The Alkali Metal Ions: Their Role for Life by Astrid Sigel Helmut Sigel & Roland K. O. Sigel

Author:Astrid Sigel, Helmut Sigel & Roland K. O. Sigel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

6 General Conclusions

Important concerns and objectives, both at the biological and agricultural levels, are underlying research on roles and transport of K+ and Na+ in plants. K+ is an essential element, which is required in large quantities while its availability in the soil solution is often low, in the μM range, and limiting for optimal plant growth. It is involved in a large number of crucial functions, among which are osmocontractility, for instance in guard cells which regulate the aperture of stomatal pores and gas exchanges at the leaf surface. In contrast, Na+ is not an essential element in most plants. The major issue regarding this ion is that its concentration in the soil can be high and thus toxic, preventing plant growth and agriculture in a large proportion of the arable lands.

In the context of such concerns, efforts have been particularly made to identify and characterize channels or transporters involved in K+ or Na+ transport. Major advances have been made during the last 2 decades in this domain, using DNA-based strategies, cell biology, (electro)physiology, genetics and reverse genetics, and whole plant biology. For instance, this has provided valuable knowledge on transport mechanisms responsible for K+ uptake from the soil solution [75], K+ fluxes in guard cells [121], and Na+ exclusion [73] or compartmentalization into vacuoles [91].

However, we are very far from having a holistic view of the functional properties and roles of the tens of Na+ and K+ transport systems that have been identified in the genome of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana [270], and still farther from understanding the physiological significance and consequences of the differences that are revealed by phylogenetic comparison of the different families of transport systems between plant species [172]. Further progress in this direction is clearly required. It seems very reasonable to expect that this will provide new tools and strategies to improve, for instance, plant K+ use efficiency or tolerance to soil salinity.Abbreviations

ADPadenosine diphosphate

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.