Plant transporters articles from across Nature Portfolio

Aside the MOT1-family, a second family of molybdate transporters (MOT2) is involved in the cellular transfer of molybdate and Mo homeostasis in Arabidopsis. From soil to reproductive organs, the transport of molybdate through plants is now well-described.

Arabidopsis thaliana UMAMIT uniporters facilitate glucosinolate efflux from biosynthetic cells along the electrochemical gradient into the apoplast, in which the high-affinity H⁺-coupled glucosinolate importers GLUCOSINOLATE TRANSPORTERS (GTRs) load them into the phloem for translocation to the seeds.

Volatile compounds to be released from the plant cell to the atmosphere must cross the cell wall. Here the authors show that cell-wall localized non-specific lipid transfer proteins facilitate the diffusion of volatiles across the hydrophilic cell wall.

Phylogenetic analyses and physiological experiments indicate that the regulatory domain of plant proton pumps could have been key in the plant transition to land from water.

Pyruvate use in respiration or biosynthesis is a pivotal decision in cells. The identification of two distinct pools of pyruvate inside plant mitochondria demonstrates the heterogeneity and flexibility of pyruvate use in plant metabolism.

The new structure for the H⁺-coupled sucrose uptake transporter AtSUC1 helps us understand the mechanism used by plants for cellular sucrose uptake and phloem loading.

Hormone-dependent suberin deposition is a key process in root development and in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. A recent study demonstrates that long- and short-distance transport of abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellin (GA) via four members of the nitrate and peptide transporter family (NPFs) is crucial for endodermal suberization in roots.

The difference in phloem pressure is the driving force that moves photosynthetic products and other solutes from the source to the sink. Measurements with emerging technologies reveal that sugar loading is not essential for maintaining phloem pressure and phloem bulk flow in the maize sugar-loading-defective mutant sut1.