Ammonium stress in Arabidopsis: signaling, genetic loci, and physiological targets

Ammonium (NH4+) toxicity is a significant ecological and agricultural issue, and an important phenomenon in cell biology. As a result of increasing soil nitrogen input and atmospheric deposition, plants have to deal with unprecedented NH4+ stress from sources below and above ground. In this review, we describe recent advances in elucidating the signaling pathways and identifying the main physiological targets and genetic loci involved in the effects of NH4+ stress in the roots and shoots of Arabidopsis thaliana. We outline new experimental approaches that are being used to study NH4+ toxicity in Arabidopsis and propose an integrated view of behavior and signaling in response to NH4+ stress in the Arabidopsis system.