Complex responses to lack of nutrients.
Plants have evolved sophisticated responses to cope with nutrient deficiencies and to free up resources. These responses often vary from one lacking nutrient to another. Phosphate (Pi) and iron (Fe) deficiency, for example, induce overlapping but mostly opposing transcriptional and root growth responses in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. On the metabolite level, Fe deficiency induces accumulation of coumarin. Pi deficiency in turn negatively modulates this metabolic response. IPB researchers have now studied in more detail the impact of Fe availability on seedling growth and metabolic responses under Pi limiting conditions.
First, the scientists observed that Fe deficiency hardly changed growth and metabolite profiles in roots and shoots of Arabidopsis thaliana when Pi was sufficiently available. Under conditions of Pi starvation, however, Fe deficiency conditions partially rescued the impaired seedling growth. Furthermore, the researchers analyzed how Fe deficiency affects systemic Pi deficiency responses by examining the content of various amino acids and organic acids in the plants. Their results showed that Fe deficiency severely modulated Pi deficiency-induced metabolic adjustments. Next, to better understand the involvement of various known regulators of Pi and Fe deficiency responses, they studied eight mutants affected in those regulators in terms of growth and metabolite profiles. This detailed analysis revealed a complex picture of metabolic changes and provides a deeper understanding of the different role of each player in the starvation response. Their results highlight how Pi and Fe availability influence each other and how Pi and Fe signals interact in generating complex plant metabolite profiles.
Original publication:
Chutia, R.; Scharfenberg, S.; Neumann, S.; Abel, S.; Ziegler, J. Modulation of Phosphate Deficiency-Induced Metabolic Changes by Iron Availability in Arabidopsis thaliana. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22, 7609. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22147609
