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Published on April 22, 2009; 10.1104/pp.109.136184

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Received January 23, 2009
Accepted April 14, 2009

Variations in the Composition of Gelling Agents Affect Morphophysiological and Molecular Responses to Deficiencies of Phosphate and other Nutrients

Ajay Jain , Michael D. Poling , Aaron P. Smith , Vinay K. Nagarajan , Brett Lahner , Richard B. Meagher , and Kashchandra G. Raghothama *

Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1165; Department of Genetics, Life Sciences Building, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602

* Corresponding author; email: kraghoth{at}purdue.edu.

Low phosphate (Pi) availability triggers an array of spatiotemporal adaptive responses in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). There are several reports on the effects of Pi deprivation on root system that have been attributed to different growth conditions and /or inherent genetic variability. Here we show that the gelling agents, largely treated as inert components, significantly affect morphophysiological and molecular responses of the seedlings to deficiencies of Pi and other nutrients. ICP-MS analysis revealed variable levels of elemental contaminants not only in different types of agar but also in different batches of the same agar. Fluctuating levels of P in different agar types affected growth of seedlings under the Pi deprivation condition. Since P interacts with other elements such as Fe, K and S, contaminating effects of these elements in different agars were also evident in the Pi-deficiency induced morphological and molecular responses. P by itself acted as a contaminant when studying the responses of Arabidopsis to micronutrient (Fe and Zn) deficiencies. Together these results highlighted the likelihood of erroneous interpretations that could be easily drawn from nutrition studies when different agars have been used. As an alternative, we demonstrate the efficacy of a sterile and contamination-free hydroponic system for dissecting morphophysiological and molecular responses of Arabidopsis to different nutrient deficiencies.






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