Root hydrotropism: an update

While water shortage remains the single-most important factor influencing world agriculture, there are very few studies on how plants grow in response to water potential, i.e., hydrotropism. Terrestrial plant roots dwell in the soil, and their ability to grow and explore underground requires many sensors for stimuli such as gravity, humidity gradients, light, mechanical stimulations, temperature, and oxygen. To date, extremely limited information is available on the components of such sensors; however, all of these stimuli are sensed in the root cap. Directional growth of roots is controlled by gravity, which is fixed in direction and intensity. However, other environmental factors, such as water potential gradients, which fluctuate in time, space, direction, and intensity, can act as a signal for modifying the direction of root growth accordingly. Hydrotropism may help roots to obtain water from the soil and at the same time may participate in the establishment of the root system. Current genetic analysis of hydrotropism in Arabidopsis has offered new players, mainly AHR1, NHR1, MIZ1, and MIZ2, which seem to modulate how root caps sense and choose to respond hydrotropically as opposed to other tropic responses. Here we review the mechanism(s) by which these genes and the plant hormones abscisic acid and cytokinins coordinate hydrotropism to counteract the tropic responses to gravitational field, light or touch stimuli. The biological consequence of hydrotropism is also discussed in relation to water stress avoidance.