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Updated: Jun 18, 2025

Lateral Root Inducible System in Arabidopsis and Maize
Published on: January 14, 2016
Family ties: Root-root communication within Solanaceae
Milena Maria Tomaz de Oliveira1, Aye Nyein Ko2, Sophie Obersteiner2
1The French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; Utah State University, USA.
Abstract:
Root-root communication effects on several physiological and metabolic aspects among Solanaceae relatives were studied. We examined cherry (C) and field (F) tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and bell pepper (B) (Capsicum annuum), comprising three degrees of relatedness (DOR): high (H-DOR; CC, FF and BB), medium (M-DOR; CF) and low (L-DOR; CB and FB). Plants were grown in pairs of similar or different plants on a paper-based and non-destructive root growth system, namely, rhizoslides. Root growth, including the proliferation of fine roots, and respiration increased as the DOR decreased and were highest in paired L-DOR plants, as was shown for root respiration that increased by 63, 110 and 88 % for C, F, and B when grown with B, B and F, respectively. On the other hand, root exudates of L-DOR plants had significantly lower levels of total organic carbon and protein than those of H-DOR plants, indicating different root-root communication between individuals with different DOR. Our findings indicate, for the first time, that carbon allocation to root growth, exudation and respiration depends on the degree of genetic relatedness, and that the degree of relatedness between individual plants plays a key role in the root-root communication within Solanaceae.
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