Does day length matter for nutrient responsiveness?

Although day length is a constant factor and is practically immutable over history, it modulates pathways related to plant growth and development. Proteins associated with day length (such as HY5 and PHY) affect the activity of nutrient transporters, whereas deficiencies in functional copies of these proteins generate an elevated demand for nutrients. A regulatory loop between nutrients and the circadian clock supports the significance of nutrients in monitoring spatiotemporal variation and nutrient use efficiency in plants. A better understanding of the pathways related to photoperiodism and the circadian clock relies on deciphering the molecular bases of these pathways in wild and crop species, emphasising nutrient and toxic metal responsiveness. Multidisciplinary projects are required to understand the molecular basis of the phenotypic traits involved in the interactions between photoperiodism and the circadian clock in biotic and abiotic environments. For over 2500 years, considerable agronomic interest has been paid to soil fertility. Both crop domestication and the Green Revolution shifted photoperiodism and the circadian clock in cultivated species, although this contributed to an increase in the demand for chemical fertilisers. Thus, the uptake of nutrients depends on light signalling, whereas diel growth and circadian rhythms are affected by nutrient levels. Here, we argue that day length and circadian rhythms may be central regulators of the uptake and usage of nutrients, also modulating responses to toxic elements (e.g., aluminium and cadmium). Thus, we suggest that knowledge in this area might assist in developing next-generation crops with improved uptake and use efficiency of nutrients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]