Probing the inner sanctum of leaf phosphorus: measuring the fractions of leaf P
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COMMENTARY
Probing the inner sanctum of leaf phosphorus: measuring the fractions of leaf P K.Y. Crous
&
D.S. Ellsworth
Received: 7 June 2020 / Accepted: 29 July 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Background In spite of the importance of phosphorus (P) to plant physiological function and growth, relatively few studies have quantified foliar P fractions in native plants in natural environments. Understanding how these P fractions vary with P availability, soil type and parent material should provide information on the importance of P storage versus its partitioning to cell ultrastructure versus active biochemical compounds. In the latest study evaluating foliar P fractions, McQuillan et al. (2020), this issue, have enlisted a novel technique to estimate these foliar P fractions for major groups of functional and structural compounds in native species of different taxa across sites west of the Great Dividing Range of Australia. Scope Combined with recent studies of diverse tropical species, there is a conservative amount of lipidmembrane P and nucleic acid P across a threefold range of leaf P concentrations, from very low leaf P concentration to what could arguably be considered moderately low leaf P concentrations (0.3 to 1.0 mg g−1 leaf P concentration). Conclusions The findings provide insight into how overall leaf P concentrations are partitioned, including that P investment in structural components of the leaf like membrane phospholipids is remarkably Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers. K. Crous (*) : D. Ellsworth Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia e-mail: [email protected]
conservatively regulated. Further insights await a quantification of organelle-specific P fractions on wellpreserved samples, so importance of the storage versus biochemical functions of orthophosphate can be elucidated. These insights will be important for incorporating functional components of P and P biogeochemistry into models of ecosystem function, for understanding how P may regulate global change responses. Keywords N:P ratio . Leaf P concentration . Leaf P fraction . Chemicalextractionofleaf P . Nuclear magnetic resonance
Commentary As fundamental plant nutrients, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) exert strong controls on the metabolic performance of leaves. As a result of the requirements against a limited supply of N and/or P in many soils, most native ecosystems exhibit strong N- or P-limitation, or a balance of processes limited by both nutrients (Sterner and Elser 2002). Among the macronutrients in leaves that are typically analysed in the literature, N forms the vast majority of reports (e.g., 12,238 species records in Kattge et al. 2020). We know that N is prevalent in macromolecules such as photosynthetic proteins, pigments, and pigment protein complexes, and this knowledge has led to considerable insights regarding photosynthesis and growth, productivity and how those processes can be remotely sensed, from the leaf (U
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