Which way a plant's roots grow can be influenced by a number of things, such as gravity, light, nutrients and water. It is this last motivator, known as hydrotropism, that is less understood.

Highly developed seed plants evolved deep root systems that are able to sense Earth's gravity. The 'how and when' of this evolutionary step has, until now, remained unknown. Plant biologists have ...

Roots can thus effectively adapt plant growth to the light conditions in the environment. Light is not only a source of energy, but also an important signal which regulates many light-dependent ...

Adventitious roots are roots that originate from nonstandard locations on a plant such as the stems or leaves. They can occur as part of a plant’s normal growth and development or they can arise ...

You probably don’t think about plant roots all that much – they’re hidden underground after all. Yet they’re continually changing the shape of the world. This process happens in your ...

How do environmental cues steer the branching of plant roots? Insights into how water availability shapes root growth reveal an unexpected mechanism behind the hormone-mediated regulation of this ...

We also need to think about what is going to be happening below ground once the plant takes hold. Roots absorb moisture and nutrients, anchor the plant, and grow in both horizontal and vertical ...