Led by Michelle Watt, the Adrienne Clarke Professorial Chair of Botany, making discoveries about the root systems of plants, and applying those discoveries to engineering plant systems that sustain healthy life on Earth and in future in space.
Plant roots are the foundation of plants by supplying water and nutrients to the leaves and carbon to the soil, and plants are the foundation of humanity. We share our new knowledge and technologies through publishing, going to conferences, speaking with industry and the public, and creating of plant types to save water, land and energy.
News and events
Network and collaborators
Contact
For enquiries, please email Professor Michelle Watt - watt.m@unimelb.edu.au
Meet the Watt Lab Group developing plants adapted to space, drought or to sequester carbon.
The Watt Lab
Cassie Watts
Janine Oldfield
Siwei (Eliza) Guo
Aspen and Eris
Past Staff and Students
Elijah Wilson
Cody Hajnal
Sneha Rajackal Senthil Vel
Selena Wiesel
Ryan Cheney
Romane Charbeaux
Plants for Space
How can plants be optimised for astronauts in a lab or martian environment?
An exciting and rapidly emerging area for biology is life in Space. By 2040 people will be living on Mars- scientifically, this is the near horizon and well within the lifetime of our students and early career scientists. My group has joined an ambitious international collaboration led by Australian scientists to design and make plants for space habitation with many upcoming events.
Plants are the most efficient systems to provide sustainable food and other chemical materials using energy from the sun. Plants for space must be highly water and space efficient, be able to use recycled waste, and be 100% harvestable for products. They must also provide the psychological benefits known to us on Earth. We are pushing the boundaries of plant diversity and biotechnology to create plants for space.
Water
Water for plant growth and yield production first needs to be accessed and taken up by the plant roots. Water is the most precious resource for agriculture and natural systems, and the frequency and intensity of water for plants is changing due to climate.
We discover how root systems of plants take up water in the dynamic rainfall patterns of Australia. Plant roots and their associated microbiomes constantly adapt at the cellular and developmental levels to take up water. With microbiologists and fluidic scientists, we image, mathematically model, and optimise dynamics of root uptake of variable water supplies.
Our research generates new knowledge that we publish and new designs for plant types that save water, land, and energy for the environment and farming systems.
Technologies include time live imaging, miniature ecosystems that fit under a microscope, and 4D visualisation of roots in soil using computed tomography, working with the Melbourne Brain Imaging Centre Unit. We study Australian native plants, crops, and model plants.
These projects are funded by the Australian Research Council and the National Imaging Facility.
Carbon sequestration
Roots are the first input of carbon into soil, but are the ‘missing half’ of terrestrial carbon accounting because they are out of sight of the human eye. We see a large untapped opportunity to engineer plant roots to increase soil carbon.
Using biotechnology, we are engineering plant root cells to sequester carbon longer in soils. Synthetic biology gives up the tools to switch on or off carbon biochemical pathways in specific cells of roots, at specific times in the crop life.
We aim to design and provide the gene circuitry to plant breeders to make future crop plants that function above ground as normal for food and harvested products, but have roots with the dual function of taking up water and nutrients, as well as increasing soil carbon.
This area has received seed funding from the University of Melbourne E = mc2 program and we are currently looking for industry and philanthropic partners.
2025
Calabria, J., Wang, L., Rast-Somssich, M.I., Chen, H.W., Watt, M., Persson, S., Andersen, T.G., Idnurm, A. & Somssich, M., (2025). Resolving spatially distinct phytohormone response zones in Arabidopsis thaliana roots colonized by Fusarium oxysporum. Journal of Experimental Botany, p.erae516. Link
2024
Novak, V., Andeer, P., Bowen, B.P., Ding, Y., Zhalnina, K., Kosina, S.M., Dangl, J.L., Fitzpatrick, C., Watt, M., Calabria, J. & Schulze-Lefert, P., (2024). Advancing collaborative research in rhizosphere biology via standardized fabricated ecosystems (EcoFAB 2.0). Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 37(5), 131-132. Link
Novak, V., Andeer, P.F., King, E., Calabria, J., Fitzpatrick, C., Kelm, J.M., Wippel, K., Kosina, S.M., Daum, C., Zane, M. & Yadav, A., (2024). Multi-laboratory Study Establishes Reproducible Methods for Plant-Microbiome Research in Fabricated Ecosystems. bioRxiv, pp.2024-10. Link
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Lopez, G., Ahmadi, S. H., Amelung, W., Athmann, M., Ewert, F., Gaiser, T., Gocke, M. I., Kautz, T., Postma, J., Rachmilevitch, S., Schaaf, G., Schnepf, A., Stoschus, A., Watt, M., Yu, P., & Seidel, S. J. (2023). Nutrient deficiency effects on root architecture and root-to-shoot ratio in arable crops. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13. Link
Sanow, S., Kuang, W., Schaaf, G., Huesgen, P., Schurr, U., Roessner, U., Watt, M. & Arsova, B. (2023). Molecular mechanisms of Pseudomonas-assisted plant nitrogen uptake: Opportunities for modern agriculture. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 36(9), 536-548. Link
Nguyen, M. T. P., Knowling, M., Tran, N. N., Burgess, A., Fisk, I., Watt, M., Escribà-Gelonch, M., This, H., Culton, J. & Hessel, V. (2023). Space farming: Horticulture systems on spacecraft and outlook to planetary space exploration. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 194, 708-721 Link
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Rambla, C., Van Der Meer, S., Voss-Fels, K. P., Makhoul, M., Obermeier, C., Snowdon, R., Ober, E. S., Watt, M., Alahmad, S., & Hickey, L. T. (2022). A toolkit to rapidly modify root systems through single plant selection. Plant Methods, 18(1). Link
Macabuhay, A., Arsova, B., Watt, M., Nagel, K. A., Lenz, H., Putz, A., Adels, S., Müller-Linow, M., Kelm, J., Johnson, A. A. T., Walker, R., Schaaf, G., & Roessner, U. (2022). Plant Growth Promotion and Heat Stress Amelioration in Arabidopsis Inoculated with Paraburkholderia phytofirmans PsJN Rhizobacteria Quantified with the GrowScreen-Agar II Phenotyping Platform. Plants, 11(21), 2927. Link
Kuang, W., Sanow, S., Kelm, J. M., Müller Linow, M., Andeer, P., Kohlheyer, D., Northen, T., Vogel, J. P., Watt, M., & Arsova, B. (2022). N-dependent dynamics of root growth and nitrate and ammonium uptake are altered by the bacterium Herbaspirillum seropedicae in the cereal model Brachypodium distachyon. Journal of Experimental Botany, 73(15), 5306–5321. Link
Kuppe, C. W., Schnepf, A., von Lieres, E., Watt, M., & Postma, J. A. (2022). Rhizosphere models: their concepts and application to plant-soil ecosystems. Plant and Soil, 474(1-2), 17–55. Link
Pflugfelder, D., Kochs, J., Koller, R., Jahnke, S., Mohl, C., Pariyar, S., Fassbender, H., Nagel, K. A., Watt, M., & van Dusschoten, D. (2021). The root system architecture of wheat establishing in soil is associated with varying elongation rates of seminal roots: quantification using 4D magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Experimental Botany, 73(7), 2050–2060. Link
Mau, L., Junker, S., Bochmann, H., Mihiret, Y. E., Kelm, J. M., Schrey, S. D., Roessner, U., Schaaf, G., Watt, M., Kant, J., & Arsova, B. (2022). Root Growth and Architecture of Wheat and Brachypodium Vary in Response to Algal Fertilizer in Soil and Solution. Agronomy, 12(2), 285. Link
Macabuhay, A., Arsova, B., Walker, R., Johnson, A., Watt, M., & Roessner, U. (2022). Modulators or facilitators? Roles of lipids in plant root–microbe interactions. Trends in Plant Science, 27(2), 180–190. Link
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Kawasaki, A., Dennis, P. G., Forstner, C., Raghavendra, A. K. H., Mathesius, U., Richardson, A. E., Delhaize, E., Gilliham, M., Watt, M., & Ryan, P. R. (2021). Manipulating exudate composition from root apices shapes the microbiome throughout the root system. Plant Physiology, 187(4). Link
Pariyar, S. R., Nagel, K. A., Lentz, J., Galinski, A., Wilhelm, J., Putz, A., Adels, S., Heinz, K., Frohberg, C., & Watt, M. (2021). Variation in Root System Architecture among the Founder Parents of Two 8-way MAGIC Wheat Populations for Selection in Breeding. Agronomy, 11(12), 2452. Link
Amini, S., Arsova, B., Gobert, S., Carnol, M., Bosman, B., Motte, P., Watt, M., & Hanikenne, M. (2021). Transcriptional regulation of ZIP genes is independent of local zinc status in Brachypodium shoots upon zinc deficiency and resupply. Plant, Cell & Environment, 44(10), 3376–3397. Link
Schillaci, M., Kehelpannala, C., Martinez-Seidel, F., Smith, P. M. C., Arsova, B., Watt, M., & Roessner, U. (2021). The Metabolic Response of Brachypodium Roots to the Interaction with Beneficial Bacteria Is Affected by the Plant Nutritional Status. Metabolites, 11(6), 358. Link
Ober, E. S., Alahmad, S., Cockram, J., Forestan, C., Hickey, L. T., Kant, J., Maccaferri, M., Marr, E., Milner, M., Pinto, F., Rambla, C., Reynolds, M., Salvi, S., Sciara, G., Snowdon, R. J., Thomelin, P., Tuberosa, R., Uauy, C., Voss-Fels, K. P., & Wallington, E. (2021). Wheat root systems as a breeding target for climate resilience. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 134. Link
Kawasaki, A., Dennis, P. G., Forstner, C., Raghavendra, A. K. H., Richardson, A. E., Watt, M., Mathesius, U., Gilliham, M., & Ryan, P. R. (2021). The microbiomes on the roots of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and rice (Oryza sativa L.) exhibit significant differences in structure between root types and along root axes. Functional Plant Biology, 48(9), 871. Link
He, F., Thiele, B., Kraus, D., Bouteyine, S., Watt, M., Kraska, T., & Kuhn, A. J. (2021). Effects of Short-Term Root Cooling before Harvest on Yield and Food Quality of Chinese Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. Alboglabra Bailey). Agronomy, 11(3), 577. Link
Mau, L., Kant, J., Walker, R., Kuchendorf, C. M., Schrey, S. D., Roessner, U. & Watt, M. (2021). Wheat Can Access Phosphorus From Algal Biomass as Quickly and Continuously as From Mineral Fertilizer. Frontiers in Plant Science, 12, 14. Link
Mathesius, U., Jin, J., Li, Y., & Watt, M. (2021). Understanding and improving crop root function (1st ed., pp. 163–194). Cambridge, Uk Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing.
Schultes, S., Rüger, L., Metzner, R., Pflugfelder, D., van Dusschoten, D., Hinz, C., Bonkwoski, M., Watt, M., Koller, R., & Knief, C. (2021). Linking root carbon partitioning to inter-kingdom microbial variation in the maize rhizosphere. JuSER, FZJ-2022-00410.
Schillaci, M., Arsova, B., Walker, R., Smith, P. M. C., Nagel, K. A., Roessner, U., & Watt, M. (2021). Time-resolution of the shoot and root growth of the model cereal Brachypodium in response to inoculation with Azospirillum bacteria at low phosphorus and temperature. Plant Growth Regulation, 93(1), 149–162. Link
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Watt, M., Fiorani, F., Usadel, B., Rascher, U., Muller, O., & Schurr, U. (2020). Phenotyping: New Windows into the Plant for Breeders. Annual review of plant biology, 71. Link
Severini, A. D., Wasson, A. P., Evans, J. R., Richards, R. A., & Watt, M. (2020). Root phenotypes at maturity in diverse wheat and triticale genotypes grown in three field experiments: Relationships to shoot selection, biomass, grain yield, flowering time, and environment. Field Crops Research, 255, 107870. Link
Gupta, S., Schillaci, M., Walker, R., Smith, P. M. C., Watt, M., & Roessner, U. (2020). Alleviation of salinity stress in plants by endophytic plant-fungal symbiosis: Current knowledge, perspectives and future directions. Plant and Soil, 461, 219–244. Link
Rich, S. M., Christopher, J., Richards, R., & Watt, M. (2020). Root phenotypes of young wheat plants grown in controlled environments show inconsistent correlation with mature root traits in the field. Journal of Experimental Botany. Link
He, F., Thiele, B., Santhiraraja-Abresch, S., Watt, M., Kraska, T., Ulbrich, A., & Kuhn, A. J. (2020). Effects of Root Temperature on the Plant Growth and Food Quality of Chinese Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra Bailey). Agronomy, 10(5), 702. Link
Arsova, B., Sanow, S., Schillaci, M., Kuang, W., Huesgen, P., Sarkar, D., Zuccaro, A., Roessner, U., & Watt, M. (2020). From the root’s point of view: understanding the plant response to beneficial microbes, with primary aim of improved plant nutrient uptake. EGU General Assembly 2020. Link
Pflugfelder, D., Kochs, J., Koller, R., Jahnke, S., Mohl, C., Faßbender, H., Schurr, U., Watt, M., & van Dusschoten, D. (2020). Genotypic differences in early wheat seedling establishment in natural soil investigated using non-invasive 3D magnetic resonance imaging. JuSER, FZJ-2020-01709.
Tracy, S. R., Nagel, K. A., Postma, J. A., Fassbender, H., Wasson, A., & Watt, M. (2020). Crop improvement from phenotyping roots: Highlights reveal expanding opportunities. Trends in plant science, 25(1), 105-118. Link
Wasson, A. P., Nagel, K. A., Tracy, S., & Watt, M. (2020). Beyond digging: noninvasive root and rhizosphere phenotyping. Trends in plant science, 25(1), 119-120. Link
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Arsova, B., Foster, K. J., Shelden, M. C., Bramley, H., & Watt, M. (2019). Dynamics in plant roots and shoots minimize stress, save energy and maintain water and nutrient uptake. New Phytologist, 225(3). Link
Munns, R., Day, D. A., Fricke, W., Watt, M., Arsova, B., Barkla, B. J., Bose, J., Byrt, C. S., Chen, Z., Foster, K. J., Gilliham, M., Henderson, S. W., Jenkins, C. L. D., Kronzucker, H. J., Miklavcic, S. J., Plett, D., Roy, S. J., Shabala, S., Shelden, M. C., & Soole, K. L. (2019). Energy costs of salt tolerance in crop plants. New Phytologist, 225(3), 1072–1090. Link
Correa, J., Postma, J. A., Watt, M., & Wojciechowski, T. (2019). Soil compaction and the architectural plasticity of root systems. Journal of Experimental Botany, 70(21), 6019–6034. Link
Sasse, J., Kant, J., Cole, B. J., Klein, A. P., Arsova, B., Schlaepfer, P., Gao, J., Lewald, K., Zhalnina, K., Kosina, S., Bowen, B. P., Treen, D., Vogel, J., Visel, A., Watt, M., Dangl, J. L & Northern, T. R. (2019). Multilab EcoFAB study shows highly reproducible physiology and depletion of soil metabolites by a model grass. New Phytologist, 222(2), 1149-1160. Link
Mau, L., Kant, J., Klose, H., Kuchendorf, C., Nedbal, L., Roessner, U., & Watt, M. (2019). The effects of algae fertilizer on wheat root morphology elucidated using modeling, phenotyping and metabolomics. Rhizosphere 5, FZJ-2020-00446.
Arsova, B., Sanow, S., Schillaci, M., kuang, Huesgen, P., Roessner, U., & Watt, M. (2019). The impact of beneficial microbes on Brachypodium nutrient uptake under limiting supplies of nitrogen and phosphorus, monitored with non-invasive phenotyping and molecular approaches. miCROPe, FZJ-2019-05662.
Sanow, S., Arsova, B., Demir, F., kuang, Huesgen, P., & Watt, M. (2019). P. koreensis: A plant growth-promoting bacterium for Brachypodium distachyon growing with limited nitrogen. 4th International Brachypodium Conference, FZJ-2020-00636.
He, F., Thiele, B., Watt, M., Kraska, T., Ulbrich, A., & Kuhn, A. J. (2019). Effects of root cooling on plant growth and fruit quality of cocktail tomato during two consecutive seasons. Journal of food quality, 2019. Link
Mau, L., Kant, J., Klose, H., Kuchendorf, C., Nedbal, L., Roessner, U., & Watt, M. (2019a). The effects of algae fertilizer on wheat root morphology. Transatlantic Summer School – Frontiers in Plant Sciences, FZJ-2020-00641.
Amini, S., Arsova, B., Watt, M., & Hanikenne, M. (2019, June 1). Whole Plant Phenotyping and Molecular Identification of Zn Transporters During Zn Deficiency and Excess in Brachypodium distachyon. Brachypodium Conference 2019.
Arsova, B., Amini, S., Aldous, S. H., Stühler, K., Westhoff, P., Scheepers, M., Baiwir, D., Mazzucchelli, G., Hanikenne, M., & Watt, M. (2019). Dynamics of plant protein regulation upon nutrient uptake or diurnal cycle monitored by targeted and untargeted proteomics. 6th International Congress on Analytical Proteomics, FZJ-2019-05660.
Correa, J., Postma, J. A., Watt, M., & Wojciechowski, T. (2019). Root system architectural plasticity and soil compaction: a review. J. Exp. Bot., 70, 6019-6034. Link
Arsova, B., Amini, S., Scheepers, M., Baiwir, D., Mazzucchelli, G., Carnol, M., Bosman, B., Motte, P., de Pauw, E., Watt, M., & Hanikenne, M. (2019). Resolution of the proteome, transcript and ionome dynamics upon Zn re-supply in Zn-deficient Arabidopsis. Link
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Tyerman, S. D., Munns, R., Fricke, W., Arsova, B., Barkla, B. J., Bose, J., Bramley, H., Byrt, C., Chen, Z., Colmer, T. D., Cuin, T., Day, D. A., Foster, Kylie J., Gilliham, M., Henderson, S. W., Horie, T., Jenkins, C. L. D., Kaiser, B. N., Katsuhara, M., & Plett, D. (2018). Energy costs of salinity tolerance in crop plants. New Phytologist, 221(1), 25–29. Link
Kawasaki, A., Okada, S., Zhang, C., Delhaize, E., Mathesius, U., Richardson, A. E., Watt, M., Gilliham, M & Ryan, P. R. (2018). A sterile hydroponic system for characterising root exudates from specific root types and whole-root systems of large crop plants. Plant methods, 14(1), 1-13. Link
Arsova, B., Watt, M., & Usadel, B. (2018). Monitoring of plant protein post-translational modifications using targeted proteomics. Frontiers in plant science, 9, 1168. Link
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Donn, S., Kawasaki, A., Delroy, B., Chochois, V., Watt, M., & Powell, J. R. (2017). Root type is not an important driver of mycorrhizal colonisation in Brachypodium distachyon. Pedobiologia, 65, 5-15. Link
Postma, J. A., Kuppe, C., Owen, M. R., Mellor, N., Griffiths, M., Bennett, M. J., Lynch, J. P., & Watt, M. (2017). OpenSimRoot: widening the scope and application of root architectural models. New Phytologist, 215(3), 1274-1286. Link
Carminati, A., Passioura, J. B., Zarebanadkouki, M., Ahmed, M. A., Ryan, P. R., Watt, M., & Delhaize, E. (2017). Root hairs enable high transpiration rates in drying soils. New Phytologist, 216(3), 771-781. Link
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Kawasaki, A., Donn, S., Ryan, P. R., Mathesius, U., Devilla, R., Jones, A., & Watt, M. (2016). Microbiome and exudates of the root and rhizosphere of Brachypodium distachyon, a model for wheat. PloS one, 11(10), e0164533. Link
Gioia, T., Galinski, A., Lenz, H., Müller, C., Lentz, J., Heinz, K., Briese, C., Putz, A., Fiorani, F., Watt, M., Schurr, U., & Nagel, K. A. (2017). GrowScreen-PaGe, a non-invasive, high-throughput phenotyping system based on germination paper to quantify crop phenotypic diversity and plasticity of root traits under varying nutrient supply. Functional Plant Biology, 44(1), 76-93. Link
Ryan, P. R., Delhaize, E., Watt, M., & Richardson, A. E. (2016). Plant roots: understanding structure and function in an ocean of complexity. Link
Rich, S. M., Wasson, A. P., Richards, R. A., Katore, T., Prashar, R., Chowdhary, R., Saxena, D.C., Mamrutha, H. M., Zwart, A., Misra, S. C., Sai Prasad, S. V., Chatrath, R., Cristopher, J., & Watt, M. (2016). Wheats developed for high yield on stored soil moisture have deep vigorous root systems. Functional Plant Biology, 43(2), 173-188. Link
Schneebeli, K., Mathesius, U., Zwart, A. B., Bragg, J. N., Vogel, J. P., & Watt, M. (2016). Brachypodium distachyon genotypes vary in resistance to Rhizoctonia solani AG8. Functional plant biology, 43(2), 189-198. Link
Wasson, A., Bischof, L., Zwart, A., & Watt, M. (2016). A portable fluorescence spectroscopy imaging system for automated root phenotyping in soil cores in the field. Journal of Experimental Botany, 67(4), 1033-1043. Link
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Chochois, V., Vogel, J. P., Rebetzke, G. J., & Watt, M. (2015). Variation in adult plant phenotypes and partitioning among seed and stem-borne roots across Brachypodium distachyon accessions to exploit in breeding cereals for well-watered and drought environments. Plant Physiology, 168(3), 953-967. Link
Nagel, K. A., Bonnett, D., Furbank, R., Walter, A., Schurr, U., & Watt, M. (2015). Simultaneous effects of leaf irradiance and soil moisture on growth and root system architecture of novel wheat genotypes: implications for phenotyping. Journal of experimental botany, 66(18), 5441-5452.
Fitzgerald, T. L., Powell, J. J., Schneebeli, K., Hsia, M. M., Gardiner, D. M., Bragg, J. N., McIntyre, C. L. Manners, J. M., Ayliffe, M., Watt, M., Vogel, J. P., Henry, R. J. & Kazan, K (2015). Brachypodium as an emerging model for cereal–pathogen interactions. Annals of Botany, 115(5), 717-731. Link
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Schneebeli, K., Mathesius, U., & Watt, M. (2014). B rachypodium distachyon is a pathosystem model for the study of the wheat disease rhizoctonia root rot. Plant Pathology, 64(1), 91-100. Link
Donn, S., Kirkegaard, J. A., Perera, G., Richardson, A. E., & Watt, M. (2014). Evolution of bacterial communities in the wheat crop rhizosphere. Environmental microbiology, 17(3), 610-621. Link