Plants are capable of inducing a range of physico-chemical and microbial modifications of the rhizosphere which can mobilize mineral nutrients or prevent toxic elements from entering the roots. Understanding how plants sense and adapt to variations in nutrient availability is essential in order to develop plant-based solutions addressing nutrient-use-efficiency and adaptation to nutrient-limited or -toxic soils. Recently two transcription factors of the bZIP family (basic-region leucine zipper) have been identified in Arabidopsis and shown to be pivotal in the adaptation response to zinc deficiency. They represent not only the first regulators of zinc homeostasis identified in plants, but also a very promising starting-point that can provide new insights into the molecular basis of how plants sense and adapt to the stress of zinc deficiency. Considering the available information thus far we propose in this review a putative model of how plants sense zinc deficiency.