New role for a CEP peptide and its receptor: Complex control of lateral roots

Abstract

Optimized root system deployment should enable moreefficient nutrient acquisition and increased crop yields. C-TERMINALLY ENCODED PEPTIDE (CEP) hormones and their receptors, which regulate root growth, could be important in research with this aim. Roberts et al. (pages 4889-4899 in this issue) suggest that the full extent of CEP function and signalling is highly complex, and we emerge with a picture of CEPs and their known receptors being involved in long-distance and possibly more local regulatory networks.