Amino Acids as Multifunctional Molecules in Plants: From Fundamental Metabolism to Precision Agriculture
- 1Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Breeding, College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Abstract
Amino acids are organic compounds that serve as the fundamental building blocks of proteins and are additionally responsible for a multitude of other biological functions. This review synthesizes recent evidence elucidating that amino acids function as vital players in nitrogen transport, stress defense, and perhaps most intriguingly as signaling molecules. For example, glutamate triggers calcium signals through GLR receptors to guide root growth and pollen tubes. Others, like proline and glutathione, protect cells from drought, salt, and oxidative damage. Aromatic and sulfur-containing amino acids also feed into the production of hormones (auxin, ethylene) and a wide range of defense compounds. Beyond metabolism, we highlighted how plants sense amino acid status via ancient sensors such as PII and the TOR pathway, which fine-tune growth and resource allocation. Understanding this hidden side of amino acids opens new doors for agriculture. We discussed how these insights could lead to smarter biostimulants, gene-edited crops with better nutrient efficiency, and nano-based delivery systems. In short, amino acids are not just food for plants-they are signals, shields, and switches that shape how plants grow and cope with stress.
Related
- Hybrid local–global vision transformer framework for robust plant disease detection in precision agriculture
- A global–local momentum contrastive framework with critical feature calibration for field plant disease identification in precision agriculture
- Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies for Smart Farming and Precision Agriculture
- The future of salicylic acid in agriculture lies in precision priming
- Rhizosphere Microbiome Engineering for Climate-Smart Agriculture: From Synthetic Consortia to Precision Decision Support
BibTeX
@article{wang2026amino,
title = {{Amino Acids as Multifunctional Molecules in Plants: From Fundamental Metabolism to Precision Agriculture}},
author = {Z M WANG},
journal = {Plants},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.3390/plants15101583},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15101583},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Amino Acids as Multifunctional Molecules in Plants: From Fundamental Metabolism to Precision Agriculture
AU - Z M WANG
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/21
JO - Plants
DO - 10.3390/plants15101583
UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15101583
AB - Amino acids are organic compounds that serve as the fundamental building blocks of proteins and are additionally responsible for a multitude of other biological functions. This review synthesizes recent evidence elucidating that amino acids function as vital players in nitrogen transport, stress defense, and perhaps most intriguingly as signaling molecules. For example, glutamate triggers calcium signals through GLR receptors to guide root growth and pollen tubes. Others, like proline and glutathione, protect cells from drought, salt, and oxidative damage. Aromatic and sulfur-containing amino acids also feed into the production of hormones (auxin, ethylene) and a wide range of defense compounds. Beyond metabolism, we highlighted how plants sense amino acid status via ancient sensors such as PII and the TOR pathway, which fine-tune growth and resource allocation. Understanding this hidden side of amino acids opens new doors for agriculture. We discussed how these insights could lead to smarter biostimulants, gene-edited crops with better nutrient efficiency, and nano-based delivery systems. In short, amino acids are not just food for plants-they are signals, shields, and switches that shape how plants grow and cope with stress.
SN - 2223-7747
ER -