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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Nutrition
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1408141

A multi-omics insight on the interplay between iron deficiency and N forms in tomato

Provisionally accepted
Arianna Lodovici Arianna Lodovici 1Sara Buoso Sara Buoso 1Begoña Miras-Moreno Begoña Miras-Moreno 2,3Luigi Lucini Luigi Lucini 2Nicola Tomasi Nicola Tomasi 1*Pascual García-Pérez Pascual García-Pérez 2Roberto Pinton Roberto Pinton 1Laura Zanin Laura Zanin 1
  • 1 University of Udine, Udine, Italy
  • 2 Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Piacenza, Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
  • 3 University of Murcia, Murcia, Murcia, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Nitrogen (N) and iron (Fe) are involved in several biochemical processes in living organisms, and their limited bioavailability is a strong constraint for plant growth and yield. This work investigated the interplay between Fe and N nutritional pathways in tomato plants kept under N and Fe deficiency and then resupplied with Fe and N (as nitrate, ammonium, or urea) through a physiological, metabolomics and gene expression study.After 24 hours of Fe resupply, the Fe concentration in Fe-deficient roots was dependent on the applied N form (following the pattern: nitrate > urea > ammonium > Fe-deficient control), and whereas in leaves of urea treated plants the Fe concentration was lower in comparison to the other N forms. Untargeted metabolomics pointed out distinctive modulations of plant metabolism in a treatment-dependent manner. Overall, N-containing metabolites were affected by the treatments in both leaves and roots, while N form significantly shaped the phytohormone profile. Moreover, the simultaneous application of Fe with N to Fe-deficient plants elicited secondary metabolites' accumulation, such as phenylpropanoids, depending on the applied N form (mainly by urea, followed by nitrate and ammonium).After 4 hours of treatment, ammonium-and urea-treated roots showed a reduction of enzymatic activity of Fe(III)-chelate reductase (FCR), compared to nitrate or N-depleted plants (maintained in Fe deficiency, where FCR was maintained at high levels). The response of nitrate-treated plants leads to the improvement of Fe concentration in tomato roots and the increase of Fe(II) transporter (IRT1) gene expression in tomato roots.In conclusion, our results strengthen and improve the understanding about the interaction between N and Fe nutritional pathways, thinning the current knowledge gap.

    Keywords: ammonium, metabolomic, multi-omic, nitrate, nutrient interplay, root uptake, Strategy I, Urea

    Received: 27 Mar 2024; Accepted: 04 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lodovici, Buoso, Miras-Moreno, Lucini, Tomasi, García-Pérez, Pinton and Zanin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nicola Tomasi, University of Udine, Udine, 33100, Italy

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