Abstract
The aim of this work is to evaluate the capability of tomato plants to use different Fe sources, such as Fe citrate, Fe phytosiderophores, and Fe complexed by a water-extractable humic substances (Fe-WEHS) also in relation to physiological and molecular adaptations induced by these complexes at the root level. Tomato plants acquired higher amounts of Fe from Fe-WEHS than from the other two sources and this phenomenon occurred only when the treatment lasted 24 h. The higher acquisition of Fe from Fe-WEHS than other sources depended on a reductive mechanism and on rhizosphere acidification and appeared to be due neither to a higher apoplastic loading nor to a higher resistance of WEHS to microbial degradation. Supply of the different Fe complexes to deficient plants induced a transient upregulation of Fe(III)-chelate reductase (LeFRO1) and Fe transporter genes, LeIRT1 and LeIRT2. In Fe-WEHS-fed plants, where a quicker and higher upregulation of these genes was evident, a coordination in the expression of LeFRO1, LeIRT1, and LeIRT2 genes occurred already after 1 h treatment when the amount of Fe acquired by the plants from the three sources was similar. Iron from Fe-WEHS could be efficiently acquired in a mixture of natural Fe complexes possibly occurring in the rhizosphere. This phenomenon is due to an altered expression of Fe uptake-related genes and to the root capacity to create favorable conditions for the micronutrient uptake into the rhizosphere.
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Research was supported by grants from Italian MIUR (FIRB-Programma“ Futuro in Ricerca” and PRIN), Free University of Bolzano (TN5031 und TN5046), and Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano (Rhizotyr-TN5 218.)
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Tomasi, N., De Nobili, M., Gottardi, S. et al. Physiological and molecular characterization of Fe acquisition by tomato plants from natural Fe complexes. Biol Fertil Soils 49, 187–200 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0706-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0706-1