A research team at Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), in collaboration with the Yazhouwan National Laboratory, the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, has uncovered a critical lipid remodeling pathway that helps plants adapt to phosphate deficiency. Their findings were published in Plant Cell under the title Regulation of glucosylceramide synthase and sphingolipid remodeling in the plant response to phosphate deficiency.
The study identified glucosylceramide synthase (GCS) as a key enzyme that converts sphingolipids to glucosylceramides and demonstrated its central role in maintaining lipid homeostasis and root growth under phosphate-starvation conditions. It further revealed that PHR1, a master regulator of phosphate starvation response, directly controls the expression of both GCS and NPC4, thereby coordinating the remodeling of sphingolipids to enable plant survival in Pi-deficient environments.
Phosphate is essential for plant growth, but it often occurs in limited amounts in soils. Excessive phosphate fertilizer use has led to environmental concerns and resource depletion. To cope, plants remodel membrane lipids – breaking down phospholipids to release phosphate while increasing non-phosphorus lipids such as glycolipids. Although glycerolipid remodeling has been well studied, the regulation of sphingolipids under phosphate stress remained unclear until now.
This discovery enhances understanding of membrane lipid adaptation under nutrient stress and offers valuable genetic resources for improving phosphate use efficiency in crops.

Model of sphingolipid remodeling and its regulatory mechanism in plants under phosphate deficiency stress. [Photo/news.hzau.edu.cn]