The Center for Sorghum Improvement (CSI) is hosting a virtual seminar given by Luis Herrera-Estrella, President’s Distinguished Professor of Plant Genomics and Director of Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress at Texas Tech University, on Tuesday, May 14 at 11:00 AM CT. The title of his talk is “Deciphering Key Regulators Orchestrating Root Penetration in Compacted Soil.” Dr. Herrera-Estrella will discuss the importance of root penetration capacity and its connection with rooting depth and soil compaction tolerance. Soil compaction resulting from intensive mechanization affects soil functions and impedes plant rooting ability, making investigation into root systems with deeper soil exploration of great significance in increasing water and nitrogen uptake and fostering underground carbon sequestration. He will explore the latest advances in the molecular responses of roots to compacted soils as well as strategies to pinpoint the key regulators governing root penetration capacity in Arabidopsis and sorghum. For information on this and future seminars visit the CSI seminar webpage.
