the centre for plant integrative biology

a centre for integrative systems biology funded by the BBSRC and EPSRC

Malcolm Bennett

background | publications

Malcolm Bennett is Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Nottingham and the Biology Director of the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology. He currently holds a BBSRC Professorial Fellowship addressing improving crop root architecture.

Root biology has been an enduring interest throughout my research career. I obtained a NATO Fellowship to work in the US laboratory that pioneered gene tagging in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This work led to the identification of the AUX1 gene which, when later characterised by my laboratory at Warwick, was revealed to encode the first auxin transport protein to be described in plants Bennett et al. (1996). Over the last decade my laboratory at Nottingham has characterised many other important auxin transport-related proteins that control root developmental processes such as gravitropism and lateral root formation in collaboration with several international groups. These include PIN2, the auxin efflux carrier Müller et al. (1998); AXR4, which functions as a bespoke chaperone for AUX1 Dharmasiri et al. (2006); and the AUX1 related protein LAX3 that facilitates lateral root emergence Swarup et al. (2008).

In the last 5 years, my laboratory has embraced an integrative systems biological approach as an invaluable tool for generating new predictions about auxin transport that can be tested experimentally.  This resulted in the first integrative biology study which attempted to model, test and validate a multiscale auxin transport model in plants Swarup et al. (2005). Root growth and development is regulated by many classes of hormones in addition to auxin. Recognising that to model hormone regulated root growth and development we first need to know which tissues these signals target, my group has set about mapping exactly where and when each hormone signal acts within the root. For example, in 2005, we demonstrated that the epidermis represented the primary target tissue for auxin regulated gravitropic curvature Swarup et al. (2005). In 2008, we reported that gibberellins (GA) regulate root growth by targeting the endodermis Úbeda-Tomás (2008). Hence, auxin and GA target distinct elongation zone tissues in order to regulate gravitropic and anisotropic root growth processes, respectively. These results provide crucial new insight into hormone regulated organ growth in plants, revealing the key importance of tissue scale processes.

Root architecture critically influences nutrient and water uptake efficiency.  Despite the importance of root traits such as angle, depth and density, the genes that regulate these processes in crops remain to be identified. A key impediment to studying root architecture in plants grown in soil has been the inability to non-invasively image live roots. Recent advances in digital imaging using microscale X-ray Computed Tomography (Micro-CT) now permit their visualisation. I was recently awarded a BBSRC Professorial Fellowship to exploit the recent advances in micro-CT imaging, together with integrative systems biology and plant genomic resources at Nottingham; with the ultimate aim to engineer the root architecture of crops in a predictive manner. The fellowship will also facilitate the integration of root-related research communities at Nottingham, by bringing crop researchers and soil scientists together with mathematicians, engineers, computer scientists and Arabidopsis systems biologists at CPIB to create a unique multi-disciplinary research environment to study and model rhizosphere processes in Arabidopsis and crop plants.

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