Appropriate root system architecture (RSA) is essential for efficient water and nutrient use, especially in high-density planting conditions in intensive maize cropping systems. Modern maize breeding has favoured steeper, narrower root systems. We identified two auxin-related genes, ZmRSA3.1 and ZmRSA3.2, which can potentially be used for future improvement of maize RSA.
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References
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This is a summary of: Ren, W. et al. Genome-wide dissection of changes in maize root system architecture during modern breeding. Nat. Plants https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01274-z (2022).
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Maize root system architecture improvement for high-density planting. Nat. Plants 8, 1337–1338 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01277-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01277-w