{
  "id": 9416599,
  "title": "Potassium deficiency reinforces the endodermal but not the exodermal suberized barrier in maize seminal roots",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/potassium-deficiency-reinforces-the-endodermal-but-not-the-exodermal",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-23T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.21.753126v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Potassium (K) deficiency imposes a constraint on maize production, and its impact on suberized apoplastic barriers, particularly in seminal roots, has been uncertain. To investigate this, researchers grew maize under K deficiency in soil and at varying K concentrations in hydroponic solutions, using ABA and fluridone treatments. By analyzing seminal roots, they employed Fluorol Yellow 088 staining, tissue-resolved suberin chemistry, rubidium (Rb) flux, and RNA-sequencing with weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA).\n\nThe findings reveal that K deficiency selectively increases endodermal aliphatic suberin and eliminates endodermal passage cells in soil-grown roots, while exodermal suberin remains unchanged. Despite high K influx, root-to-shoot Rb translocation dropped significantly, indicating K retention. This suggests a connection between the suberin biosynthetic genes and several K transport genes, with the suberin program responding to exogenous ABA, demonstrating ABA-dependent co-regulation.\n\nBoth soil and hydroponic systems resulted in the same endodermis-specific anatomical response. The endodermal barrier, but not the exodermal barrier, was reinforced, limiting K leakage from the stele in maize roots. This tissue-specific plasticity points to the endodermal suberin biosynthesis program and its coordination with K uptake as a target for enhancing K use efficiency in maize.",
  "summary": "Potassium (K) deficiency is a widespread constraint on maize production, yet how it influences the suberized apoplastic barriers that control radial K transport in roots, and whether the endodermis and the constitutively suberized exodermis respond differently, has remained unclear. We grew maize under K deficiency in soil and across a hydroponic K gradient, with abscisic acid (ABA) and fluridone…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}