title: Replace, reuse, recycle: improving the sustainable use of phosphorus by plants.
abstract: The 'phosphorus problem' has recently received strong interest with two distinct strands of importance. The first is that too much phosphorus (P) is entering into waste water, creating a significant economic and ecological problem. Secondly, while agricultural demand for phosphate fertilizer is increasing to maintain crop yields, rock phosphate reserves are rapidly declining. Unravelling the mechanisms by which plants sense, respond to, and acquire phosphate can address both problems, allowing the development of crop plants that are more efficient at acquiring and using limited amounts of phosphate while at the same time improving the potential of plants and other photosynthetic organisms for nutrient recapture and recycling from waste water. In this review, we attempt to synthesize these important but often disparate parts of the debate in a holistic fashion, since solutions to such a complex problem require integrated and multidisciplinary approaches that address both P supply and demand. Rapid progress has been made recently in our understanding of local and systemic signalling mechanisms for phosphate, and of expression and regulation of membrane proteins that take phosphate up from the environment and transport it within the plant. We discuss the current state of understanding of such mechanisms involved in sensing and responding to phosphate stress. We also discuss approaches to improve the P-use efficiency of crop plants and future direction for sustainable use of P, including use of photosynthetic organisms for recapture of P from waste waters.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Plant Sciences and School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK a.baker@leeds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Centre for Plant Sciences and School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK Division of Plant Biotechnology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai 600034, India.
authors.forename: S Antony
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ceasar
authors.affiliation: Centre for Plant Sciences and School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Antony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.affiliation: Centre for Plant Sciences and School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Jaimie B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Paterson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Plant Sciences and School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Wanjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Muench
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Stephen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Baldwin
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D010758:Phosphorus
keywords: Fertilizers; membrane transporters; nutrient recycling; phosphate; phosphate signalling; transcription factors.