Arabidopsis perfusion platform RootChip reveals local adaptations of roots

Roots are essential plant organs that need to respond and adapt to dynamic environments. It is still unknown if these adaptations are based on systemic or cell-based responses.  Stanley and colleagues created the dual-flow-RootChip, a platform for the heterogeneous perfusion of Arabidopsis roots to investigate the interactions between roots and the environment. They show that there is cell-level adaptation of root hair development under asymmetric phosphate perfusion. This paper demonstrates that Arabidopsis roots can locally adapt to heterogeneous conditions at physiological and transcriptional levels. The dual-flow-RootChip can be used to investigate other root-environment interactions, including calcium signaling or microbe-root relationships. (Summary by Julia Miller) New Phytol. 10.1111/nph.14887