The Role of Sulfur in Agronomic Biofortification with Essential Micronutrients

Plants (Basel). 2022 Jul 29;11(15):1979. doi: 10.3390/plants11151979.

Abstract

Sulfur (S) is an essential macronutrient for plants, being necessary for their growth and metabolism and exhibiting diverse roles throughout their life cycles. Inside the plant body, S is present either in one of its inorganic forms or incorporated in an organic compound. Moreover, organic S compounds may contain S in its reduced or oxidized form. Among others, S plays roles in maintaining the homeostasis of essential micronutrients, e.g., iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and manganese (Mn). One of the most well-known connections is homeostasis between S and Fe, mainly in terms of the role of S in uptake, transportation, and distribution of Fe, as well as the functional interactions of S with Fe in the Fe-S clusters. This review reports the available information describing the connections between the homeostasis of S and Fe, Cu, Zn, and Mn in plants. The roles of S- or sulfur-derived organic ligands in metal uptake and translocation within the plant are highlighted. Moreover, the roles of these micronutrients in S homeostasis are also discussed.

Keywords: copper homeostasis; iron homeostasis; manganese homeostasis; sulfur homeostasis; zinc homeostasis.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.