Aims

Recent advances in mass spectrometry have demonstrated that higher plants discriminate stable Zn isotopes during uptake and translocation depending on environmental conditions and physiological status of the plant. Stable Zn isotopes have emerged as a promising tool to characterize the plants response to inadequate Zn supply. The aim of this review is to build a comprehensive model linking Zn homeostasis and Zn isotopic fractionation in plants and advance our current view of Zn homeostasis and interaction with other micronutrients.

Methods

The distribution of stable Zn isotopes in plants and the most likely causes of fractionation are reviewed, and the interactions with micronutrients Fe, Cu, and Ni are discussed.

Results

The main sources of Zn fractionation in plants are i) adsorption, ii) low- and high-affinity transport phenomena, iii) speciation, iv) compartmentalization, and v) diffusion. We propose a model for Zn fractionation during uptake and radial transport in the roots, root-to-shoot transport, and remobilization.

Conclusions

Future work should concentrate on better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the fractionations as this will be the key to future development of this novel isotope system. A combination of stable isotopes and speciation analyses might prove a powerful tool for plant nutrition and homeostasis studies.