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Updated: Jul 3, 2025

An Optimized Rhizobox Protocol to Visualize Root Growth and Responsiveness to Localized Nutrients
Published on: October 22, 2018
Choreographing root architecture and rhizosphere interactions through synthetic biology
Carin J Ragland1, Kevin Y Shih1, José R Dinneny2
1Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
None:
Climate change is driving extreme changes to the environment, posing substantial threats to global food security and bioenergy. Given the direct role of plant roots in mediating plant-environment interactions, engineering the form and function of root systems and their associated microbiota may mitigate these effects. Synthetic genetic circuits have enabled sophisticated control of gene expression in microbial systems for years and a surge of advances has heralded the extension of this approach to multicellular plant species. Targeting these tools to affect root structure, exudation, and microbe activity on root surfaces provide multiple strategies for the advancement of climate-ready crops.
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