Differential modulation of Target of Rapamycin activity under single and combined iron and sulfur deficiency in tomato plants

SUMMARY Over the past few decades, a close relationship between sulfur (S) and iron (Fe) in terms of functionality and nutrition was demonstrated in the tomato. However, very little is known about the regulatory mechanisms underlying S/Fe interactions. Recently, the potential role of citrate in plan...

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Veröffentlicht in:The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology 2023-07, Vol.115 (1), p.127-138
Hauptverfasser: Coppa, Eleonora, Vigani, Gianpiero, Aref, Rasha, Savatin, Daniel, Bigini, Valentina, Hell, Ruediger, Astolfi, Stefania
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:SUMMARY Over the past few decades, a close relationship between sulfur (S) and iron (Fe) in terms of functionality and nutrition was demonstrated in the tomato. However, very little is known about the regulatory mechanisms underlying S/Fe interactions. Recently, the potential role of citrate in plant adaptation to Fe deficiency and combined S and Fe deficiency has been described. It is known that an impaired organic acid metabolism may stimulate a retrograde signal, which has been proven to be linked to the Target of Rapamycin (TOR) signaling in yeast and animal cells. Recent reports provided evidence of TOR involvement in S nutrient sensing in plants. This suggestion prompted us to investigate whether TOR may play a role in the cross‐talk of signaling pathway occurring during plant adaptation to combined nutrient deficiency of Fe and S. Our results revealed that Fe deficiency elicited an increase of TOR activity associated with enhanced accumulation of citrate. In contrast, S deficiency resulted in decreased TOR activity and citrate accumulation. Interestingly, citrate accumulated in shoots of plants exposed to combined S/Fe deficiency to values between those found in Fe‐ and S‐deficient plants, again correlated with TOR activity level. Our results suggest that citrate might be involved in establishing a link between plant response to combined S/Fe deficiency and the TOR network. Significance Statement To our knowledge, this is the first report on the Target of Rapamycin (TOR) response to nutrient starvation in the tomato crop. TOR activity has been modulated differently by single or combined iron and sulfur deficiency. In addition, evidence was presented suggesting that endogenous changes in citric acid content in plant tissues might act as an important modulator of TOR activity.
ISSN:0960-7412
1365-313X
DOI:10.1111/tpj.16213