posted on 2024-02-23, 05:42authored byLaura Cuyas, Pascale David, Damien de Craieye, Sophia NgSophia Ng, Mustapha Arkoun, Claude Plassard, Mohamadi Faharidine, Delphine Hourcade, Francesca Degan, Sylvain Pluchon, Laurent Nussaume
BACKGROUND: Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is the sole source of phosphorus for plants. It is a limiting factor for plant yield in most soils worldwide. Due to economic and environmental constraints, the use of Pi fertilizer is and will be more and more limited. Unfortunately, evaluation of Pi bioavailability or Pi starvation traits remains a tedious task, which often does not inform us about the real Pi plant status. RESULTS: Here, we identified by transcriptomic studies carried out in the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana, early roots- or leaves-conserved molecular markers for Pi starvation, exhibiting fast response to modifications of phosphate nutritional status. We identified their homologues in three crops (wheat, rapeseed, and maize) and demonstrated that they offer a reliable opportunity to monitor the actual plant internal Pi status. They turn out to be very sensitive in the concentration range of 0-50 µM which is the most common case in the vast majority of soils and situations where Pi hardly accumulates in plants. Besides in vitro conditions, they could also be validated for plants growing in the greenhouse or in open field conditions. CONCLUSION: These markers provide valuable physiological tools for plant physiologists and breeders to assess phosphate bio-availability impact on plant growth in their studies. This also offers the opportunity to cope with the rising economical (shortage) and societal problems (pollution) resulting from the management of this critical natural resource.
Funding
This project (Phyto-P) was supported by DRF impulsion program from the CEA. Part of this work was conducted under the ANR Forage and Ultim, supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR 18-CE43 et ANR 21-CE06).