About this Research Topic
Iron is an electron carrier functioning in respiration and photosynthesis and as such an essential nutritional requirement for plants. In addition, iron is important in the production and detoxification of oxygen radicals and in numerous reduction and monooxygenase reactions. The low solubility of iron in aerated soils at neutral or alkaline pH dictates the distribution of species in natural ecosystems and has been recognized as a common yield-limiting factor in agriculture, which is difficult to correct due to the high costs and low efficiency of Fe fertilizers. Importantly, iron deficiency is also a great health risk; more than two billion people suffer from iron deficiency-induced anemia.
Joined efforts of an active research community and improved technical possibilities have allowed big leaps forward towards a comprehensive picture of how cellular iron homeostasis is re-calibrated in response to variable iron supply. The discovery of essential processes that confer the ability to thrive on soils with low iron availability has opened the door for decoding the mechanism that determine iron uptake efficiency, a question that has fascinated plant nutritionists, physiologists and ecologists for many decades. Understanding how plants adapt to growth in soils with recalcitrant iron pools is not only relevant for improving yield, but, most importantly, sets the stage for the generation of cultivars that efficiently translocate bioavailable Fe to edible plant parts, combating malnutrition of humans.
This Research Topic is an attempt to provide an integrative, comprehensive and inter-disciplinary picture of the state-of-the-art of plant iron research. It is aimed to cover a broad range of topics related to iron nutrition in plants, including but not limited to dynamic of iron pools in soils and within the plant, recalibration of cellular iron homeostasis, iron signaling, the role of iron in interactions of plants with other organisms, the molecular regulation of iron uptake, transport, and storage, the interaction of iron with other nutrients and seed iron loading. All forms of submissions (i.e. original research papers, Mini Reviews, Methods, Perspectives, Hypothesis & Theories, and Opinion articles) are welcome.
Joined efforts of an active research community and improved technical possibilities have allowed big leaps forward towards a comprehensive picture of how cellular iron homeostasis is re-calibrated in response to variable iron supply. The discovery of essential processes that confer the ability to thrive on soils with low iron availability has opened the door for decoding the mechanism that determine iron uptake efficiency, a question that has fascinated plant nutritionists, physiologists and ecologists for many decades. Understanding how plants adapt to growth in soils with recalcitrant iron pools is not only relevant for improving yield, but, most importantly, sets the stage for the generation of cultivars that efficiently translocate bioavailable Fe to edible plant parts, combating malnutrition of humans.
This Research Topic is an attempt to provide an integrative, comprehensive and inter-disciplinary picture of the state-of-the-art of plant iron research. It is aimed to cover a broad range of topics related to iron nutrition in plants, including but not limited to dynamic of iron pools in soils and within the plant, recalibration of cellular iron homeostasis, iron signaling, the role of iron in interactions of plants with other organisms, the molecular regulation of iron uptake, transport, and storage, the interaction of iron with other nutrients and seed iron loading. All forms of submissions (i.e. original research papers, Mini Reviews, Methods, Perspectives, Hypothesis & Theories, and Opinion articles) are welcome.
Keywords: Iron deficiency, Molecular Plant Nutrition, Biofortification, Soil, Gene Regulation
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