Loshchilov, IlyaDel Dottore, EmanuelaMazzolai, BarbaraFloreano, Dario2021-07-132021-07-132021-07-132021-05-2610.1371/journal.pone.0252202https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/179864The plant root system shows remarkably complex behaviors driven by environmental cues and internal dynamics, whose interplay remains largely unknown. A notable example is circumnutation growth movements, which are growth oscillations from side to side of the root apex. Here we describe a model capable of replicating root growth behaviors, which we used to analyze the role of circumnuntations, revealing their emergence I) under gravitropic stress, as a combination of signal propagation and sensitivity to the signal carriers; II) as a result of the interplay between gravitropic and thigmotropic responses; and III) as a behavioral strategy to detect and react to resource gradients. The latter function requires the presence of a hypothetical internal oscillator whose parameters are regulated by the perception of environmental resources.text::journal::journal article::research article