Plants require many nutrients to thrive. Potassium is critical for several plant processes and plays a role in mitigating drought effects in plants. However, the availability of potassium in the environment to plants is limited, so plants have unique strategies to source enough potassium, including partnerships with soil microbes.
Newswise — Potassium is an essential element for plant growth. However, soils generally have low amounts of potassium readily available to plants. Luckily, soils contain potassium in soil minerals, and there are many species of microbes that can weather mineral surfaces by secreting organic acids that dissolve the minerals, thereby releasing potassium.
Recently published research from a multi-institutional group of scientists shows that the bonding environment of potassium in different organic acids has different signatures that can be detected using X-ray techniques. This understanding will allow future researchers to fingerprint the type of organic compound that is bonded to potassium in complicated biological and environmental samples, something that was not previously known to be possible until now.
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