Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Food: An underground revolution

Nature volume 466, pages 552–553 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Plant breeders are turning their attention to roots to increase yields without causing environmental damage. Virginia Gewin unearths some promising subterranean strategies.

Tangled, dirty and buried underfoot, roots are a mess to study. Digging them up is a time-consuming and sometimes back-breaking process. The shovel must be wielded with care to preserve the roots' delicate branching patterns, the root hairs and the microbes that cling to them. All of this explains why roots have been largely out of mind, as well as out of sight, for agricultural researchers — until now.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Tilman, D., Cassman, K. G., Matson, P. A., Naylor, R. & Polasky, S. Nature 418, 671-677 (2002).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kirkegaard, J. A., Lilley, J. M., Howe, G. N. & Graham, J. M. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 58, 303-315 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhu J., Brown, K. M. & Lynch, J. P. Plant Cell Environ. 33, 740-749 (2009).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Magalhaes, J. V. et al. Nature Genet. 39, 1156-1161 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Angelard, C., Colard, A., Niculita-Hirzel, H., Croll, D. & Sanders, I. R. Curr. Biol. 20, 1216-1221 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Gewin is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon.,

    Virginia Gewin

Authors
  1. Virginia Gewin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Food Special

Related external links

Michelle Watt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gewin, V. Food: An underground revolution. Nature 466, 552–553 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/466552a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/466552a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing