Growth Cost and Transport Efficiency Tradeoffs Define Root System Optimization Across Varying Developmental Stages and Environments in Arabidopsis

Faizi, Kian, Mehta, Preyanka, Maida, Amy, Humphreys, Taylor, Berrigan, Elizabeth, Reid, Leo McKee, McCorkell, Robbie, Tagade, Arush, Rumbelow, Jessica, Showalter, Julia, Brent, Lukas, Coroenne, Clementine, Rigaud, Audrey, Chandrasekhar, Arjun, Navlakha, Saket, Martin, Antoine, Pradal, Christophe, Lee, Sanghwa, Busch, Wolfgang, Platre, Matthieu Pierre (July 2025) Growth Cost and Transport Efficiency Tradeoffs Define Root System Optimization Across Varying Developmental Stages and Environments in Arabidopsis. bioRxiv. ISSN 2692-8205 (Submitted)

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Abstract

Root system architecture (RSA) is central to plant adaptation and fitness, yet the design principles and regulatory mechanisms connecting RSA to environmental adaptation are not well understood. We developed Ariadne, a semi-automated software for quantifying cost-efficiency tradeoffs of RSA by mapping root networks onto a Pareto-optimality framework, which describes the balance between resource transport efficiency and construction cost. Applying Ariadne to Arabidopsis thaliana, we found that root architectures consistently assume Pareto-optimal forms across developmental stages, genotypes, and environmental conditions. Using the Discovery Engine, an engine that combines machine learning together with interpretability techniques, we found developmental stage, the hy5/chl1-5 genotype, and manganese availability as important determinants of the cost-efficiency tradeoff, with manganese exerting a unique influence not observed for other nutrients. These results reveal that RSA plasticity is genetically constrained to cost-efficiency optimal configurations and that developmental and environmental factors shift RSA on the pareto front, with manganese acting as a strong modulator of the transport efficiency and construction cost balance.

Item Type:	Paper
Subjects:	organism description > plant > Arabidopsis organism description > plant
CSHL Authors:	Navlakha, Saket
Communities:	CSHL labs > Navlakha lab
SWORD Depositor:	CSHL Elements
Depositing User:	CSHL Elements
Date:	26 July 2025
Date Deposited:	26 Aug 2025 12:28
Last Modified:	26 Aug 2025 12:28
PMCID:	PMC12330678
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/41947

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