Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 2, 2026

Measuring Fluxes of Mineral Nutrients and Toxicants in Plants with Radioactive Tracers
Published on: August 22, 2014
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF CATION TRANSPORT IN PLANTS
Tama Christine Fox1, Mary Lou Guerinot
1Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, 6044 Gilman, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755;
Abstract:
This review summarizes current knowledge about genes whose products function in the transport of various cationic macronutrients (K, Ca) and micronutrients (Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn) in plants. Such genes have been identified on the basis of function, via complementation of yeast mutants, or on the basis of sequence similarity, via database analysis, degenerate PCR, or low stringency hybridization. Not surprisingly, many of these genes belong to previously described transporter families, including those encoding Shaker-type K+ channels, P-type ATPases, and Nramp proteins. ZIP, a novel cation transporter family first identified in plants, also seems to be ubiquitous; members of this family are found in protozoa, yeast, nematodes, and humans. Emerging information on where in the plant each transporter functions and how each is controlled in response to nutrient availability may allow creation of food crops with enhanced mineral content as well as crops that bioaccumulate or exclude toxic metals.
Related Concept Videos
Tonicity in Plants
Water and Mineral Acquisition
Short-distance Transport of Resources
The Apoplast and Symplast
Protein Transport to the Inner Chloroplast Membrane
Tonicity in Plants
Tonicity
Tonicity describes the capacity of a cell to lose or gain water depending on the solute...

