Although roots are key to crucial processes like water uptake and mineral nutrition, relatively little attention has been dedicated by breeders to traits that enhance root growth.
CropDesign is developing a transgenes that confers enhanced root growth. This technology has several possible applications including:
- enhanced tolerance of the crop to drought stress, due to enhanced uptake capacity
- improved efficiency of nutrient uptake, due to increased root surface
- applications in phytoremediation, given that plants with increased root biomass have a higher uptake potential for heavy metal pollutants in the soil, such as Cd, Zn, Hg, etc.
