Nitrate transporters in plants: structure, function and regulation
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Updated: Oct 17, 2026

Measuring Fluxes of Mineral Nutrients and Toxicants in Plants with Radioactive Tracers
Published on: August 22, 2014
1Biochemistry and Physiology Department, IACR-Rothamsted, Harpenden, UK. b.g.forde@lancaster.ac.uk
Abstract:
Physiological studies have established that plants acquire their NO(-3) from the soil through the combined activities of a set of high- and low-affinity NO(-3) transport systems, with the influx of NO(-3) being driven by the H(+) gradient across the plasma membrane. Some of these NO(-3) transport systems are constitutively expressed, while others are NO(-3)-inducible and subject to negative feedback regulation by the products of NO(-3) assimilation. Here we review recent progress in the characterisation of the two families of NO(-3) transporters that have so far been identified in plants, their structure and their regulation, and consider the evidence for their roles in NO(-3) acquisition. We also discuss what is currently known about the genetic basis of NO(-3) induction and feedback repression of the NO(-3) transport and assimilatory pathway in higher plants.
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