Structural sterols are abundant in the plasma membrane of root apex cells in Arabidopsis thaliana. They specifically accumulate in trichoblasts during the prebulging and bulge stages and show a polar accumulation in the tip during root hair elongation but are distributed evenly in mature root hairs. Thus, structural sterols may serve as a marker for root hair initiation and growth. In addition,...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Plant parasitism and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations have many parallels and share a number of regulatory pathways. Despite a rapid increase in investigations addressing the roles of AM fungi in regulating interactions between parasitic plants and their hosts, few studies have tested the effect of AM fungi on the initiation and differentiation of haustoria, the para...

Ethylene is produced by cultured radish roots in amounts large enough to be physiologically important. When roots were grown in controlled atmospheres, applied ethylene was generally inhibitory to elongation, lateral root initiation, and cambial activity. 1% CO(2) similarly affected roots not given ethylene. In contrast, elongation and lateral root production of ethylene-treated roots were stim...

Multicellular organisms depend on cell production, cell fate specification, and correct patterning to shape their adult body. In plants, auxin plays a prominent role in the timely coordination of these different cellular processes. A well-studied example is lateral root initiation, in which auxin triggers founder cell specification and cell cycle activation of xylem pole-positioned pericycle ce...

The root-hair pattern of Arabidopsis is determined through a regulatory circuit composed of transcription factor genes. The homeobox gene GLABRA2 (GL2) has been considered a key component, acting farthest downstream in this regulation. GL2 modified to include a transactivating function caused epidermal cells to develop ectopic root hairs or root hair-like structures. With this system, the phosp...