Sulfur in plants: an ecological perspective

Abstract

A book on sulfur research is highly justified at present as there has been, in the last decades, renewed research interest in S-biology in plants aimed at a better understanding of how plants adjust and cope with different sulfur availability. The biggest push has come from the increased incidence of sulfur deficiency in many areas of North Europe; something similar is happening around the whole of Europe now. Persistent sulfur impoverishment of soils, from Poland to Spain, from Italy to Finland, is combining with global climate changes to squeeze farmers. There is clear evidence linking these conditions to changes in soil sulfur content: essentially, the significant decrease in the input of sulfur from atmospheric deposition and the use of high-analysis low-sulfur fertilizers. Recent reports have shown that global sulfur emissions have declined at an annual rate of more than 2·7 %. Furthermore, today's molecular tools are far more sophisticated than any previous techniques, thus allowing unprecedented progress in study of the physiology, cell biology and molecular biology of sulfur. In this book, edited by two renowned experts in the field, the advances of the past decade are summarized and synthesized to elucidate the current state of knowledge of plant sulfur research. Twenty researchers who study plant sulphur nutrition have done an excellent job of discussing some of the most topical aspects in the plant-sulfur field in the context of plant ecology and physiology. The book consists of ten chapters and each one can be read in isolation. The chapters typically start with a very short introduction that raises a few important questions, which is followed by an extensive review of the relevant literature. The editors have chosen a style very similar to that of a review article, describing many experimental details of the corresponding original publications. Furthermore, chapters include comprehensive reference sections. We live in a scientific age and modern research and literature are very dynamic, so it is difficult to publish a book with the most recent references included. I am impressed that all the chapters include many papers published in 2006 and that more historic information is carefully selected with respect to relevance. Chapter 1 sets the scene with a short introduction covering a brief historical overview and gives some basic definitions. Chapter 2 provides an overview of various aspects of the adaptation of crop plants to changes in sulfur supply. Chapters 3 and 4 deal with the ecophysiological aspects of sulfur metabolism that contribute to the characterization of forest ecosystems and marine environments, respectively. Chapter 5 focuses on the impact of atmospheric sulfur gases on plants. The main focus of Chapter 6 is the presentation of comprehensive analyses using diverse ‘omic’ approaches, to improve our current understanding of sulfate metabolism and its integration into plant metabolism. Chapter 7 discusses the effect of sulfur on the capability of plants to cope with various oxidative stresses and on the efficiency of antioxidative defence systems. Chapter 8 dwells on the interrelations between metals and sulfur metabolism. The critical role of sulfur and sulfur compounds in plant responses to biotic stresses is discussed in Chapter 9 and, lastly, Chapter 10 provides valuable information on the physiological significance of selenium and its relationship with sulfur. In conclusion, this book provides the reader with a good overview of plant sulfur metabolism. The price is not low enough to be student-friendly, but taking into account the work that had to be done to collect the information relevant to this field, I would strongly recommend making the investment.