Dissecting the phytohormonal, genomic and proteomic regulation of micronutrient deficiency during abiotic stresses in plants

Abstract

Compromised productivity and yield loss due to inadequate nutrient abundance or inefficient mineral absorption from the soil are one of the most prevalent agricultural concerns across the world. Essential minerals, required in trace amounts for optimum plant growth and development, are termed as micronutrients. Due to low abundance of these vital elements (iron, zinc, copper, manganese, boron, nickel, molybdenum and chlorine), significant stretches of agricultural land often have limited supply of these micronutrients. As a result, plants, crops and vegetables grown in such soil exhibit unpredictable anatomical, biochemical and metabolic abnormalities associated with deteriorated physiological alterations. This communication details out the genomic, proteomic and metabolomic dynamism mediated by various plant species exposed to micronutrient starvation or grown under micronutrient-limiting environment. Furthermore, deficiency of vital trace elements inhibits the activity of crucial enzymes associated with detoxification of oxidants and regulation of important physiological processes like photosynthesis, respiration, nitrogen assimilation, sugar metabolism, etc. Thus, these plants experience an inherent oxidative stress and are more susceptible to multiple abiotic stresses due to inefficient defence machinery. The differential physiological adaptations mediated under such variable microelement deficiency have also been critically delineated. Thus, diverse signaling crosstalks, regulated by phytohormonal homeostasis, chiefly synchronize such responses of the physiome during micronutrient deficiency.