Fig. 1.

A hierarchical summary of the major distal effects of silicon (Si) on abiotic and biotic plant stresses and some of the progressively more fundamental proximate and underlying phenomena associated with stress alleviation. Effects on the transcriptome highlight examples of genes (associated with metabolic processes indicated) with altered transcription in response to Si (e.g. regulation of TaAPX, a gene involved in oxidation metabolism, has been shown to be altered by Si). Identified silicon transporter genes essential for silicon uptake in plants are also shown (Lsi1, Lsi2, Lsi6). Solid lines show linkages for which there is empirical support and dashed lines show potential links or interactions.