Crown roots make up the bulk of the mature root system in grasses and are essential for anchorage and water and nutrient absorption.

Plants that exhibit moisture-regulated root branching, called hydropatterning, are able to detect spatial differences in water distribution around their root growth zone, which leads to pre-patterning of lateral root primordia towards regions of higher water availability.

Rust diseases are a serious threat to cereals and other crops worldwide. The interaction between flax and the flax rust fungus, Melampsora lini, is a model pathosystem helping us to understand the molecular basis of rust fungal pathogenicity in plants.

The rate of photosynthesis and plant growth is often rate limited by the activity of the CO2-fixing enzyme Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (Rubisco).

Plants are sessile organisms and are therefore unable to seek out environmental conditions optimal for their growth and development.

Plant scientists are in a race against time to adapt modern crops to future environments, many of which are predicted to be hotter and drier.