Abstract
The typical parameter used to evaluate the root growth response to gravity is the degree of root bending in time. This employs the quantification of the root tip angle toward gravity and, hence, does not directly assess the actual differential growth process. Here, we describe the cortical cell length as a parameter to quantify cell elongation during the gravitropic response, using median longitudinal confocal sections. This analysis depicts that root organ bending is a consequence of differential cellular elongation on the upper versus lower side of the gravistimulated root. Moreover, we introduce here a simple mounting setup that is suitable to gravistimulate and subsequently image seedlings on upright microscopes.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Elisabeth Sarkel for valuable comments on this manuscript, Niko Geldner for the published NPSN12-YFP fluorescent marker line, and the BOKU-VIBT Imaging Center for access. This work was supported by the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) (Vienna Research Group project to J.K.-V.), Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (Projects: P29754 to J.K.-V. and T-728-B16 to E.F.), and the European Research Council (ERC) (Starting Grant 639478-AuxinER to J.K-V.).
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Schöller, M., Kleine-Vehn, J., Feraru, E. (2018). Cortical Cell Length Analysis During Gravitropic Root Growth. In: Ristova, D., Barbez, E. (eds) Root Development. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1761. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7747-5_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7747-5_14
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Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
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