said Andrew Palmer, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Florida Tech and leader of the university's research team.
Specifically, compounds known as quinones are found in both traditional photography and in the roots of plants. These compounds are crucial to the development of black and white photos because they increase the amount of silver particles deposited on photo paper creating a clear image through a process known as oxidation.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-roots-chemical-photos-growth.html#jCp
