From soil to seed: micronutrient movement into and within the plant

Abstract

The ability of roots to obtain micronutrients from the soil and to deliver these to the aerial tissues — including seeds — is essential to ensure that the shoot has the resources it needs to function effectively. However, plants need to control several steps during the journey from soil to seed, including uptake, transport, remobilization and storage. A better comprehension of the relative contribution of these processes, together with their overall coordination, is necessary for a more complete understanding of plant metal homeostasis and for the development of successful biofortification strategies. This Research Topic aims at addressing some of the most recent advances in micronutrient movement from soil to seed and to provide an overview of different approaches that can be used to generate micronutrient-efficient and biofortified plants. Here, we highlight some of the major points arising from these reports.