ROOTS IN DROUGHT

In March 2016, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded members of the University of Missouri's Interdisciplinary Plant Group, or IPG, a $4.2 million grant to fund a four-year project to study how corn maintains root growth in drought conditions. Established in 1981, the IPG seeks to encourage interdisciplinary cooperation between scientists engaged in plant molecular biology, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, biotechnology, evolution, ecology and computer science. The aim in integrating these disciplines is to stimulate joint research projects that will enhance understanding of how plants grow and develop in changing environments... This project integrates root physiology and functional genomics (transcriptomics, plasma membrane proteomics, and metabolomics-including hormones) to deliver a comprehensive understanding of nodal root growth responses to water deficit stress in both controlled laboratory studies and in the field. The project focuses on a maize inbred line that has..