Understanding signaling pathways governing the polar development of root hairs in low-temperature, nutrient-deficient environments

Abstract

Plants exposed to freezing and above-freezing low temperatures must employ a variety of strategies to minimize fitness loss. There is a considerable knowledge gap regarding how mild low temperatures (around 10 °C) affect plant growth and developmental processes, even though the majority of the molecular mechanisms that plants use to adapt to extremely low temperatures are well understood. Root hairs (RH) have become a useful model system for studying how plants regulate their growth in response to both cell-intrinsic cues and environmental inputs. Here, we'll focus on recent advances in the molecular mechanisms underpinning Arabidopsis thaliana RH growth at mild low temperatures and how these discoveries may influence our understanding of nutrient sensing mechanisms by the roots. This highlights how intricately linked mechanisms are necessary for plant development to take place under specific circumstances and to produce a coherent response, even at the level of a single RH cell.