Molecular approaches to increasing plant root carbon.
Lafferty D, Calabria J, Lister R, Mayer JE, Watt M
Summary
PubMedWhy it matters This matters because the crops growing in farmers' fields and even backyard gardens could one day be quietly pulling carbon out of the air and locking it underground — turning everyday plants into a climate tool without requiring any special equipment.
Plants naturally pull carbon dioxide from the air and use it to grow, including their underground roots. Researchers are studying how to tweak the molecular instructions inside crop plants so they send more of that captured carbon down into their roots, where it can stay stored in the soil for a long time. The big challenge is doing this without making the plant produce less food — finding that balance is key to making this approach work at scale.
chevron_right Technical Details
Scientists are exploring ways to engineer crop plants to store more carbon in their roots underground, potentially helping to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This review outlines the biological and genetic levers that could make roots bigger, denser, or longer-lasting carbon sinks.
Key Findings
Multiple molecular pathways exist that can be targeted to redirect more carbon from shoots to roots in crop plants.
Synthetic biology tools are being developed to engineer root carbon storage traits into food crops without relying solely on natural variation.
Increased root carbon allocation risks reducing crop yield, presenting a key trade-off that must be solved before real-world deployment.
Abstract Preview
Carbon sequestration is a promising strategy to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) levels. Of the myriad biological approaches being developed, leveraging plant roots for below-ground carbon...
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