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Interrelationship between phosphorus toxicity and sugar metabolism in Verticordia plumosa L

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Abstract

Phosphorus, an essential plant nutrient, may become toxic when accumulated by plants to high concentrations. Certain plant species such as Verticordia plumosa L. suffer from P toxicity at solution concentrations far lower than most other plant species. In this study, exposure of V. plumosa plants to a solution containing as low as 3 mg l−1 P resulted in significant growth inhibition and typical symptoms of P toxicity. In a wide range of P levels studied, micronutrient concentrations in V. plumosa leaves were within the range considered adequate for optimal growth. Notably, tomato plants with high hexokinase activity due to overexpression of Arabidopsis hexokinase (AtHXK1) exhibited senescence symptoms similar to those of P toxic V. plumosa. The resemblance in senescence symptoms between P-toxic tomato plants and those with high hexokinase activity suggested that increased sugar metabolism could play a role in P toxicity in plants. To test this hypothesis, we determined the amount of hexose phosphate, the product of hexokinase, in V. plumosa leaves grown at various P levels in the nutrient solution. Positive correlations were found between concentration in the medium, P concentration in the plant, hexose phosphate concentration in leaves and P toxicity symptoms. Foliar Zn application suppressed P toxicity symptoms and reduced the level of hexose phosphate in leaves. Furthermore, Zn also inhibited hexokinase activity in vitro. Based on these results we suggest that P toxicity involves sugar metabolism via increased activity of hexokinase that accelerates senescence

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soils, Water and Environmental Sciences, Israel

    Avner Silber, Asher Bar-Tal & Irit Levkovitch

  2. Department of Ornamental Horticulture, Israel

    Jaacov Ben-Jaacov & Alexander Ackerman

  3. Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Institute of Field and Garden Crops, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel

    Tania Matsevitz-Yosef, Dvora Swartzberg & David Granot

  4. Center for Horticultural Research, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 76100, Rehovot, Israel

    Josef Riov

Authors
  1. Avner Silber
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  2. Jaacov Ben-Jaacov
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  3. Alexander Ackerman
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  4. Asher Bar-Tal
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Correspondence to Avner Silber.

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Silber, A., Ben-Jaacov, J., Ackerman, A. et al. Interrelationship between phosphorus toxicity and sugar metabolism in Verticordia plumosa L. Plant and Soil 245, 249–260 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020432512980

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