New insights in cell death in plants might generate new leads for weed control

( 14-08-2018 ) Ironically, most of a tree's biomass is actually not alive. It is formed by persistent cell corpses collectively called wood. The formation of wood is one of the many programmed cell death processes important for plant growth & development. The lab of Prof. Moritz Nowack (VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology) investigates the regulation of these plant cell death processes in the model plant Arabidopsis. Dr. Huysmans, first author of this study: "To study plant cell death, we are using the plant's root cap as a model system. The root cap is situated at the tip of the growing root, guiding and protecting the delicate root tip as it pushes through the soil. Individual root cap cells are constantly regenerated and have a short life span that ends in programmed cell death." - In this project, the researchers aimed at discovering new genes that control the cell death process in plants.