The Systems Biology of Lateral Root Formation: Connecting the dots

First author: J.A.Santos Teixeira; Affiliations: Utrecht University (乌得勒支大学): Utrecht, The Netherlands

Corresponding author: K.H.Ten Tusscher

The root system is a major determinant of a plant’s access to water and nutrients. The architecture of this root system to a large extent depends on the repeated formation of new lateral roots. In this review we discuss lateral root development from a systems biology perspective. We focus on studies combining experiments with computational modelling which have advanced our understanding of how the auxin-centred regulatory modules involved in different stages of lateral root development exert their specific functions. Next, we discuss how these regulatory networks may enable robust transitions from one developmental stage to the next, a subject that thus far has received limited attention. Additionally, we describe how environmental factors impinge on these modules, and the different manners in which these environmental signals are being integrated to enable coordinated developmental decision making. We end with suggestions for extending current models of lateral root development to incorporate multiple processes and stages. Only through such more comprehensive models can we fully elucidate the cooperative effects of multiple processes, and how one stage drives the transition to the next.

植物的根系统是植物获取水分和营养物质的主要器官。根系统的结构很大程度上依赖于不断形成的侧根。本综述中，作者从系统生物学的角度讨论了侧根发育。作者重点关注了那些结合计算模型的试验，这些研究揭示了以生长素为中心的调控模块是如何参与侧根发育的不同阶段的。接着，作者讨论了这些调控网络如何促进侧根从上一个发育阶段转变、过渡到下一个发育阶段，有关这方面的研究目前还不多。另外，作者描述了环境因子是如何作用于这些调控模块的，以及植物通过各种各样的方式整合外部环境信号来协调决定自身的发育阶段转变。作者最后建议可以将现在的侧根发育模型拓展加入多个生物学进程和阶段。只有通过这种更加综合的模型，我们才能更加全面的解释多个进程之间的协同作用，以及一个发育阶段是如何转变，进入下一个发育阶段的。

通讯：K.H.Ten Tusscher (http://bioinformatics.bio.uu.nl/khwjtuss/)

研究方向：动物前后体轴的形成及演化机制；植物根系统的模式建成以及对环境的响应。

doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2019.03.015

Journal: Molecular Plant

Published online: April 03, 2019