Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Water and Mineral Acquisition

Water and Mineral Acquisition

Specialized tissues in plant roots have evolved to capture water, minerals, and some ions from the soil. Roots exhibit a variety of branching patterns that facilitate this process. The outermost root cells have specialized structures called root hairs that increase the root surface, thus increasing soil contact. Water can passively cross into roots, as the concentration of water in the soil is higher than that of the root tissue. Minerals, in contrast, are actively transported into root cells.

Coupled Reactions

Coupled Reactions

Cellular processes such as building and breaking down complex molecules occur through stepwise chemical reactions. Some of these chemical reactions are spontaneous and release energy, whereas others require energy to proceed. Cells often couple the energy-releasing reaction with the energy-requiring one to carry out important cell functions.
Energy in adenosine triphosphate or ATP molecules is easily accessible to do work. ATP powers the majority of energy-requiring cellular reactions....

Tonicity in Plants

Tonicity in Plants

Tonicity describes the capacity of a cell to lose or gain water. It depends on the quantity of solute that does not penetrate the membrane. Tonicity delimits the magnitude and direction of osmosis and results in three possible scenarios that alter the volume of a cell: hypertonicity, hypotonicity, and isotonicity. Due to differences in structure and physiology, tonicity of plant cells is different from that of animal cells in some scenarios.

Tonicity in Plants

Tonicity in Plants

Plant cells maintain appropriate osmotic balance in extreme conditions. For instance, plants in dry environments store water in vacuoles, limit the opening of their stoma, and have thick, waxy cuticles to prevent unnecessary water loss. Some species of plants that live in salty environments store salt in their roots. As a result, water osmosis occurs in the root from the surrounding soil.
Tonicity
Tonicity describes the capacity of a cell to lose or gain water depending on the solute...

The Apoplast and Symplast

The Apoplast and Symplast

Plant growth depends on its ability to take up water and dissolved minerals from the soil. The root system of every plant is equipped with the necessary tissues to facilitate the entry of water and solutes. The plant tissues involved in the transport of water and minerals have two major compartments - the apoplast and the symplast. The apoplast includes everything outside the plasma membrane of living cells and consists of cell walls, extracellular spaces, xylem, phloem, and tracheids. The...

C4 Pathway and CAM

C4 Pathway and CAM

Most plants use the C3 pathway for carbon fixation. However, some plants, such as sugar cane, corn, and cacti that grow in hot conditions, use alternative pathways to fix carbon and conserve energy loss due to photorespiration. Photorespiration is the process that occurs when the oxygen concentration is high. Under such conditions, the rubisco enzyme in the Calvin cycle binds O2 instead of CO2, which halts photosynthesis and consumes energy.
C4 Pathway
The C4 pathway is used by plants such as...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

The (un)likelihood of clock-driven lateral root priming; A modeling exploration.

The Plant cell·2026

Same author

Distinct processes contributing to post-submergence recovery determine leaf age-specific flood resilience in Arabidopsis.

Plant physiology·2026

Same author

Rorippa islandica is a genetically accessible dicot model system to study flooding tolerance.

Plant physiology·2026

Same author

A minimal mechanistic model of plant responses to oxygen deficit during waterlogging.

Quantitative plant biology·2025

Same author

Root growth and branching are enabled by brassinosteroid-regulated growth anisotropy and carbon allocation.

Nature communications·2025

Same author

Computational modeling of plant root development: the art and the science.

The New phytologist·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 14, 2026

A Hydroponic Co-cultivation System for Simultaneous and Systematic Analysis of Plant/Microbe Molecular Interactions and Signaling

A Hydroponic Co-cultivation System for Simultaneous and Systematic Analysis of Plant/Microbe Molecular Interactions and Signaling

Published on: July 22, 2017

How coupling resources and development ensures whole-plant homeostasis.

Joe Earle¹, Lucila Salvatore^2,3, Bas van den Herik³

¹Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Journal of Experimental Botany

|October 17, 2025

Summary

Plants coordinate resource allocation for survival. This involves linking nutrient signaling with development to ensure resilience and adaptation to changing environments.

Keywords:

Carbon growth rate metabolism morphology nitrogen partitioning phosphate resilience sink source

More Related Videos

Monitoring Plant Hormones During Stress Responses

Monitoring Plant Hormones During Stress Responses

Published on: June 15, 2009

A Strategy to Validate the Role of Callose-mediated Plasmodesmal Gating in the Tropic Response

A Strategy to Validate the Role of Callose-mediated Plasmodesmal Gating in the Tropic Response

Published on: April 17, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 14, 2026

A Hydroponic Co-cultivation System for Simultaneous and Systematic Analysis of Plant/Microbe Molecular Interactions and Signaling

A Hydroponic Co-cultivation System for Simultaneous and Systematic Analysis of Plant/Microbe Molecular Interactions and Signaling

Published on: July 22, 2017

Monitoring Plant Hormones During Stress Responses

Monitoring Plant Hormones During Stress Responses

Published on: June 15, 2009

A Strategy to Validate the Role of Callose-mediated Plasmodesmal Gating in the Tropic Response

A Strategy to Validate the Role of Callose-mediated Plasmodesmal Gating in the Tropic Response

Published on: April 17, 2016

Area of Science:

Plant physiology and developmental biology
Ecology and environmental science

Background:

Multicellular organisms require coordinated resource management for stability.
Individual cellular adaptations are insufficient; systems-level coordination is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore feedback mechanisms in plant resource acquisition and allocation.
To understand how developmental programs match resource availability.
To investigate how morphology impacts plant resilience and climate adaptation.

Main Methods:

Examining feedback loops in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus acquisition.
Analyzing developmental programs like organogenesis, root foraging, and branching.
Assessing the role of root and shoot architecture in resource management.

Main Results:

Feedback mechanisms are key to mediating local resource acquisition.
Developmental plasticity allows plants to match resource availability across space and time.
Morphological efficiency minimizes costs and sustains growth demands.

Conclusions:

Plant resilience and climate adaptation depend on the interplay between resource availability, developmental pace, and morphology.
Coupled feedback between resource uptake and morphological efficiency is vital for homeostasis.
Integrated signaling pathways and developmental mechanisms enable plants to thrive amid fluctuating conditions.