Plant-regulated biological nitrification inhibition: nitrogen sensing, root exudate biochemistry, and nitrifier targeting.

Biological nitrification inhibition is a plant-regulated rhizosphere trait shaped by nitrogen sensing, proton extrusion, and selective root exudation, targeting multiple nitrifier groups.

• Why it matters: Nitrification drives major nitrogen loss in agricultural soils, and plant control over microbial nitrogen cycling is increasingly important to understand and harness.
• What they did: This review synthesizes plant physiology and biochemistry evidence on how ammonium nutrition, rhizosphere acidification, plasma-membrane H+-ATPase activity, and exudate transport regulate BNI release and mobility.
• The result: It integrates hydrophilic and hydrophobic BNIs acting via enzyme inhibition (AMO, HAO, NXR), redox and reactive oxygen/nitrogen interactions, and trace-metal interference, implying inducible, target-specific nitrifier suppression.