Title:Recent Advances in Genome-wide Analyses of Plant Potassium Transporter Families
Volume: 22
Issue: 3
Author(s): Dhondup Lhamo*, Chao Wang, Qifei Gao and Sheng Luan
Affiliation:
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720,United States
Keywords:
KUP/HAK/KT transporters, shaker-like channels, TPK channels, KEA transporters, subcellular localization, gene
expression, function, Camelina sativa.
Abstract: Plants require potassium (K+) as a macronutrient to support numerous physiological processes.
Understanding how this nutrient is transported, stored, and utilized within plants is crucial
for breeding crops with high K+ use efficiency. As K+ is not metabolized, cross-membrane transport
becomes a rate-limiting step for efficient distribution and utilization in plants. Several K+ transporter
families, such as KUP/HAK/KT and KEA transporters and Shaker-like and TPK channels,
play dominant roles in plant K+ transport processes. In this review, we provide a comprehensive
contemporary overview of our knowledge about these K+ transporter families in angiosperms, with
a major focus on the genome-wide identification of K+ transporter families, subcellular localization,
spatial expression, function and regulation. We also expanded the genome-wide search for the
K+ transporter genes and examined their tissue-specific expression in Camelina sativa, a polyploid
oil-seed crop with a potential to adapt to marginal lands for biofuel purposes and contribution to
sustainable agriculture. In addition, we present new insights and emphasis on the study of K+ transporters
in polyploids in an effort to generate crops with high K+ Utilization Efficiency (KUE).
