EFFECTS OF COLD AND HEAT STRESS ON ROOT DEVELOPMENT IN ARABIDOPSIS

Abstract

Plants are sessile organisms that are unable to seek shelter from various forms of stresses. One such example is temperature stress, which negatively impacts the growth, development and spatial distribution of plants, thus affects agricultural yield significantly. Most studies on temperature stress focus on the effects on shoots. However, it has been reported that roots are the first line of defense against abiotic stress. Hence, plants are likely to better survive against temperature stress if their roots are healthy. In this study, insights are provided into how basic cellular processes can be altered in Arabidopsis to enhance the ability of roots to combat cold and heat stress.