Improving the utilization efficiency of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium: current situation and future perspectives

Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are three major essential nutrient elements for plant growth and development. There are two main pathways for plants to obtain these nutrients: direct nutrient absorption through which plant roots directly absorb nutrients via ion channels or transporters from the soil; indirect nutrient absorption through which plants obtain nutrients from the environment through symbiosis with microorganisms. Here we summarize the important progress in recent years on the nutrient sensing, absorption and transportation of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in plants, and provide an outlook for the future directions and main problems that may be encountered in the next 15 years. We hope that these could provide technical support for breeding smart crop varieties with high nutrient absorption and utilization efficiency in the future, which is essential for sustainable agriculture and food security.