Discovering the developmental transition of cortical parenchyma cells into different cell fates

The root cortex is a primary ground tissue of the root organ and plays an important and adaptive role in plant growth and function.

Root cortical parenchyma, thin-walled cells in the cortex, have great potential to change both in structure and function during plant development, even after cell differentiation.

Root cortical cells can have many different post-differentiation fates that form different cortical tissues (e.g. aerenchyma, exodermis) in succession, or even simultaneously through the deposition or degradation of lignin and suberin and programmed cell death.

The formation of these different cortical tissues have the potential to influence stress adaptation and plant performance, for example by altering the radial movement of water and solutes, the metabolic efficiency required for nutrient exploitation, and the synthesis and deposition of exudates.I will investigate the developmental transition of cortical cells into different cell fates and the extent to which root cortical parenchyma have different cell fate trajectories to form simultaneous or successive cortical tissues.

I will discover the potential of tissues for synergistic interactions to capture soil resources and modify of rhizosphere properties, and the genes that control these processes at a single-cell resolution to discover when and where signals occur in the cortex.

I will use a combination of breakthrough technologies and interdisciplinary expertise including state-of-the-art imaging, analytical chemistry, microbial ecology, and cutting-edge molecular biology methods to tackle the fundamental questions of how and why root cortical parenchyma have different post-differentiation cell fates.FATE will enable us to engineer crop roots to optimize soil foraging and resource capture.

The payoffs of this project will be significant for European agriculture, as nutrient limitation is a primary constraint on crop growth and will become an increasing challenge due to climate change.