Sulfur transport and assimilation in plants: regulation, interaction and signaling. * Davidian J-C, Grill D, De Kok LJ, Stulen I, Hawkesford MJ, Schnug E, Rennenberg H, eds. 2003. * Leiden: Backhuys Publishers. 96 (hardback). 393 pp.

Abstract

Sulphur metabolism of plants (I'll stick with British English spelling here) has always received less attention and attracted less funding than has research on nitrogen and phosphorus. One of the most important reasons no doubt is that, unlike nitrogen and phosphorus, sulphur availability to plants was rarely a problem. As the post-World War II use of fertilizer in agricultural areas increased, so did inputs of sulphur derived from fossil fuels. Excess sulphur in the form of sulphur dioxide was of course recognized as one of the factors involved in acid rain, and research into sulphur from that point of view was particularly popular until the measures to reduce sulphur inputs into the atmosphere from fossil fuels started having effect. But then decreased atmospheric inputs of sulphur led to cases of sulphur deficiency in certain areas in relatively recent times, which gave rise to new initiatives in research of sulphur nutrition and metabolism in plants. Still, the sulphur research community is much smaller than that of nitrogen or phosphorus. Lack of awareness and understanding in the wider community of the importance of sulphur to plants, and of its intricate relationship with nitrogen and carbon metabolism have perhaps impeded availability of funding for this area of research. But this has not deterred the community of researchers working on sulphur in plants, which has grown into what Christian Brunold in his foreword calls the ‘sulfur family’, and which has been very effective in expanding knowledge and raising public awareness of sulphur metabolism in plants. This book is a compilation of papers presented at the 5th International Workshop on Sulfur Nutrition and Assimilation in Higher Plants, which was held in Montpellier, France, in April 2002. The first section contains 13 invited papers, the second about 65 contributed papers. As the title of the workshop suggests, most papers address the many facets of sulphur nutrition and assimilation in plants and related molecular and genetic aspects, but other topics, such as the functions of sulphur in physiology of metals, its role in determining taste in wines, and even its importance to the quality of sheep's wool, are also addressed. The sulphur research community has been very active over the past decade in producing texts on all aspects of sulphur nutrition and metabolism in plants. This book is complementary to the existing publications, partly because it takes a more holistic view. Unlike the previous books that have come to my attention, several of the invited papers in this book address the relationship between processes at the molecular scale and whole-plant integration and regulation. For example, Hawkesford and co-workers focus on the functions of sulphate transporters and integration with whole-plant nutrition, while Touraine and co-authors compare regulation of sulphate uptake with that of nitrate. Other contributions, for example Brunold and co-authors and Roje and Hanson, address the relationship between S, N and C metabolism. There are also several contributions on the sulphur-analog selenium, and on non-crop plant species, such as the common reed (Phragmites australis), algae and mosses. This book is well presented with generally good quality reproduction of tables and figures. Both author and subject indices are provided. It gives an excellent overview of the research currently being carried out on sulphur metabolism in plants. But that does not restrict its relevance to researchers in this specific subject area. Due to the intricate relationship of sulphur metabolism with nitrogen, carbon and phosphorus metabolism, anybody interested in nutrition of plants should find this book useful.