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Updated: May 22, 2026

Phosphoproteomic Strategy for Profiling Osmotic Stress Signaling in Arabidopsis
Published on: June 25, 2020
The response and recovery of the Arabidopsis thaliana transcriptome to phosphate starvation
Jongchan Woo1, Cameron Ross MacPherson, Jun Liu
1Laboratory of Plant and Molecular Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Background:
Over application of phosphate fertilizers in modern agriculture contaminates waterways and disrupts natural ecosystems. Nevertheless, this is a common practice among farmers, especially in developing countries as abundant fertilizers are believed to boost crop yields. The study of plant phosphate metabolism and its underlying genetic pathways is key to discovering methods of efficient fertilizer usage. The work presented here describes a genome-wide resource on the molecular dynamics underpinning the response and recovery in roots and shoots of Arabidopsis thaliana to phosphate-starvation.
Results:
Genome-wide profiling by micro- and tiling-arrays (accessible from GEO: GSE34004) revealed minimal overlap between root and shoot transcriptomes suggesting two independent phosphate-starvation regulons. Novel gene expression patterns were detected for over 1000 candidates and were classified as either initial, persistent, or latent responders. Comparative analysis to AtGenExpress identified cohorts of genes co-regulated across multiple stimuli. The hormone ABA displayed a dominant role in regulating many phosphate-responsive candidates. Analysis of co-regulation enabled the determination of specific versus generic members of closely related gene families with respect to phosphate-starvation. Thus, among others, we showed that PHR1-regulated members of closely related phosphate-responsive families (PHT1;1, PHT1;7-9, SPX1-3, and PHO1;H1) display greater specificity to phosphate-starvation than their more generic counterparts.
Conclusion:
Our results uncover much larger, staged responses to phosphate-starvation than previously described. To our knowledge, this work describes the most complete genome-wide data on plant nutrient stress to-date.
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Transcription
Transcription is the process of synthesizing RNA from a DNA sequence by RNA polymerase. It is the first step in producing a protein from a gene sequence. Additionally, many other proteins and regulatory sequences are involved in the proper synthesis of messenger RNA (mRNA). Regulation of transcription is responsible for the differentiation of all the different types of cells and often for the proper cellular response to environmental signals.
Transcription Can Produce Different Kinds...
Stringent Response in E. coli
Other Stress Responses in Bacteria
Responses to Salt Stress
Cell Signaling in Plants
Responses to Heat and Cold Stress

