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Fundamentals of Plant Biology > Roots > Flashcards

Roots Flashcards

1
Q

What are 6 functions of roots?

A
  1. Absorb water and nutrients
  2. Conduct water and minerals to the shoots
  3. Anchor and support the shoots
  4. Storage
  5. Sense and respond to environmental stimuli
  6. Coordinate symbiotic relationships with microorganisms in the rhizosphere
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2
Q

What are the 5 types of roots?

A 
Radicle
Primary root
Lateral roots
Feeder roots
Adventitious roots
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3
Q

What is a radicle?

A

Embryonic root

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4
Q

What is a primary root?

A

Mature radicle

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5
Q

What is a lateral root?

A

Roots that grow out from the primary root

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6
Q

What is a feeder root?

A

The first 10 cm of a root that is in contact with the nutrient rich areas of the soil

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7
Q

What is an adventitious root?

A

Roots that grow from non-root tissues

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8
Q

What are the 2 types of root systems? What plants are they commonly found in?

A

Fibrous: more common in monocots
Taproot: common in eudicots

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9
Q

What is the structure of the vascular tissue in roots?

A

Found in the middle. The xylem and phloem is contained in the stele in the centre of the root, surrounded by the pericycle

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10
Q

What is the stele?

A

The vascular cylinder that runs through the centre of the root

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11
Q

What is the pericycle?

A

Tissue surrounding the stele that can develop into lateral roots

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12
Q

How do lateral roots develop?

A

The pericycle develops into the root primordia, which pushes through the cortex and breaks through the epidermis

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13
Q

What two root structures are made of ground tissue?

A

Cortex and endodermis

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14
Q

What is the cortex?

A

All the tissue that surrounds the vascular cylinder

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15
Q

What is endodermis?

A

Inner most layer of the cortex, regulates entry into vascular cylinder

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16
Q

What feature is found on the endodermis cells?

A

The casparian strips in the cell walls

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17
Q

What do the casparian strips do?

A

Waxy layer that is completely impermeable to water. Forces water from the apoplastic route to the symplastic route so everything coming in has to cross a cell membrane at least once

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18
Q

What are the 3 regions of a root?

A

The root apical meristem, the zone of elongation, the zone of maturation

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19
Q

What happens in the root apical meristem?

A

Cell division, but no cell growth or differentiation

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20
Q

What do cells of the lower layer of the root apical meristem become?

A

The root cap. Older cells get pushed off and newer cells replace them

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21
Q

What do cells of the middle layer of the root apical meristem become?

A

Precursors of dermal and ground tissue

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22
Q

What do cells of the upper layer of the root apical meristem become?

A

Vascular tissue

23
Q

What is the root cap?

A

Cells that cover the growing root tip

24
Q

What does the root cap do?

A

Protects the apical meristem, produces mucigel, and responds to environmental stimuli

25
Q

What is mucigel? What does it do?

A

A gel made of polysaccharides and water. It lubricates the root tip to make it easier to get through the soil and creates a favourable environment for particular microbes

26
Q

Which part of the root tip is responsible for sensing environmental stimuli?

A

Columella

27
Q

What sort of stimuli does the columella sense?

A

Gravity, moisture gradients, chemical gradients, vibrations and sounds

28
Q

What part of the root tip communicates information about environmental stimuli to the rest of the plant?

A

The transition zone

29
Q

How does the transition zone communicate information?

A

Electrical signals that are equivalent to action potentials

30
Q

What happened in the experiment with the pea plant with its roots in the two pots?

A

When there were enough nutrients in the pot with constant nutrients to complete the life cycle, the plant put most of its roots in there. If there wasn’t enough, it put most of its roots in the pot with variable nutrients instead

31
Q

What happens in the zone of elongation?

A

Cells elongate and some of the ground meristem divides. Parts of the cortex start to mature and the sieve tube members mature

32
Q

What happens in the zone of maturation?

A

Cells mature and differentiate and stop elongating. Root hairs develop

33
Q

Why does no movement occur in the zone of maturation?

A

Would destroy the root hairs

34
Q

What are 7 specialized roots?

A

Adventitious, prop, epiphytic, pneumatophores, contractile roots, storage roots, haustoria (parasitic roots)

35
Q

How do monocots form the fibrous root system?

A

Adventitious roots that grow from the bottom part of the embryonic stem

36
Q

What are nodal roots?

A

Involved in vegetative reproduction. Little shootlets grow adventitious roots

37
Q

If not part of their normal life cycle, why would plants grow adventitious roots?

A

Stress response to drought or flood or wound response

38
Q

What are prop roots for?

A

Mechanical support and aiding really long branches in water absorption

39
Q

What is an epiphyte?

A

A plant that grows on another plant

40
Q

What are the challenges for epiphytes?

A

Hard to get nutrients, water, and mechanical support when you aren’t in the soil

41
Q

What modification do epiphytic roots have? How does it help them?

A

A velamen, which is a thicker modified epidermis. It adheres to substrates and sucks up any water like a sponge

42
Q

What plants use pneumatophores?

A

Plants growing in water saturated, anaerobic soils. Like mangroves

43
Q

How do pneumatophores work?

A

They grow up like a snorkel and collect air for the roots under ground

44
Q

Where are contractile roots found? What do they do?

A

Found in a lot of bulbs. They contract and pull the bulb down when it gets too high up in the soil and starts photosynthesizing

45
Q

What do storage roots store?

A

Starch. Stores it in grains called amyloplasts

46
Q

What are the 2 types of mycorrhizae?

A

Ectomycorrhizae and arbuscular mycorrhizae

47
Q

How do ectomycorrhizae associate with plants?

A

Their hyphae go through cell walls and intracellular spaces and forms a sheath around the root

48
Q

How do arbuscular mycorrhizae associate with plants?

A

Form arbuscules inside the cell and exchange nutrients, water and photosynthates

49
Q

Why is forming associations with fungi and bacteria good for the plant?

A

Plants have higher rates of photosynthesis than they actually need, so they often secrete photosynthates into the soil and support entire ecosystems while getting nutrients for their troubles

50
Q

What is the “wood-wide web”?

A

A network of arbuscular mycorrhizae that connects plant roots

51
Q

What can be exchanged between plants through mycorrhizal networks?

A

Nutrients and defence compounds

52
Q

Is rhizobia a functional or taxonomic classification?

A

Functional, the bacteria aren’t related

53
Q

What plant family do rhizobia associate with?

A

Fabaceae

54
Q

How do Fabaceae plants form associations with rhizobia?

A

Nitrogen stressed plants send out a chemical signal that is perceived by bacteria, which produce Nod factors in response. The Nod factors are sensed by the root hairs, and causes the plant to switch off its defence systems and envelop the bacteria in shepherd’s crook structure. The bacteria get brought into the plant and it builds them a nice little anaerobic house in the epidermis and cortex

Fundamentals of Plant Biology (25 decks)

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