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Signaling mechanisms integrating carbon and nitrogen utilization in plants

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Frontiers in Biology

Abstract

Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are two essential nutrients affecting plant growth and development. Plants are non-motile organisms and have evolved highly sophisticated and complex sensing and signaling mechanisms to respond to the dynamic changes of C and N nutrients in their surroundings. C and N metabolism are tightly coordinated to maintain intracellular C/N homeostasis. However, the regulatory mechanism underlying C/N coordination and balancing in plants remains to be elucidated. It has been suggested that C and N metabolism are modulated by the interaction of C signaling with N signaling or by C/N ratio signaling. This review focuses on cell signaling studies that provide insight into the regulation mechanism of C/N balancing in plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Yuying Sang & Wenfeng Sun

  2. Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, and Center for Plant Cell Biology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California-Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Zhenbiao Yang

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  1. Yuying Sang
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  2. Wenfeng Sun
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Correspondence to Yuying Sang.

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Sang, Y., Sun, W. & Yang, Z. Signaling mechanisms integrating carbon and nitrogen utilization in plants. Front. Biol. 7, 548–556 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11515-012-1249-4

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