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To cope with nutrient deficiencies, plants develop both morphological and physiological responses. The regulation of these responses is not totally understood, but some hormones and signaling substances have been implicated. It was suggested several years ago that ethylene participates in the regulation of responses to iron and phosphorous deficiency. More recently, its role has been extended to other deficiencies, such as potassium, sulfur, and others. The role of ethylene in so many deficiencies suggests that, to confer specificity to the different responses, it should act through different transduction pathways and/or in conjunction with other signals. In this update, the data supporting a role for ethylene in the regulation of responses to different nutrient deficiencies will be reviewed. In addition, the results suggesting the action of ethylene through different transduction pathways and its interaction with other hormones and signaling substances will be discussed., (© 2015 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.)

In a previous work, it was shown that bicarbonate (one of the most important factors causing Fe chlorosis in Strategy I plants) can limit the expression of several genes involved in Fe acquisition. Hypoxia is considered another important factor causing Fe chlorosis, mainly on calcareous soils. However, to date it is not known whether hypoxia aggravates Fe chlorosis by affecting bicarbonate concentration or by specific negative effects on Fe acquisition. Results found in this work show that hypoxia, generated by eliminating the aeration of the nutrient solution, can limit the expression of several Fe acquisition genes in Fe-deficient Arabidopsis, cucumber and pea plants, like the genes for ferric reductases AtFRO2, PsFRO1 and CsFRO1; iron transporters AtIRT1, PsRIT1 and CsIRT1; H(+) -ATPase CsHA1; and transcription factors AtFIT, AtbHLH38, and AtbHLH39. Interestingly, the limitation of the expression of Fe-acquisition genes by hypoxia did not occur in the Arabidopsis ethylene constitutive mutant ctr1, which suggests that the negative effect of hypoxia is related to ethylene, an hormone involved in the upregulation of Fe acquisition genes. As for hypoxia, results obtained by applying bicarbonate to the nutrient solution suggests that ethylene is also involved in its negative effect, since ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid; ethylene precursor) partially reversed the negative effect of bicarbonate on the expression of Fe acquisition genes. Taken together, the results obtained show that hypoxia and bicarbonate could induce Fe chlorosis by limiting the expression of Fe acquisition genes, probably because each factor negatively affects different steps of ethylene synthesis and/or signaling., (© 2013 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.)

In previous work it has been shown that both ethylene and NO (nitric oxide) participate in a similar way in the up-regulation of several Fe-acquisition genes of Arabidopsis and other Strategy I plants. This raises the question as to whether NO acts through ethylene or ethylene acts through NO, or whether both act in conjunction. One possibility is that NO could increase ethylene production. Conversely, ethylene could increase NO production. By using Arabidopsis and cucumber plants, we have found that both possibilities occur: NO greatly induces the expression in roots of genes involved in ethylene synthesis: AtSAM1, AtSAM2, AtACS4, AtACS6, AtACO1, AtACO2, AtMTK; CsACS2 and CsACO2; on the other hand, ethylene greatly enhances NO production in the subapical region of the roots. These results suggest that each substance influences the production of the other and that both substances could be necessary for up-regulation of Fe-acquisition genes. This has been further confirmed in experiments with simultaneous application of the NO donor GSNO (S-nitrosoglutathione) and ethylene inhibitors; or with simultaneous application of the ethylene precursor ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid) and an NO scavenger. Both GSNO and ACC enhanced ferric reductase activity in control plants, but not in those plants simultaneously treated with the ethylene inhibitors or the NO scavenger, respectively. To explain all these results and previous ones we have proposed a new model involving ethylene, NO, and Fe in the up-regulation of Fe-acquisition genes of Strategy I plants., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Under Fe deficiency, Strategy I (non-graminaceous) plants up-regulate the expression of many Fe acquisition genes and develop morphological changes in their roots. The regulation of these responses is not completely known, but since the 1980's different results suggest a role for auxin, ethylene and, more recently, nitric oxide. The up-regulation of the Fe acquisition genes does not depend solely on these hormones, that would act as activators, but also on some other signals, probably phloem Fe, that would act as an inhibitor. It is not known which of the hormones considered is the last activator of the Fe acquisition genes, but some results suggest that auxin acts upstream of ethylene and NO and that, perhaps, ethylene is the last activator.

In a previous work it was shown that ethylene participates in the up-regulation of several Fe acquisition genes of Arabidopsis, such as AtFIT, AtFRO2, and AtIRT1. In this work the relationship between ethylene and Fe-related genes in Arabidopsis has been looked at in more depth. Genes induced by Fe deficiency regulated by ethylene were searched for. For this, studies were conducted, using microarray analysis and reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), to determine which of the genes up-regulated by Fe deficiency are simultaneously suppressed by two different ethylene inhibitors (cobalt and silver thiosulphate), assessing their regulation by ethylene in additional experiments. In a complementary experiment, it was determined that the Fe-related genes up-regulated by ethylene were also responsive to nitric oxide (NO). Further studies were performed to analyse whether Fe deficiency up-regulates the expression of genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis [S-adenosylmethionine synthetase, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) synthase, and ACC oxidase genes] and signalling (AtETR1, AtCTR1, AtEIN2, AtEIN3, AtEIL1, and AtEIL3). The results obtained show that both ethylene and NO are involved in the up-regulation of many important Fe-regulated genes of Arabidopsis, such as AtFIT, AtbHLH38, AtbHLH39, AtFRO2, AtIRT1, AtNAS1, AtNAS2, AtFRD3, AtMYB72, and others. In addition, the results show that Fe deficiency up-regulates genes involved in both ethylene synthesis (AtSAM1, AtSAM2, AtACS4, AtACS6, AtACS9, AtACO1, and AtACO2) and signalling (AtETR1, AtCTR1, AtEIN2, AtEIN3, AtEIL1, and AtEIL3) in the roots.

In previous works using ethylene inhibitors and precursors, it has been shown that ethylene participates in the regulation of several Fe deficiency stress responses by Strategy I plants, such as enhanced ferric reductase activity, rhizosphere acidification and subapical root hair development. Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that ethylene could regulate the expression of both the ferric reductase and the iron transporter genes of Strategy I plants by affecting the FER (or FER-like) transcription factor. Recently, two H(+)-ATPase genes have been isolated from cucumber roots, CsHA1 and CsHA2. CsHA1 is up-regulated under Fe deficiency while CsHA2 is constitutively expressed. In this work we have cloned and characterized the sequences of the ferric reductase (CsFRO1) and the iron transporter (CsIRT1) genes from cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv Ashley). Expression of CsHA1, CsFRO1 and CsIRT1 is diminished in Fe-deficient roots by treatment with ethylene inhibitors, like Co (cobalt) or AOA (aminooxyacetic acid). Treatment with ethylene precursors, like ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid) or Ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid), resulted in increased CsHA1, CsFRO1 and CsIRT1 transcript levels and increased ferric reductase activity during early stages of Fe deficiency. These results suggest that ethylene is involved in the regulation of CsHA1, CsFRO1 and CsIRT1 gene expression.

In previous works, it has been shown, by using ethylene inhibitors and precursors, that ethylene could participate in the regulation of the enhanced ferric reductase activity of Fe-deficient Strategy I plants. However, it was not known whether ethylene regulates the ferric reductase gene expression or other aspects related to this activity. This paper is a study of the effects of ethylene inhibitors and precursors on the expression of the genes encoding the ferric reductases and iron transporters of Arabidopsis thaliana (FRO2 and IRT1) and Lycopersicon esculentum (=Solanum lycopersicum) (FRO1 and IRT1) plants. The effects of ethylene inhibitors and precursors on the activity of the iron reductase and the iron transporter have been examined in parallel. Also studied were the effects of ethylene inhibitors and precursors on the expression of the H(+)-ATPase genes of cucumber (CsHA1 and CsHA2) and the transcription factor genes of tomato (LeFER) and Arabidopsis (AtFRU or AtFIT1, an LeFER homologue) that regulate ferric reductase, iron transporter, and H(+)-ATPse activity. The results obtained suggest that ethylene participates in the regulation of ferric reductase, the iron transporter, and H(+)-ATPase gene expression by affecting the FER (or FER-like) levels.