Faculty

Kathleen Brown

Professor of Plant Stress Biology

220 Tyson
University Park, PA

Email kbe@psu.edu
Phone 814-863-2260

Overview

Regulation of root development. Root responses to edaphic stress. Identification and genetic mapping of traits for adaptation to edaphic stress.

Centers & Institutes

Plant Institute

Although this method of identifying deep-rooting plants was accomplished with corn, shown here on a cloudy summer morning growing at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center, it can be used with all plants, the researchers said. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

March 19, 2024

Novel method to measure root depth may lead to more resilient crops

Cross sections of corn roots showing genetic variation for aerenchyma formation, which converts living cells to air space. Now that researchers have found the gene associated with the phenotype, it can be a plant-breeding target. Credit: Tania Galindo Castaneda. All Rights Reserved.

March 16, 2023

Discovery of root anatomy gene may lead to breeding more resilient corn crops

These images of root architecture in the field show the cipk15 mutant corn genotype had significantly steeper angles compared to the wildtype genotype. Plants were grown in low nitrogen conditions. The mutant corn line that produced the root on the right lacks a gene that regulates root growth. IMAGE: HANNAH SCHNEIDER/PENN STATE

July 28, 2021

Researchers identify a gene that regulates the angle of root growth in corn

Called multiseriate cortical sclerenchyma by the researchers — or MCS — the phenotype is characterized by small cells with thick walls just beneath the surface of the roots, as shown by these images captured by the researchers using laser ablation tomography. Roots with the MCS genotype have a greater concentration of lignin — an organic polymer that lends rigidity. IMAGE: HANNAH SCHNEIDER/PENN STATE

February 01, 2021

Newly discovered trait helps plants grow deeper roots in dry, compacted soils

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