The first ever 3D image of live wheat root hairs in soil, imaged using synchrotron x-ray computer tomography (Keyes et al (2013)).
Most/all studies of root hair morphology are carried out using transparent gels because it is difficult to see within real soil.
However, since root hairs are thought to be very important for phosphate uptake, it is crucial to be able to see how they are arranged within the soil pore spaces. This advance is already unlocking the potential of modelling approaches, allowing quantification of sites within the soil matrix from which root hairs extract phosphate.
See the Flickr stream and the New Phytologist article (DOI: 10.1111/nph.12294)
Credit: Dr Tiina Roose, University Research Fellow and Sam Keyes, PhD student from the University of Southampton.
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