The group focuses on understanding the genetic and physiological basis of plant root adaptations to drought and low soil fertility. Natural variation for root anatomical and architectural phenotypes can have significant effects on soil resource acquisition by modifying the placement of roots in soil domains where limiting resources are most available, improving the metabolic efficiency of soil exploration, altering the radial and axial transport of resources, influencing rhizodeposition, and impacting interactions with soil biota including mycorrhizal fungi, pathogens, and the rhizosphere microbiome.

The group investigates how individual and combinations of root traits affect root function and physiology, for example how they affect symplastic and apoplastic transport of nutrients and water, and how they influence the carbon and nutrient costs of root tissue construction and maintenance. These and other functions of root traits in soil resource acquisition and plant stress tolerance are highly dependent on the environment and interaction with other root traits.

The group is also interested in root phenotypic plasticity. Phenotypic plasticity has many potential ecological and physiological benefits, and the group’s objective is to understand the trade-offs and benefits of plastic responses and identify the abiotic and biotic signals that influence phenotypes. Using greenhouse and field experimentation and functional-structural plant models, the group aims to understand and evaluate phenotypic plasticity so it can be systematically leveraged for plant stress tolerance.

Additionally, it is of interest to elucidate the genetic control of root anatomical and architectural traits. Adaptive root traits are phenotyped and used in quantitative genetic analyses to identify candidate genes. Molecular biology approaches, including mutants and transgenics which have altered expression levels of target genes, are used to confirm and validate the genetic control and function of individual root phenotypes. We aim to discover and validate functional markers that improve stress tolerance to be used in crop improvement programs.

We leverage high-throughput phenotyping to create knowledge about gene functions at the physiological level and use forward genetics approaches to unravel the genetic architecture of root traits. The overall goal is to understand the function and genetic control of root traits in specific environments with the aim of enhancing soil resource capture and plant performance to secure food production in a changing climate.