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Root architecture of Arabidopsis is affected by competition with neighbouring plants

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Abstract

How roots detect and respond to the presence of neighbors is relevant to understand plant belowground interactions. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of the presence of neighboring plants and the limited availability of phosphorus on root architecture. A target plant of Arabidopsis thaliana (Ler or Col) was surrounded by combinations of two individuals (Ler and Col), and subjected to different growth conditions (levels of activated charcoal (AC) and phosphorus). Both accessions consistently concentrated their roots towards the competition zone shared with a neighbor of the same accession, avoiding the side shared with the other accession. All these competition strategies disappeared when plants were limited by phosphorus or when activated charcoal was added to the growth media. Plants produced consistently fewer but longer lateral roots when activated charcoal was added to the growth media irrespective of the neighbors. Our results indicate a direct role of secondary metabolites present in the root exudates and phosphorus availability in the response of presence and identity of neighboring roots.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from National Council of Science and Technology (CONICET) to GR (PIP 5432; 335), University of Buenos Aires to GR (UBACYT G088), and National Science Foundation to JMV (MCB-0950857).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cátedra de Fertilidad y Fertilizantes, INBA CONICET, UBA Facultad de Agronomía, Av. San Martín 4453, C1417DSE, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    María M. Caffaro & Gerardo Rubio

  2. Center for Rhizosphere Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523–1173, USA

    Jorge M. Vivanco

  3. IFEVA CONICET, UBA Facultad de Agronomía, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Javier Botto

Authors
  1. María M. Caffaro
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  2. Jorge M. Vivanco
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  3. Javier Botto
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  4. Gerardo Rubio
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Correspondence to Gerardo Rubio.

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Caffaro, M.M., Vivanco, J.M., Botto, J. et al. Root architecture of Arabidopsis is affected by competition with neighbouring plants. Plant Growth Regul 70, 141–147 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-013-9786-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-013-9786-7

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