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Plants and sodium ions: keeping company with the enemy
Jose M Pardo1, Francisco J Quintero
1Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, PO Box 1052, Sevilla 41080, Spain. pardo@cica.es
Genome Biology
|July 3, 2002
Abstract:
Plants face a dilemma about sodium metabolism. Uptake of ubiquitous sodium ions is desirable as a way to build osmotic potential, absorb water and sustain turgor, but excess sodium ions may be toxic. Information from a number of plant species about the proteins involved in sodium-ion uptake helps to explain how plants manage to take in just the right amount.