A tale of two players: the role of phosphate in iron and zinc homeostatic interactions

Iron and zinc homeostasis in plants: a matter of trade-offs

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Stanton C, Rodríguez-Celma J, Krämer U, Sanders D, Balk J. 2023. BRUTUS-LIKE (BTSL) E3 ligase-mediated fine-tuning of Fe regulation negatively affects Zn tolerance of Arabidopsis. Journal of Experimental Botany 74, 5767–5782.

Decrease in hemicellulose content and its retention of iron contributes to phosphorus deficiency alleviated iron deficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana

The physiological and molecular mechanisms between phosphorus (P) and iron (Fe) interactions are still elusive although they have been extensively investigated. In this study, we uncovered that limiting P supply could alleviate Fe deficiency in Arabidopsis (Col-0). Under Fe deficiency, P deficiency (-Fe-P) decreased cell wall Fe accumulation in root, but elevated Fe accumulation in the shoot, implying that the reduced Fe retention in the root cell wall may contribute to the P-deficiency-alleviated Fe deficiency in the shoot. On the other hand, increasing P supply could mimic the degree of Fe deficiency in terms of the expressions of genes induced after Fe deficient treatment. The components of the root cell wall showed that there was no distinction in the pectin content and the Fe retention in pectin between -Fe and -Fe-P treatments, while hemicellulose 1 content and Fe retained in it were decreased significantly in -Fe-P treatment as compared with -Fe treatment. The time-course experiment showed that decreasing cell wall retained Fe was mainly from the corresponding decrease in hemicellulose 1 retained Fe. Furthermore, the up-regulation of IRT1 expression in -Fe-P was obviously lower than -Fe. All these suggest that the P deficiency-induced decrease of hemicellulose 1 component leads to reutilization of root cell wall Fe and improvement of Fe nutrition in shoot in Fe deficient Arabidopsis. Our results provide a novel explanation of the interplay between Fe and P in Arabidopsis.

Plant-growth promotion by proteobacterial strains depends on the availability of phosphorus and iron in Arabidopsis thaliana plants

Phosphorus (as phosphate, Pi) and iron (Fe) are critical nutrients in plants that are often poorly available in the soil and can be microbially affected. This work aimed to evaluate how plant-rhizobacteria interaction changes due to different Pi or Fe nutritional scenarios and to study the underlying molecular mechanisms of the microbial modulation of these nutrients in plants. Thus, three proteobacteria (Paraburkholderia phytofirmans PsJN, Azospirillum brasilense Sp7, and Pseudomonas putida KT2440) were used to inoculate Arabidopsis seeds. Additionally, the seeds were exposed to a nutritional factor with the following levels for each nutrient: sufficient (control) or low concentrations of a highly soluble source or sufficient concentrations of a low solubility source. Then, the effects of the combinatorial factors were assessed in plant growth, nutrition, and genetic regulation. Interestingly, some bacterial effects in plants depended on the nutrient source (e.g., increased aerial zones induced by the strains), and others (e.g., decreased primary roots induced by Sp7 or KT2440) occurred regardless of the nutritional treatment. In the short-term, PsJN had detrimental effects on plant growth in the presence of the low-solubility Fe compound, but this was not observed in later stages of plant development. A thorough regulation of the phosphorus content was detected in plants independent of the nutritional treatment. Nevertheless, inoculation with KT2440 increased P content by 29% Pi-deficiency exposed plants. Conversely, the inoculation tended to decrease the Fe content in plants, suggesting a competition for this nutrient in the rhizosphere. The P-source also affected the effects of the PsJN strain in a double mutant of the phosphate starvation response (PSR). Furthermore, depending on the nutrient source, PsJN and Sp7 strains differentially regulated PSR and IAA- associated genes, indicating a role of these pathways in the observed differential phenotypical responses. In the case of iron, PsJN and SP7 regulated iron uptake-related genes regardless of the iron source, which may explain the lower Fe content in inoculated plants. Overall, the plant responses to these proteobacteria were not only influenced by the nutrient concentrations but also by their availabilities, the elapsed time of the interaction, and the specific identities of the beneficial bacteria. Graphical AbstractThe effects of the different nutritional and inoculation treatments are indicated for plant growth parameters (A), gene regulation (B) and phosphorus and iron content (C). Figures created with BioRender.com with an academic license.