Unearthing the hidden organ: vital role of the root in drought tolerance of plants

Unearthing the hidden organ: vital role of the root in drought tolerance of plants | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 1 April 2025 V1 Latest version Share on Unearthing the hidden organ: vital role of the root in drought tolerance of plants Authors : Debankona Marik and AYAN SADHUKHAN 0000-0002-6745-749X [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174348393.34907001/v1 Published Plant Molecular Biology Version of record Peer review timeline 384 views 137 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Terrestrial plants evolved different mechanisms of adaptation to drought, a primary survival challenge. While shoot traits, including stomatal closure, have been the major focus in drought research, the role of the hidden organ, the root, has lately been in the limelight. Being the first organ exposed to water scarcity in the soil, the root acts as the drought sensor, relaying the signal to the aerial organs, primarily supplying the drought hormone, abscisic acid, to the shoot. This review encompasses recent genetic screens focussed on root traits, modern approaches of phenotyping root system architecture, and molecular signaling events in roots for drought tolerance. Molecular mechanisms of root responses, including gravitropism and hydropatterning, as well as the intricacies of root-to-shoot communication under drought, are enumerated. The review separately treats root adaptations in extremophytes, including extraordinary root depths and spreads, rain roots to capture moisture from the atmosphere, histomorphological root adaptations including lignification, suberization, and aerenchyma formation, determinate root development in Cactaceae, and root signaling in resurrection plants, phoenixes of the plant kingdom. The vital roles of the rhizomicrobiome in augmenting the root tolerance responses to drought from individual plants to the ecosystem level are elaborated. The review identifies gaps in drought memory research focussed on the roots, and foresees the role of upcoming single-cell omics technologies in identifying specific molecular events in different root cell types under drought. Finally, how the state-of-the-art in root stress biology can be translated into engineering root traits for crop drought tolerance is discussed. Supplementary Material File (main manuscript dm as.docx) Download 42.25 MB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 01 April 2025 Peer review timeline Published Plant Molecular Biology Version of Record 21 Oct 2025 Published Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License. Keywords drought extremophytes hormones phloem transport root system architecture root-to-shoot communication Authors Affiliations Debankona Marik Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur View all articles by this author AYAN SADHUKHAN 0000-0002-6745-749X [email protected] Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 384 views 137 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Debankona Marik, AYAN SADHUKHAN. Unearthing the hidden organ: vital role of the root in drought tolerance of plants. Authorea . 01 April 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174348393.34907001/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu . 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