The identification of plant functional traits that can be linked to ecosystem processes is of wide interest, especially for predicting vegetational responses to climate change. Root diameter of the ...finest absorptive roots may be one plant trait that has wide significance. Do species with relatively thick absorptive roots forage in nutrient-rich patches differently from species with relatively fine absorptive roots?
We measured traits related to nutrient foraging (root morphology and architecture, root proliferation, and mycorrhizal colonization) across six coexisting arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) temperate tree species with and without nutrient addition.
Root traits such as root diameter and specific root length were highly correlated with root
branching intensity, with thin-root species having higher branching intensity than thick-root species. In both fertilized and unfertilized soil, species with thin absorptive roots and high branching intensity showed much greater root length and mass proliferation but lower mycorrhizal colonization than species with thick absorptive roots. Across all species, fertilization led to increased root proliferation and reduced mycorrhizal colonization. These results suggest that thin-root species forage more by root proliferation, whereas thick-root species forage more by mycorrhizal fungi. In mineral nutrient-rich patches, AM trees seem to forage more by proliferating roots than by mycorrhizal fungi.
Photosynthesis by leaves and acquisition of water and minerals by roots are required for plant growth, which is a key component of many ecosystem functions. Although the role of leaf functional ...traits in photosynthesis is generally well understood, the relationship of root functional traits to nutrient uptake is not. In particular, predictions of nutrient acquisition strategies from specific root traits are often vague. Roots of nearly all plants cooperate with mycorrhizal fungi in nutrient acquisition. Most tree species form symbioses with either arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) or ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi. Nutrients are distributed heterogeneously in the soil, and nutrient-rich “hotspots” can be a key source for plants. Thus, predicting the foraging strategies that enable mycorrhizal root systems to exploit these hotspots can be critical to the understanding of plant nutrition and ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling. Here, we show that in 13 sympatric temperate tree species, when nutrient availability is patchy, thinner root species alter their foraging to exploit patches, whereas thicker root species do not. Moreover, there appear to be two distinct pathways by which thinner root tree species enhance foraging in nutrient-rich patches: AM trees produce more roots, whereas EM trees produce more mycorrhizal fungal hyphae. Our results indicate that strategies of nutrient foraging are complementary among tree species with contrasting mycorrhiza types and root morphologies, and that predictable relationships between below-ground traits and nutrient acquisition emerge only when both roots and mycorrhizal fungi are considered together.
• Although linkages of leaf and whole‐plant traits to leaf lifespan have been rigorously investigated, there is a limited understanding of similar linkages of whole‐plant and fine root traits to root ...lifespan. In comparisons across species, do suites of traits found in leaves also exist for roots, and can these traits be used to predict root lifespan? • We observed the fine root lifespan of 12 temperate tree species using minirhizotrons in a common garden and compared their median lifespans with fine‐root and whole‐plant traits. We then determined which set of combined traits would be most useful in predicting patterns of root lifespan. • Median root lifespan ranged widely among species (95–336 d). Root diameter, calcium content, and tree wood density were positively related to root lifespan, whereas specific root length, nitrogen (N) : carbon (C) ratio, and plant growth rate were negatively related to root lifespan. Root diameter and plant growth rate, together (R2 = 0.62) or in combination with root N : C ratio (R2 = 0.76), were useful predictors of root lifespan across the 12 species. • Our results highlight linkages between fine root lifespan in temperate trees and plant functional traits that may reduce uncertainty in predictions of root lifespan or turnover across species at broader spatial scales.
The timing of fine root production and turnover strongly influences both the seasonal potential for soil resource acquisition among competing root systems and the plant fluxes of root carbon into ...soil pools. However, basic patterns and variability in the rates and timing or fine root production and turnover are generally unknown among perennial plants species. We address this shortfall using a heuristic model relating root phenology to turnover together with three-years of minirhizotron observations of root dynamics in 12 temperate tree species grown in a common garden. We specifically investigated how the amount and the timing of root production differ among species and how they impact estimates of fine root turnover. Across the 12 species there was wide variation in the timing of root production with some species producing a single root flush in early summer and others producing roots either more uniformly over the growing season or in multiple pulses. Additionally, the pattern and timing of root production appeared to be consistent across years for some species but varied in others. Root turnover rate was related to total root production (P < 0.001) as species with greater root production typically had faster root turnover rates. We also found that within species, annual root production varied up to three-fold between years which led to large interannual differences in turnover rate. Results from the heuristic model indicated that shifting the pattern or timing of root production can impact estimates of root turnover rates for root populations with lifespans less than one year while estimates of root turnover rate for longer lived roots were unaffected by changes in root phenology. Overall, we suggest that more detailed observations of root phenology and production will improve fidelity of root turnover estimates. Future efforts should link patterns of root phenology and production with whole plant life history traits and variation in annual and seasonal climate.
The roots of the majority of tree species are associated with either arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) or ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi. The absorptive roots of tree species also vary widely in their ...diameter. The linkages between root thickness, mycorrhiza type and nutrient foraging are poorly understood. We conducted a large root ingrowth experiment in the field to investigate how absorptive roots of varying thickness and their associated fungi (AM vs. EM) exploit different nutrient patches (inorganic and organic) in a common garden. In nutrient-rich patches, thin-root tree species more effectively proliferated absorptive roots than thick-root tree species, whereas thick-root tree species proliferated more mycorrhizal fungal biomass than thin-root tree species. Moreover, nutrient patches enriched with organic materials resulted in greater root and mycorrhizal fungal proliferation compared to those enriched with inorganic nutrients. Irrespective of root morphology, AM tree species had higher root foraging precision than mycorrhizal hyphae foraging precision within organic patches, whereas EM tree species exhibited the opposite. Our findings that roots and mycorrhizal fungi are complementary in foraging within nutrient patches provide new insights into species coexistence and element cycling in terrestrial ecosystems.
Summary
In the context of a recent massive increase in research on plant root functions and their impact on the environment, root ecologists currently face many important challenges to keep on ...generating cutting‐edge, meaningful and integrated knowledge. Consideration of the below‐ground components in plant and ecosystem studies has been consistently called for in recent decades, but methodology is disparate and sometimes inappropriate. This handbook, based on the collective effort of a large team of experts, will improve trait comparisons across studies and integration of information across databases by providing standardised methods and controlled vocabularies. It is meant to be used not only as starting point by students and scientists who desire working on below‐ground ecosystems, but also by experts for consolidating and broadening their views on multiple aspects of root ecology. Beyond the classical compilation of measurement protocols, we have synthesised recommendations from the literature to provide key background knowledge useful for: (1) defining below‐ground plant entities and giving keys for their meaningful dissection, classification and naming beyond the classical fine‐root vs coarse‐root approach; (2) considering the specificity of root research to produce sound laboratory and field data; (3) describing typical, but overlooked steps for studying roots (e.g. root handling, cleaning and storage); and (4) gathering metadata necessary for the interpretation of results and their reuse. Most importantly, all root traits have been introduced with some degree of ecological context that will be a foundation for understanding their ecological meaning, their typical use and uncertainties, and some methodological and conceptual perspectives for future research. Considering all of this, we urge readers not to solely extract protocol recommendations for trait measurements from this work, but to take a moment to read and reflect on the extensive information contained in this broader guide to root ecology, including sections I–VII and the many introductions to each section and root trait description. Finally, it is critical to understand that a major aim of this guide is to help break down barriers between the many subdisciplines of root ecology and ecophysiology, broaden researchers’ views on the multiple aspects of root study and create favourable conditions for the inception of comprehensive experiments on the role of roots in plant and ecosystem functioning.
In people living with HIV (PLWH) on antiretroviral therapy (ART), virus persists in a latent form where there is minimal transcription or protein expression. Latently infected cells are a major ...barrier to curing HIV. Increasing HIV transcription and viral production in latently infected cells could facilitate immune recognition and reduce the pool of infected cells that persist on ART. Given that programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) expressing CD4
T cells are preferentially infected with HIV in PLWH on ART, we aimed to determine whether administration of antibodies targeting PD-1 would reverse HIV latency in vivo. We therefore evaluated the impact of intravenous administration of pembrolizumab every 3 weeks on HIV latency in 32 PLWH and cancer on ART. After the first infusion of anti-PD-1, we observed a median 1.32-fold increase in unspliced HIV RNA and 1.61-fold increase in unspliced RNA:DNA ratio in sorted blood CD4
T cells compared to baseline. We also observed a 1.65-fold increase in plasma HIV RNA. The frequency of CD4
T cells with inducible virus evaluated using the
limiting dilution assay was higher after 6 cycles compared to baseline. Phylogenetic analyses of HIV
sequences in a participant who developed low concentrations of HIV viremia after 6 cycles of pembrolizumab did not demonstrate clonal expansion of HIV-infected cells. These data are consistent with anti-PD-1 being able to reverse HIV latency in vivo and support the rationale for combining anti-PD-1 with other interventions to reduce the HIV reservoir.
Senescent cells may promote tumour progression through the activation of a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), whether these cells are capable of initiating tumourigenesis in vivo is ...not known. Expression of oncogenic β-catenin in Sox2+ young adult pituitary stem cells leads to formation of clusters of stem cells and induction of tumours resembling human adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP), derived from Sox2- cells in a paracrine manner. Here, we uncover the mechanisms underlying this paracrine tumourigenesis. We show that expression of oncogenic β-catenin in Hesx1+ embryonic precursors also results in stem cell clusters and paracrine tumours. We reveal that human and mouse clusters are analogous and share a common signature of senescence and SASP. Finally, we show that mice with reduced senescence and SASP responses exhibit decreased tumour-inducing potential. Together, we provide evidence that senescence and a stem cell-associated SASP drive cell transformation and tumour initiation in vivo in an age-dependent fashion.
Vitamin D insufficiency is a global health issue. Although classically associated with rickets, low vitamin D levels have also been linked to aberrant immune function and associated health problems ...such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). To test the hypothesis that impaired vitamin D status predisposes to IBD, 8-wk-old C57BL/6 mice were raised from weaning on vitamin D-deficient or vitamin D-sufficient diets and then treated with dextran sodium sulphate (DSS) to induce colitis. Vitamin D-deficient mice showed decreased serum levels of precursor 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (2.5 ± 0.1 vs. 24.4 ± 1.8 ng/ml) and active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (28.8 ± 3.1 vs. 45.6 ± 4.2 pg/ml), greater DSS-induced weight loss (9 vs. 5%), increased colitis (4.71 ± 0.85 vs. 1.57 ± 0.18), and splenomegaly relative to mice on vitamin D-sufficient chow. DNA array analysis of colon tissue (n = 4 mice) identified 27 genes consistently (P < 0.05) up-regulated or down-regulated more than 2-fold in vitamin D-deficient vs. vitamin D-sufficient mice, in the absence of DSS-induced colitis. This included angiogenin-4, an antimicrobial protein involved in host containment of enteric bacteria. Immunohistochemistry confirmed that colonic angiogenin-4 protein was significantly decreased in vitamin D-deficient mice even in the absence of colitis. Moreover, the same animals showed elevated levels (50-fold) of bacteria in colonic tissue. These data show for the first time that simple vitamin D deficiency predisposes mice to colitis via dysregulated colonic antimicrobial activity and impaired homeostasis of enteric bacteria. This may be a pivotal mechanism linking vitamin D status with IBD in humans.
Vitamin D deficiency predisposes mice to an experimental form of inflammatory bowel disease which involves abnormal containment of enteric bacteria.
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