The chloroplast ionome shines new light on organellar Fe homeostasis

Annually, chloroplasts fix 258 billion tons of CO ₂ through photosynthesis. Photosynthesis and other biochemical pathways require specific amounts of metal ions in the organelle. Transport proteins in the plastid inner envelope maintain the organellar ion homeostasis. Despite substantial progress over the last decades, many genes encoding for plastid ion channels and ion carriers or their regulators remain unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, detailed information on the elemental composition of chloroplasts i.e., a plastid ionome, is needed. This will allow to compare mutants of transporter candidates with wild-types.

Here, we provide quantitative descriptions of chloroplast ionomes from Arabidopsis thaliana, the metal hyperaccumulator Arabidopsis halleri , Pisum sativum , and Nicotiana benthamiana and analyze similarities and distinctions. Using A. thaliana, we show that plastid ionomes can be genetically manipulated. Chloroplasts of oligopeptide transporter3 ( opt3 )-deficient mutants contain 14-fold more iron, which they deposit into stromal FERRITIN. The removal of FERRITIN in opt3 mutants leads to a substantial decrease in plastid and leaf iron pointing to important signaling linked to the chloroplast ionome. Our study reveals that chloroplasts can be turned into large iron storages. Since crop biofortification to fight hidden hunger has become a global mission, this research provides groundwork to reach this goal.