Boron is an essential microelement for plants, and its deficiency and toxicity remain major agricultural problems. On the occasion of the 17th International Plant Nutrition Colloquium (IPNC) in Istanbul, a satellite meeting, BORON 2013, was organized. This was a continuation of the series of BORON meetings held previously: Chiang-Mai in 1997, Bonn in 2001 and Wuhan in 2005. More than 100 participants from countries around the world gathered for a two-day workshop including plenary lectures, talks and posters in five sessions: “Function of boron in plants, animals and bacteria”, “Genetics and molecular biology of efficiency and tolerance”, “Boron in the field and crops”, “Boron toxicity/interaction of boron with other nutrients/stresses” and “Transport and regulation”. During the last several years, a number of novel discoveries were made in the field of boron biology, including molecular understanding of the action of boron, especially in cell walls, cell biology of boron responses, identification of major boron transporters for deficiency and toxicity tolerance, unveiling the molecular mechanisms of boron toxicity, mechanisms of boron sensing, and mathematical modeling of boron transport, in addition to studies in the agro-eco systems. The meeting was an excellent opportunity for very productive exchanges of ideas and information in this relatively small world of boron studies. The workshop was sponsored with generous support by the National Boron Research Institute, Turkey (BOREN), BORAX, BOROCHEMIE and University of Tokyo, and mostly organized by Prof. Ismail Cakmak, the president of the 17th IPNC in Istanbul.
At the occasion of BORON 2013, we proposed to organize a special issue on Boron in Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. With generous support by the Editor-in-Chief, the editorial members and the Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, this special section was made possible. We received more than 10 manuscripts covering a wide range of topics and, through the peer review process, six manuscripts were accepted and included in this special section. A review on the boron deficiency response in Brassica with original data is contributed by Zhang et al. Two papers describe novel aspects of physiological responses to boron deficiency and excess. Three papers on the analysis of different members of BOR gene families in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) and crop plants describe novel ways to generate plants with tolerance to boron deficiency/toxicity, and to select crop cultivars with high boron efficiency. These represent only a small fraction of the data presented at the conference, and many of the studies presented at BORON 2013 have been and will be published. We are confident that these rich studies on boron from around the world, taken together, bring us to a new dimension of boron biology.
Boron has been and will be an important nutrient/hazard for agriculture. For a long time, boron has been considered an “inert” element, but it is now clear that plants sense boron conditions in the environment and respond to them by modifying a number of aspects of plant development/physiology. A novel species of bacterium that requires boron for normal growth has also been identified. These advances in boron biology are unveiling the fundamental roles of boron in biology and it is our belief that boron is becoming understood not only as an important plant nutrient but also as a tool to reveal interesting aspects of living organisms. With such significant advances in boron biology, we are in a better place to increase food production without consuming as much energy and nutrient resources, while overcoming boron deficiency/toxicity. With new tools in biology rapidly and increasingly becoming available, we believe that it will be possible for boron biology to contribute to society not only in terms of science but also in applications in agriculture. It is our sincere hope that this special section will help us advance toward our goals.
June 3, 2014
Guest Editors of the BORON special section