Root growth

Project objectives

The project aims to develop a systems platform for understanding root development, an essential step in understanding and controlling the architecture of the plant root system. This represents not only a formidable scientific challenge but is also crucial for plant breeding and agronomic practices in the context of sustainable agriculture. The platform is being built by combining and integrating molecular genetic and biochemical approaches with high-throughput genomic technologies and computational modeling to dissect the regulatory networks that control Arabidopsis root growth using a systems biology approach. Building on the proponents' seminal findings, the project focuses on how hormone interactions influence the division and differentiation of Arabidopsis root meristem stem cells, how these networks of hormone interactions interact with recently discovered regulatory circuits and components that influence root growth, and how these regulatory networks and nodes interact and overlap with the communication mechanisms between the root and the plant's aerial parts. Additional highlights of this project include:

• Multidisciplinarity and the involvement of laboratories and scientific institutions with different experiences, structures and facilities

• The direct involvement of excellent foreign partners in experimental activities

• Promoting young group leaders

• The creation in Italy of a new bioinformatics know-how capable of building computational models for the development of complex organisms.

Start and end date

February 2013 - February 2016

Project Manager

Luisa Di Paola – Operational Unit Coordination

Coordinating institution of the project

University of Rome "La Sapienza"

Other Institutions involved

• National Research Council

• University of Rome "La Sapienza"

• University of Udine

• University of Milan

Funding source(s).

Ministry of Education, University and Research