Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S), zinc (Zn), and iron (Fe) are some of the vital nutrients required for optimum growth, development, and productivity of plants. The deficiency of any of these nutrients may lead to defects in plant growth and decreased productivity. Plant responses to the deficiency of N, P, S, Fe, or Zn have been studied mainly as a separate event, and only a few reports discuss the molecular basis of biological interaction among the nutrients. Macro-nutrients like N, P, and/or S not only show the interacting pathways for each other but also affect micro-nutrient pathways. Limited reports are available on the investigation of two-by-two or multi-level nutrient interactions in plants. Such studies on the nutrient interaction pathways suggest that an MYB-like transcription factor, phosphate starvation response 1 (PHR1), acts as a master regulator of N, P, S, Fe, and Zn homeostasis. Similarly, light-responsive transcription factors were identified to be involved in modulating nutrient responses in Arabidopsis. This review focuses on the recent advances in our understanding of how plants coordinate the acquisition, transport, signaling, and interacting pathways for N, P, S, Fe, and Zn nutrition at the molecular level. Identification of the important candidate genes for interactions between N, P, S, Fe, and/or Zn metabolic pathways might be useful for the breeders to improve nutrient use efficiency and yield/quality of crop plants. Integrated studies on pathways interactions/cross-talks between macro‐ and micro-nutrients in the agronomically important crop plants would be essential for sustainable agriculture around the globe, particularly under the changing climatic conditions.

Understanding plant nutrition can be the difference between vigorous, productive plants and plants that struggle. You may be familiar with the macronutrients like nitrogen or potassium. These are the most commonly discussed nutrients since they are needed in the largest amounts.However, they aren’t the only essential nutrients that your plants need. Your plants will also need micronutrients in order to thrive.

Plants are able to produce their own food through a process called photosynthesis. They absorb nutrients through their roots from the soil and is transported through the stem to the different parts that are above ground level. They require two types of nutrients- macronutrients and micronutrients. 

Western Canadian crops require 17 essential nutrients to grow normally. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen derived from the air comprise more than 90 per cent of the fresh plant tissue. Macronutrients derived from the soil and needed in large amounts are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulphur (S), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg). Legumes are the exception because they fix N from the air. With a few exceptions, Ca and Mg are not limiting in Saskatchewan because of the nature of the soils. The soil supply of N, P, K, and S is often supplemented by fertilizer and manure.The remaining essential nutrients derived from the soil are referred to as micronutrients, because they are needed in small amounts. They are boron (B), chloride (Cl), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). Micronutrients are important for plant growth, as plants require a proper balance of all the essential nutrients for normal growth and optimum yield.

Micronutrients are essential for your plants, says Tricia in our video about secondary macronutrients and the micronutrients. You know about the major nutrients, N-P-K. Those are the symbols for the building blocks: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. They're represented by the three numbers on the front of fertilizer boxes or bags.For more about them, check out our video here. With the lesser known micronutrients (like “molybdenum” -- if you can spell that you can probably win a Spelling Bee) you’ll need a lab soil test to know if any need to be added to your soil.Let’s have a quick look at the major mineral nutrients, and then get to know the micronutrients and find out what they do for your plants.

A pH of 7.0 in neutral on the pH scale of 0 to 14. Micronutrients tend to be more available when the pH is 7 to 7.5, which is slightly alkaline, while macronutrients prefer a pH between 6.2 to 7.0, which is slightly acidic.Understanding each micronutrient mineral element’s function in plant growth will help you to determine the right nutrient applications and diagnose any potential crop production problems.

Polyaspartic acid sodium salt is a water-soluble polymer. It is a green water treatment agent with properties of non-phosphor, non-nitrogen, non-pollution, and fully biodegradation.

PASP is a kind of biopolymer materials, of which molecules contains abundant amido bond, carboxyl and other active groups. Amido peptide bond has biological activity and high chemical stability, hard to decompose at high temperature; carboxyl group can be complex with many metal ions in water, which make PASP have high chemical activity in aqueous solution; in each structural unit of PASP, the oxygen and nitrogen atoms can easily form hydrogen bonds with water molecules, it has good hydrophilicity and water solubility. The special molecular structure of PASP ensures that it has good dispersing ability, corrosion inhibiting properties, excellent biodegradability and environmental friendly characteristics.

Cyanophycin is the third known polymer, the others being polyglutamate and polylysine, consisting of a restricted number of amino acids, that is synthesized by a nonribosomal synthetase.

The pH of tumor environment is acidic (6.5–7.2) compared with normal tissues (7.4). These differences in pH have been exploited to cleave the pH-sensitive ligands to release drugs from the micelles carriers.

Most early reports on brush and branched polypeptides utilized conventional NCA polymerization techniques. The first graft polypeptides were published in 1956 by Sela et al.61 Using poly(l-lysine) or poly(d/l-ornithine) as a multifunctional initiator for the ROP of a number of different NCAs, these authors prepared a variety of graft polypeptides, which they termed multichain poly(amino acids) (eqn [18]).

The “Web of Science” database of “Science Citation Index-Expanded” (SCIE), “Social Sciences Citation Index” (SSCI), and “Arts & Humanities Citation Index” (Garfield, 2006) was used for searching literature on the cyanobacterial research in general and the literature on the cyanobacterial bioenergy and biofuels in particular.

The “Web of Science” database of “Science Citation Index-Expanded” (SCIE), “Social Sciences Citation Index” (SSCI), and “Arts & Humanities Citation Index” (Garfield, 2006) was used for searching literature on the cyanobacterial research in general and the literature on the cyanobacterial bioenergy and biofuels in particular.

Control of membrane properties by precise pH control is the most easily visualized concept. The definite pKa for each functional group incorporated into the membrane structure allows for a very precise break in the permeability of a polymer grafted membrane. For example, the pKa for the carboxylic acid groups of polyaspartic acid is around 3.9.

Cyanophycin is a nitrogen-storage polymer composed of a polyaspartate backbone with arginine side chains attached with their α-amino group to the β-carboxy group of each aspartate (Figure 30.2). It is synthesized by the enzyme cyanophycin synthase and deposited as granules in cyanobacteria as well as several photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic bacteria (Berg et al., 2000

Given the clinical severity of the toxicities associated with aminoglycosides, a great deal of research has been devoted to the discovery of agents that can prevent these sequelae. The polyamino acids, poly-l-aspartic acid (PAA) and poly-l-glutamic acid (PGA), are a group of compounds that have been shown to be efficacious at preventing aminoglycoside nephrotoxicity without impairing antimicrobial activity (Ali 2003; Beauchamp et al. 1990; Josepovitz et al. 1982; Kishore et al.

A micelle is generally defined as a collection of amphiphilic surfactant molecules that spontaneously aggregate in water in a concentration-dependent manner to produce a metastable aggregate. The core of the micelle is hydrophobic and therefore can sequester hydrophobic drugs. Conventional micelles are formed from small surface-active molecules that have a polar head group and a hydrophobic tail (amphiphiles). However, micelles can also be formed from large amphiphilic block copolymers.

The main issue concerning cancer therapy is the selective targeting of cancer cells. One of the targeting strategies being investigated is using a tumor stimuli-sensitive delivery system that depends on the shared tumor physiological imbalances, which mainly include hypoxia, excessive expression of certain enzymes, tumor acidosis, and redox imbalance.

Briefly describe the genetically altered charge modification utilized to enhance the electrochemical partitioning of a β-galactosidase and T4 lysozyme in aqueous two-phase systems (Luther and Glatz, 1994).

An alternative concept for the preparation of microgels is based on the cross-linking of well-defined macromolecular building blocks, either by direct interaction between the (pre-) polymers or by the use of low molecular weight cross-linkers.32–34