Silicon in vascular plants: uptake, transport and its influence on mineral stress under acidic conditions

Abstract

So far, considerable advances have been achieved in understanding the mechanisms of Si uptake and transport in vascular plants. This review presents a comprehensive update about this issue, but also provides the new insights into the role of Si against mineral stresses that occur in acid soils. Such information could be helpful to understand both the differential Si uptake ability as well as the benefits of this mineral element on plants grown under acidic conditions. Silicon (Si) has been widely recognized as a beneficial element for many plant species, especially under stress conditions. In the last few years, great efforts have been made to elucidate the mechanisms involved in uptake and transport of Si by vascular plants and recently, different Si transporters have been identified. Several researches indicate that Si can alleviate various mineral stresses in plants growing under acidic conditions, including aluminium (Al) and manganese (Mn) toxicities as well as phosphorus (P) deficiency all of which are highly detrimental to crop production. This review presents recent findings concerning the influence of uptake and transport of Si on mineral stress under acidic conditions because a knowledge of this interaction provides the basis for understanding the role of Si in mitigating mineral stress in acid soils. Currently, only four Si transporters have been identified and there is little information concerning the response of Si transporters under stress conditions. More investigations are therefore needed to establish whether there is a relationship between Si transporters and the benefits of Si to plants subjected to mineral stress. Evidence presented suggests that Si supply and its subsequent accumulation in plant tissues could be exploited as a strategy to improve crop productivity on acid soils.

Earthworms can increase mobility and bioavailability of silicon in soil

“…A pretreatment with Si primes plants to better respond to pathogen infections (Chain et al, 2009;Van Bockhaven et al, 2013). Over the past few years rapid progress has been made in elucidation of the mechanisms of how Si mediated metal excess (Li et al, 2008;Prabagar et al, 2011;Dragisic Maksimovic et al, 2012;Pontigo et al, 2015) and micronutrient deficiency (Gonzalo et al, 2013;Pavlovic et al, 2013;Bityutskii et al, 2014;HernandezApaolaza, 2014). Very recently, the current knowledge inherent to the importance of Si nutrition for plants was summarized in a book (Liang et al, 2015).…”

“…Besides primary crystalline silicates and secondary silicates, Si also occurs as readily soluble Si pool (Matichenkov and Bocharnikova, 2001). Silicic acid (H 4 SiO 4 o ) is the main component of soil solutions, mostly as monomeric silicic acid at pH below 9 (Dietzel, 2000;Sommer et al, 2006), and plants absorb Si as the silicic acid (Pontigo et al, 2015). Complexes of Si with inorganic and organic compounds also occur in liquid phase of soil (Matichenkov and Bocharnikova, 2001).…”

Silicon-Mediated Alleviation of Aluminum Toxicity by Modulation of Al/Si Uptake and Antioxidant Performance in Ryegrass Plants

“…The significant role of Si in the toxicity associated with metals, including manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and Al, has been widely reported (Li et al, 2012; Vaculík et al, 2012; Adrees et al, 2015; Liang et al, 2015; Pontigo et al, 2015; Tripathi et al, 2015, 2016). On the basis of the current evidence, Si can regulate plant resistance and/or tolerance to metal toxicity by either external ( ex planta ) or internal ( in planta ) mechanisms (Cocker et al, 1998a; Adrees et al, 2015; Liang et al, 2015; Pontigo et al, 2015; Tripathi et al, 2016).…”

Analysis of The Growth of Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Exposed by Aluminum Toxicity and Silica as an Amelioration

“…The application of Silica on soil can increase the availability of P and decrease the activity of toxic metal such as Al (Yukamgo and Yuwono, 2007). The mechanisms of Si in decreasing the effects of Al toxicity are a) Si induction can increase Ph solvent, b) reducing the availability aluminum, or c) as the detoxification in plant (Pontigo, 2015).…”