ABSTRACT
The physical presence of roots and the compounds they release affect the cohesion between roots and their environments. However, we do not know the plant traits that are most important, which limits our ability to develop plant root systems with enhanced cohesion properties. Most methods that quantify the contributions particular traits make to substrate cohesion are time-intensive and require specialist equipment and complex substrates. We present an inexpensive, high-throughput phenotyping assay that can identify root traits and novel genes important for root-substrate adhesion by measuring the centrifugal force required to detach Arabidopsis seedlings from an agar medium. Using this method, we detected root hair shapes, vesicle trafficking pathways and root exudate composition that are important for root-substrate adhesion. We also used the assay to conduct a genetic screen, which identified an uncharacterised ABC transporter and demonstrates how this assay can be used to identify novel genes that affect root-substrate interactions.
One sentence summary Using a novel centrifugation assay to identify root traits and novel genes that contribute to root-substrate adhesion in Arabidopsis.
The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantcell.org) is: Claire Grierson (lacsg{at}bristol.ac.uk).
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.