Genetic regulation of the root angle in cereals
Gwendolyn K. Kirschner, Frank Hochholdinger, Silvio Salvi, Malcolm J. Bennett, Guoqiang Huang, Rahul Bhosale
Abstract
The root angle plays a critical role in efficiently capturing nutrients and water from different soil layers. Steeper root angles enable access to mobile water and nitrogen from deeper soil layers, whereas shallow root angles facilitate the capture of immobile phosphorus from the topsoil. Thus, understanding the genetic regulation of the root angle is crucial for breeding crop varieties that can efficiently capture resources and enhance yield. Moreover, this understanding can contribute to developing varieties that effectively sequester carbon in deeper soil layers, supporting global carbon mitigation efforts. Here we review and consolidate significant recent discoveries regarding the molecular components controlling root angle in cereal crop species and outline the remaining research gaps in this field.