Ionomics: studying the social network of mineral nutrients

The accumulation of a given element is a complex process controlled by a network of gene products critical for uptake, binding, transportation, and sequestration. Many of these genes and physiological processes affect more than one element. Therefore, to understand how elements are regulated, it is necessary to measure as many of the elements contained in a cell, tissue, or organism (the ionome)as possible. The elements that share components of their network vary depending on the species and genotype of the plants that are studied and environment they are grown in. Several recent papers describe high-throughput elemental profiling studies of how the ionome responds to the environment or explores the genetics that control the ionome. When combined with new genotyping technologies, ionomics provides a rapid way to identify genes that control elemental accumulation in plants.