A plant’s diet, surviving in a variable nutrient environment

As primary producers, plants rely on a large aboveground surface area to collect carbon dioxide and sunlight and a large underground surface area to collect the water and mineral nutrients needed to support their growth and development. Accessibility of the essential nutrients nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in the soil is affected by many factors that create a variable spatiotemporal landscape of their availability both at the local and global scale. Plants optimize uptake of the N and P available through modifications to their growth and development and engagement with microorganisms that facilitate their capture. The sensing of these nutrients, as well as the perception of overall nutrient status, shapes…

• BA
  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

  Award: OPP1028264
• GC
  Gatsby Charitable Foundation

  Award: GAT3395/GLH
• BA
  Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

  Awards: BB/K003712/2, BB/K003712/1