Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Call for Papers: Plant Micro and Macronutrients: Multidisciplinary and targeted approaches to investigate their role in plant growth and regulation

_{Stages and development of Nerium oleander plants, from seeds to full plants. The plants were grown in the Botany lab and greenhouse at Jackson State University, USA. Image credit: Naira A Ibrahim.}

Life as we know is fundamentally made of a few low molecular weight elements. The most abundant elements are carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O). Besides these, several other elements are needed to sustain life. Plant biologists have classified such elements into two broad categories such as macronutrients and micronutrients. To sustain growth and development, several elements such as nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, magnesium and calcium are needed in large amounts and are categorized as macronutrients while elements such as iron, sodium, chlorine, copper, manganese boron, zinc, are needed in minute quantities and are categorized as micronutrients. Plant nutrition in relation to plant growth and development have been methodically studied over a hundred years and a large body of knowledge exists based on physiological, hormonal, cellular, genetic and molecular studies. The sequestration and transport mechanisms of several nutrients have been elaborately investigated, leading to discovery of transporters, channels and signaling pathways that regulate their sequestration and storage. Genetic, genomics and omics technologies such as speed breeding, molecular farming, genome editing, and transgenic approaches have been utilized to improve nutrient levels in crops. A few examples of such innovation include golden rice, wheat, corn, soybean, barley, beans, orange-fleshed sweet potato and most recently the red-fleshed apple.

Several aspects of plant nutrition in relation to plant growth and development are not properly understood such as the complex endogenous and exogenous interactions of ions and the role of microbes in ion sequestration. The hormonal crosstalk and its relation to macronutrient and micronutrient sequestration is an area with significant knowledge gap. Several micronutrients such as iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, sodium, vitamins, and minerals are necessary for growth, development, and repair of plant cells. Elements such as silicon can be present in high amount in plant tissues, yet their role in plant growth and development is not elaborately investigated. To counter salt and drought stress and to grow plants in marginal soil, the study of plant nutrition is extremely important. A significant number of field studies have indicated the role of several elements in countering abiotic stress but understanding them mechanistically at a cellular and molecular level is important to develop tools for biotechnological intervention. Thus, for a multitude of reasons as mentioned above, it is extremely important to investigate plant nutrition in the context of plant growth and development and shift the myopic view from a few agricultural plants to a broader paradigm. An interdisciplinary approach that considers several confounding factors such as edaphic, climatic, environmental, biological, genetic and epigenetic must be utilized to identify bottlenecks for nutrient sequestration. To understand regulation of plant growth in the context of a fundamentally important factor such a plant nutrient and to initiate more discussion on this topic among the scientific community and stake holders, we are proposing a special topic titled “Multidisciplinary and targeted approaches to investigate the role of micro and macronutrient in plant growth and regulation”.

We encourage submission of original articles, review articles, and brief communication for this special issue. Authors can submit on the following or related topics.

• Role of macronutrients and micronutrients in plant growth and development.
• Species specific studies on the efficiency of foliar fertilization with respect to plant growth.
• Nutritional studies of orphan crops and climate-resilient plants.
• Nutrient interactions and their effect in nutrient sequestration in plants.
• Advances in omics technologies for nutritional improvement in plants.
• Cellular and subcellular localization of nutrients in plant cells.
• Physiological, molecular and genetic investigation of nutrient signaling pathways in plants.
• Hormonal crosstalk and nutrient sequestration in plants.

The special issue will open for submissions on 1 February 2025.

Submission deadline is 30 June 2025.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Guest Editors

Aniruddha Acharya
PhD, Arkansas Tech University, USA

Yongjian Qiu
PhD, University of Mississippi, USA

Naira Ibrahim
PhD, Jackson State University, USA

Shankar Ganapathi Shanmugam
PhD, Mississippi State University, USA