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Tracy Valentine

Staff picture: Tracy Valentine
Ecological Sciences
Ecological Sciences
Research Leader Plant:Soils interactions
tracy.valentine@hutton.ac.uk
+44 (0)344 928 5428 (*)

The James Hutton Institute
Invergowrie
Dundee DD2 5DA
Scotland UK

 

Tracy has over 20 years experience in applied and basic research at the plant root:soils interface. Utilising both image analysis and molecular based methods she has investigated processes and impacts of soil management on plant root growth and development, and root soil biological and physical interactions with the aim of understanding how to improve crop genotypes and management systems, via increasing knowledge of root:soil biological and physical processes at a range of scales.

Current research interests

  • • Understanding how changes in agriculture impact on the performance of crop plants, as well as the impact of the management on soils is key to developing more sustainable farming practices in terms of crop yield, long-term soils sustainability and farm income sustainability.
    • Research includes:
    o Mechanistic understanding of the individual root elongations
    o Phenotyping of root traits including root architecture
    o Mechanistic understanding of root interactions with soil structure
    o Understanding impact of crop management (e.g. soil tillage and crop rotations) on soil and root:soil interactions
    o High resolution and multispectral imaging and image analysis
    o Whole plant phenotyping and
    o Impact of soil restrictions on plant performance and ecosystem impacts
    o Impact of crop cultivar variation on root:soil interactions.
    o Utilisation of confocal microscopy and computer vision techniques to develop tools for measuring cell expansion, seed biology and root elongation.
     

Past research

  • Movement, replication and suppression of Tobacco mosaic virus and Tobacco rattle virus in tobacco and Arabidopsis. Utilisation of Tobacco rattle virus as a vector for inducing gene silencing of endogenous root development genes (Mylnefield Research Services).
  • Growth and development effects of cell wall carbohydrates (University College London)

Bibliography

Scientific Posters / Conferences

AttachmentSize
File Role of border cells in root growth and rhizosphere interactions 420.13 KB
File Computer visualisation and modelling of plant morphogenesis: Optical flow analysis of time-lapse confocal microscopy images 209.85 KB
File Root growth responses to soil physical properties 192.39 KB
File Genetic variation and interactions of root traits involved in plant:soil physical interactions 134.99 KB
File Plant growth responses to soil physical constraints 203.87 KB
File PlantVis: Quantitative motion analysis of time-lapse confocal laser scanning microscopy images: application to plant root growth 962.38 KB
File Quantitative analysis of root responses to multiple physical constraints: effects of soil pore structure 629.95 KB
File Development of a system for 3D optical imaging of root systems in a heterogeneous, refractive index matched media 162.62 KB
File Development of Methods for Visualising Root-Particle Interactions 4.45 MB
File Defining the soil for controlled environments and in the field : SCRI examples 897 KB
File How do cultivar mixtures perform under defined soil tillage regimes? 411.09 KB
File How does root morphology and response to nutrients relate to life history traits in ecotypes of Capsella bursa-pastoris? 277.99 KB
File Does root morphology and nutrient acquisition explain life history traits in ecotypes of Capsella bursa-pastoris? 175.16 KB
File Viral-induced gene silencing (VIGS) vector development for functional studies in crop plants 154.46 KB
File Viral-induced gene silencing (VIGS) vector development for functional studies in Solanaceae 192.55 KB
File Efficient viral-induced gene silencing in roots using a modified tobacco rattle virus 103.48 KB
File Root growth responses to soil physical conditions 125.51 KB
File Computer visualisation and modelling of plant morphogenesis: In-vivo segmentation and tracking of cells using confocal microscopy 230.65 KB
File Wheat root ideotypes for improved resource use in reduced input agriculture
832.65 KB

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The James Hutton Research Institute is the result of the merger in April 2011 of MLURI and SCRI. This merger formed a new powerhouse for research into food, land use, and climate change.