Plant phosphate nutrition: sensing the stress

Plant Phosphate Nutrition and Environmental Challenges

Regulation of Plant Mineral Nutrition: Transport, Sensing and Signaling

Limitation in crop yield productivity significantly contributes to the pressing problem of food security and malnutrition worldwide. [...].

Apyrase functions in plant phosphate nutrition and mobilizes phosphate from extracellular ATP.

ATP, which is present in the extracellular matrix of multicellular organisms and in the extracellular fluid of unicellular organisms, has been shown to function as a signaling molecule in animals. The concentration of extracellular ATP (xATP) is known to be functionally modulated in part by ectoapyrases, membrane-associated proteins that cleave the gamma- and beta-phosphates on xATP. We present...

Chemical sensing of plant stress at the ecosystem scale

Significant ecosystem-scale emissions of methylsalicylate (MeSA), a semivolatile plant hormone thought to act as the mobile signal for systemic acquired resistance (SAR), were observed in an agroforest. Our measurements show that plant internal defence mechanisms can be activated in response to temperature stress and are modulated by water availability on large scales. Highest MeSA fluxes (up t...

Plant Response to Stress: Biochemical Adaptations to Phosphate Deficiency

Phosphate (Pi) is an essential macronutrient that plays a central role in virtually all metabolic processes in plants, including photosynthesis and respiration. Despite its importance, Pi is one of the least available nutrients in many ecosystems, and is a frequent limiting factor for plant productivity. Although plentiful in the earth’s crust, soil Pi often exists in insoluble mineral forms th...