Bacteria Boost Plant Root Hair Growth [Video]

A Rutgers study has found that symbiotic bacteria that colonize root cells may be managed to produce hardier crops that need less fertilizer.

The study appeared in the journal Microorganisms.

Bacteria stimulate root hair growth in all plants that form root hairs, so the researchers examined the chemical interactions between bacteria inside root cells.

They found that bacteria are carried in seeds and absorbed from soils, then taken into root cells where they produce ethylene, a plant growth hormone that makes root cells grow root hairs. 

When the root hair grows, it ejects some of the bacteria back into the soil. Then the remaining bacteria in the root hairs replicate and trigger a growth spurt every 15 minutes until the hairs are fully developed.

Ethylene is also a stress hormone that causes plants to …