Plant Response to Mineral Ion Availability: Transcriptome Responses to Sulfate, Selenium and Iron

Abstract

The response of plants to sulfate starvation has been described at the level of agronomy, physiology, biochemistry, metabolomics and transcriptomics. The aim of these studies was the description of regulatory and control processes governing plant response to sulfate nutrient stress. However, these results are impaired by pleiotropic responses seemingly overlapping with the response to other mineral nutrient ion starvations or effects of soil borne ions taken up by the plant. This paper suggests making use of these often overlapping responses to various ions in order to distinguish between specific and pleiotropic effects. Here we compare sulfate starvation, iron depletion, and selenium exposure at the transcriptome level.