the role of iodine in plant nutrition and stress protection

Besides iodine has been widely reported to benefit plant growth and yield, the specific function of iodine in plant physiology is still unclear. In the present study the possible role of iodine in plant nutrition was investigated, also evaluating its potential in improving plant tolerance against environmental stresses. The importance of iodine as plant nutrient was firstly demonstrated by analyzing the impact of low iodine concentrations on the phenotype, transcriptome and proteome of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Iodine was also discovered to prevent plant disease caused by the necrotrophic fungi Botrytis cinerea by priming of plant defence responses, mainly related to salicylic acid dependent mechanisms. Finally, the functional involvement of iodine in plant nutrition and stress protection was confirmed in tomato, where iodine application was found not only to benefit plant growth and production but also to improve plant tolerance to salinity. Overall, this study demonstrated the role of iodine as plant nutrient and provided evidence towards its great potential in agriculture with regard to controlling plant diseases and damages caused by different abiotic stress.