Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Sci. STKE, 1 April 2003
Vol. 2003, Issue 176, p. tw128
[DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.1762003tw128]

EDITORS' CHOICE

PLANT CELL GROWTH Free and Radical Control of Root Hairs

Plant roots elongate and elaborate root hairs into surrounding soil to increase uptake of water and nutrients. This protruding process is rapid and requires calcium influx through channels at the cell surface to support requisite cell elongation. Foreman et al. have determined that the short-root-hair phenotype of an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant (rhd2) is caused by mutation of a gene that encodes a homolog of gp91phox, the mammalian NADPH oxidase cytochrome. This subunit is part of the respiratory burst oxidase that catalyzes reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. ROS accumulation was observed in elongating wild-type root hair tips, but not in those of the rhd2 mutant. Application of exogenous ROS to excised root apices stimulated cell growth and calcium influx in root hairs from the rhd2 mutant. These effects were blocked by pharmacological inhibitors of either the NADPH oxidase or calcium channels. The authors propose a developmental role for ROS in plants, and suggest that this ROS-activated calcium channel mechanism may operate in other cell types that undergo cell elongation.

J. Foreman, V. Demidchik, J. H. F. Bothwell, P. Mylona, H. Miedema, M. A. Torres, P. Linstead, S. Costa, C. Brownlee, J. D. G. Jones, J. M. Davies, L. Dolan, Reactive oxygen species produced by NADPH oxidase regulate plant cell growth. Nature 422, 442-446 (2003). [Online Journal]

Citation: Free and Radical Control of Root Hairs. Sci. STKE 2003, tw128 (2003).

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882