Reproductive organ and young tissues show constrained elemental composition

Current knowledge of plant stoichiometric homeostasis is mainly obtained from the mature leaf, with little from other organs across different developmental stages.

Yan et al. conducted a greenhouse nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) addition experiment to evaluate the strength of stoichiometric homeostasis across different organs and developmental stages of Arabidopsis thaliana, and find that reproductive tissues relative to other organs and young tissues relative to old tissues have more constrained elemental composition under changing nutrient availability. These findings suggest that N and P stoichiometry of old tissues might be stronger indicators of plant nutrient status.