Two hormones team up to grow tomato plants more roots
Zheng Q, Zhu Y, Wang Q, Song X, Liu Y
Plant Signaling
A tomato plant with more lateral roots pulls water and nutrients from a wider patch of soil, which is exactly the kind of resilience that matters when your garden bed dries out faster than you'd like.
Plant roots don't just grow straight down, they branch out sideways to grab more water and nutrients, and this branching is controlled by hormones. Researchers found that a growth hormone called brassinosteroid switches on two specific transport proteins that move another hormone, auxin, into the right place inside root cells. When this signal works properly, tomato plants grow noticeably more side roots, which could eventually help breeders create crops that handle drought or poor soil better.
Key Findings
Tomato mutants lacking brassinosteroid biosynthesis (dwf) or signaling (bzr1) showed impaired lateral root formation, while hormone treatment or BZR1 overexpression increased lateral root density.
The transcription factor BZR1 directly activates PIN5 and PIN10 genes, which transport auxin from the endoplasmic reticulum into the nucleus of root cells.
Mutations in PIN5 or PIN10 reduced nuclear auxin import and blocked brassinosteroid-induced lateral root growth, confirmed via molecular docking and yeast transport assays.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists discovered how two plant hormones work together to grow more roots in tomato plants, by finding a specific gene pathway that controls root branching. This could help breed crops with stronger root systems for better growth in tough soil conditions.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Brassinosteroid signaling regulates PIN5/10-mediated intracellular auxin homeostasis to promote lateral root development in tomato.
Auxin plays a central role in lateral root (LR) development, with other hormones modulating this process by interacting with auxin. However, the interplay between brassinosteroids (BRs) and auxin i...
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