The efficiency of water uptake by plants from the soil is shaped by root system architecture and influenced by anatomical features, such as hydrophobic barriers and aerenchyma formation. While root architecture determines the spatial distribution of roots, root anatomy influences local hydraulic properties like radial and axial conductances. Water movement through root tissues occurs via apoplastic and cell-to-cell pathways. Apoplastic flow can be blocked by hydrophobic barriers like lignin and suberin, while cell-to-cell flow is regulated by plasmodesmata and aquaporins. These features collectively define radial conductivity and axial conductance, which are crucial for estimating a plant’s water uptake capacity. While these hydraulic properties have been extensively studied in monocotyledons, there is a knowledge gap regarding woody dicotyledons, such as tomato. Dicots present significant anatomical differences, including secondary growth and different hydrophobic deposition patterns, which can substantially impact hydraulic dynamics. Here we use computational models to investigate how anatomical features (namely tissue formation, hydrophobic depositions and aquaporin contribution) influence root hydraulic properties in tomato, used here as a model species. We characterized the root anatomy of 30-day-old tomato plants and developed a secondary growth module to a generator of root anatomy. We also monitored suberin and lignin deposition in the endodermis and exodermis, establishing a spatiotemporal atlas of their maturation, coupled with recent literature data. We used a hydraulic solver of root anatomy hydraulics to estimate local hydraulic properties and conducted in silico analysis to assess the impact of various factors on root hydraulic conductance and water uptake profiles. This research provides valuable insights into the hydraulic dynamics of dicotyledonous roots.
D'Agostino et al. (Wed,) studied this question.