Annual Plant Reviews, Root Development

Root Development is an extremely exciting new title in Blackwell Publishing's Annual Plant Reviews Series (Series Editor Profesor Jeremy Roberts). The book consists of contributions from author groups based at many of the World's formeost laboratories working in the root development area. The book's editor Tom Beeckman, himself very well known and respected for his work in this area, has drawn together an exceptional set of core cutting edge reviews of the subject, providing a state of the art reference tool for all those researching in this area. Contributors.

Preface.

1 Arabidopsis Root Development (Marijn Luijten and Renze Heidstra).

1.1 Introduction.

1.2 Specification of the apical and basal cell lineage.

1.3 Root stem cell niche specification.

1.4 Radial patterning.

1.5 Stem cell maintenance.

1.6 Meristem maintenance and root zonation.

1.7 Meristem activation, root growth and cell division.

1.8 Concluding remarks.

2 Vascular Morphogenesis During Root Development (Ana Campilho, Ove Lindgren and Yka Helariutta).

2.1 Introduction.

2.2 The Arabidopsis root vascular system.

2.3 Molecular genetics of the stele: a rapidly developing field.

2.4 Vascular genomics – getting the big picture.

3 Root Epidermal Development in Arabidopsis (Rebecca Horn, Keke Yi, Benoit Menand, Monica Pernas-Ochoa, Seiji Takeda, Tom Walker and Liam Dolan).

3.1 Introduction.

3.2 Establishment of the epidermis in Arabidopsis.

3.3 Establishment of distinct cell fates in the root epidermis.

3.4 Root hair initiation and tip growth.

3.5 Effects of nutrients on root hair cell differentiation and morphogenesis.

3.6 Root hairs and nutrient uptake.

3.7 Perspectives.

4 Lateral Root Formation (Jocelyn E. Malamy).

4.1 Introduction.

4.2 How does a single lateral root form?

4.3 How are the number and placement of lateral roots determined?

4.4 Agricultural importance of lateral root formation.

5 Adventitious Root Formation: New Insights and Perspectives (Gaia Geiss, Laurent Gutierrez and Catherine Bellini).

5.1 Introduction.

5.2 Role and origin of ARs.

5.3 Factors influencing adventitious rooting.

5.4 New insights into genetics and molecular mechanisms involved in adventitious rooting.

5.5 Conclusion and perspectives.

6 Root Gravitropism (Ranjan Swarup and Malcolm J. Bennett).

6.1 Introduction.

6.2 Gravity perception.

6.3 Root gravitropic signal transmission.

6.4 The root gravitropic response.

6.5 Attenuating the root gravitropic response.

6.6 Future directions.

7 Molecular and Genetic Dissection of Cereal Root System Development (Frank Hochholdinger and Roman Zimmermann).

7.1 Introduction.

7.2 Morphology of cereal root systems.

7.3 Morphological and anatomical comparison of Arabidopsis and cereal root systems.

7.4 Molecular and genetic analysis of cereal root formation.

7.5 Prospects.

8 Fern Root Development (Guichuan Hou and Elison B. Blancaflor).

8.1 Introduction.

8.2 Overview of the fern root system – shoot-borne roots.

8.3 Anatomical and structural aspects of fern root development.

8.4 LR formation in ferns.

8.5 Concluding remarks and future prospects.

9 When Plants Socialize: Symbioses and Root Development (Benjamin Peret, Sergio Svistoonoff and Laurent Laplaze).

9.1 Introduction.

9.2 Arbuscular mycorrhizae.

9.3 Ectomycorrhizae.

9.4 Actinorhizal symbioses.

9.5 Concluding remarks.

10 Legume Root Architecture: A Peculiar Root System (Silvina Gonzalez-Rizzo, Philippe Laporte, Martin Crespi and Florian Frugier).

10.1 Comparison of legume lateral roots and nitrogen-fixing nodules.

10.2 Recent advances in genetics and genomics of nitrogen-fixing nodule development in legumes.

10.3 Evidences for a crosstalk between symbiotic nodule and LR developmental pathways.

10.4 Common signals in nodulation and LR development.

11 Effect of Nutrient Availability on Root System Development (Alfredo Cruz-Ramirez, Carlos Calderon-Vazquez and Luis Herrera-Estrella).

11.1 Introduction.

11.2 Regulation of the root system architecture by nutrient availability.

11.3 Conclusions.

12 Studying Root Development Using a Genomic Approach (Jose R. Dinneny and Philip N. Benfey).

12.1 Introduction: how root development enables a genomic approach.

12.2 Genome-scale technologies for understanding gene function.

12.3 Building transcriptional networks: an introduction.

12.4 Building transcriptional networks I: creating high-resolution spatial maps of gene expression.

12.5 Building transcriptional networks II: exploring the role of transcriptional and posttranscriptional mechanisms in regulating TF activity.

12.6 Building transcriptional networks III: identifying direct targets of TFS – the SHORTROOT pathway.

12.7 Exploring gene function using genomic variation: quantitative trait locus analysis of root growth.

12.8 Future directions: from single gene biology to systems biology.

Index.

Color plate.

Professor Tom Beeckman is part of the Root Development Group, Department of Plant Systems Biology, Ghent University, Belgium The development of a plant's roots is of fundamental importance to the success of a plant, its growth and level of yield, particularly important in commercially exploited crop plants. A full understanding of this most important subject is core to the work of most plant and crop scientists.

Root Development is an extremely exciting new title in Blackwell Publishing's Annual Plant Reviews Series(Series Editor Profesor Jeremy Roberts). The book consists of contributions from author groups based at many of the World's formeost laboratories working in the root development area. The book's editor Tom Beeckman, himself very well known and respected for his work in this area, has drawn together an exceptional set of core cutting edge reviews of the subject, providing a state of the art reference tool for all those researching in this area.

Chapter coverage includes: the root apical meristem, vascular morphogenesis, root epidermal and lateral development, adventitious rooting in cuttings, root gravitropism, molecular and genetic dissection of cereal root development, fern root development, symbiosis, legume root architecture, effects of nutrient availability on root system development, and genomic approaches to the understanding of root development.

Root Development is an essential reference book for crop and plant scientists. Libraries in all universities and research establishments teaching and researching in biological sciences should have copies of this book on their shelves.