Share New genetic data could help food crops like tomatoes and rice survive longer, more intense periods of drought on our warming planet. The data provides a molecular atlas of crop roots, published by an international team of plant biologists. Over the course of the last decade, an international research team sought to create a molecular atlas of crop roots. The team focused on plants roots, as this is where plants first detect the effects of drought and other environmental threats. The researchers uncovered genes that scientists can use to protect the plants from these stresses. Their work, published in the journal Cell external link achieved a high degree of understanding of the root functions. “With this molecular plant atlas, we gain huge insights in what defines a certain cell, and what its genetic underpinnings are’, says Kaisa Kajala, plant biologist at Utrecht University.