Maize Root Development Lab.docVIP

Maize Kernel Germination and Root System Development Lab BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Development of a maize plants root system begins during the formation of the embryo during kernel development. The kernel actually contains an entire maize seedling (nodes, internodes, primordia) in the form of an embryo. The embryos root system consists of the radicle, also known as the primary root, which is encased in the coleorhiza (basically, it is a thin sheath which protects the radicle during emergence from the kernel). Maize seedlings have several different classes of roots; the classes are based on the tissue from which the roots develop. The first class is the radicle, and each seedling has only one. The radicle is the only true seedling root, and there are lines where the radicle is seedlings only root. However, most maize lines produce an additional set of roots known as seminal lateral roots. These are adventitious roots (adventitious signifies any event that occurs in a place where it is unexpected, so when we are talking about adventitious roots, we are indicating roots which develop from any portion of the plant other than the radicle, and these are not considered to be true roots for that reason). Seminal lateral roots arise at the top of the scutellar node of the embryo. Maize lines that develop this type of root typically show a range of 1 to 7 lateral roots. Another set of adventitious lateral roots arise from the internode of the plants stem, only several millimeters above the seminal lateral roots. As they originate so closely to one another, it is very difficult to distinguish these stem-derived lateral roots from the seminal lateral roots. However, the number of functioning lateral roots per se is of more interest to geneticists and breeders than is the precise location of their origin, so the two classes are commonly counted together. The final class of roots present in maize are crown roots. These are also called brace roots, and start to appear between