Marcel Baer worked during his PhD program on the cloning and functional characterization of the lrt1 gene, which controls lateral root formation in maize.

Marcel Baer and Graziana Taramino et al. published a paper on cloning and characterization of the maize lrt1 gene: Maize lateral rootless 1 encodes a homolog of the DCAF protein subunit of the CUL4-based E3 ubiquitin ligase complex

Li Guo and Alina Klaus joined over 170 barley researchers and plant breeders in a five days symposium with scientific talks, workshops, entertainment and Latvian hospitality.

On June 22nd we made our lab trip to the Drachenfels.

Lucie Averkorn received the award for young scientists for her bachelor thesis by the Deutsche Maiskomitee eV (DMK).

Plant science colloquium with Dr. Caroline Marcon on "BonnMu – a resource of transposon-induced maize mutations for functional genetics studies" via Zoom on Friday, April 1 at 12 c.t.

Dr. Peng Yu will give a talk within the PhenoRob Seminar Series next Friday at 10 AM on "Genetic basis of root-microbiome association in maize".

The importance of the root system for agricultural yields is often underestimated. Whether roots can access water and nutrients effectively also determines the resilience of important crops to drought and climate change. Researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Bologna (Italy) have discovered and described a mutant in barley: Its roots grow downwards much more sharply than usual. This discovery potentially provides a starting point for breeding more drought-resistant varieties. The study has now been published in PNAS.