Structure and Function of Roots

Dear Colleagues,

Dear Root Researchers,

It was claimed several years ago that at least 10% of research focused on shoots (and leaves especially) should be focused on roots. This is probably becoming true with more and more researchers realizing the importance of processes that take place in roots and at interfaces between plant roots and surrounding ambient.

As it was written by Michal B. Jackson 20 years ago (2001), “it is difficult to find a functional interface of greater importance for terrestrial life than the one that exists between plant roots and the soil they exploit”. This citation was published in the Preface to the book “Recent Advances to Plant Root Structure and Function”, publishing selected contributions to the Fifth International Symposium on Structure and Function of Roots organized in Slovakia in September 1998. The fifth conference was a continuation of conferences focused on roots that was started by a group of scientists from the Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences in Slovakia in 1971. Successful series of symposia, later co-organized by colleagues from Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences and Slovak Society of Botany, attended root researchers from many countries and these meetings continue till nowadays.

Now, fifty years after the first of these conferences, another international meeting will be organized by the same institutions in June 2022 in the High Tatras in Slovakia. In the context of this event, we invite you to contribute to this Special Issue where articles, including original research papers, opinions, reviews, and methods that focus on plant root structure and function, including anatomy, cytology, biochemistry, physiology, modern methods of molecular biology, genomics, metabolomics and proteomics are welcome. Special attention will be given to the root role in plant nutrition, interaction with toxic substances, the root–soil interphase and soil microbiome, symbiosis, mycorrhiza and all processes that occur in the rhizosphere. Works using field trials and agronomics, as well as lab experiments in hydroponics using crop plants, trees, aquatic plants, native species, and model plants are most welcome. Please find more information on the Symposium here: https://rootsymposium-slovakia.com/.

Dr. Viktor Demko
Prof. Dr. Ján Jásik
Prof. Dr. Alexander Lux
Dr. Marek Vaculík
Guest Editors

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