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Food security is a pressing global problem, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which has depleted soils and frequent droughts. The long-term goal of this project is to improve ability of staple crops to grow in African soils by identifying genes involved in drought tolerance with a special emphasis on root architecture. We have developed technology that allows growing crop roots to be visualized non-invasively. Innovative image analysis approaches are being used to capture the three-dimensional complexity of root architecture. In collaboration with the Mitchell-Olds lab, these approaches will be used to analyze the genetic variation in naturally occurring cultivars and wild relatives to identify chromosomal regions (QTLs) involved in drought resistance. The underlying genes will be isolated and characterized. High throughput genome-wide profiling and quantitative modeling will be used to place genes in regulatory networks. The contribution of different allele combinations will be tested in multiple field environments. Our high throughput approach to quantitative root phenotyping is unique, as is our integration of systems biology, complex trait analysis, and plant breeding expertise.