EmPhos

The degree of root branching determines the efficiency of acquisition of nutrients by plants. Phosphate is an essential nutrient that is present in soils at low concentration with poor mobility and therefore represents a limiting factor for plant growth. The exponential demand of phosphate as a result of world population increase (50% by 2050) could lead to a world shortage of phosphate in a near future. Moreover, the increase in phosphate feeding for crop production has dramatic effects on the environment, polluting groundwater and triggering eutrophication, which perturbs ecosystems. Understanding the mechanisms used by plants to detect phosphate concentration present in the soil and adapt their root architecture is of fundamental interest and will be used to engineer crops able to resist low-phosphate soils. The EmPhos project aims at identifying new regulators involved in the control of lateral root formation in response to low phosphate. This will be achieved by taking advantage of 68 new mutants affected in phosphate perception. Also, we will provide a comprehensive description of genome expression changes during the course of lateral root formation on low vs. high phosphate by taking advantage of a new and powerful lateral root induction system. Finally, the EmPhos project will use innovative molecular tools to precise which tissue(s) is(are) involved in sensing and responding to low phosphate in the context of lateral root formation. This project will greatly beneficiate of a collaboration with the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (University of Nottingham, UK) to determine the link between low phosphate response and auxin signalling.