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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Measuring Phosphorus Release in Laboratory Microcosms for Water Quality Assessment
06:42

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Published on: July 22, 2019

Structural and dynamic insights into SPDT for phosphorus allocation in rice.

Haitao He1, Yan Liu1, Jie Zhang1

  • 1National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Hubei Provincial Research Center for Basic Biological Sciences, College of Bio-X, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.

Science China. Life Sciences
|June 15, 2026
PubMed
Summary

Researchers uncovered the elevator-type transport mechanism of rice phosphorus distribution transporters (SPDTs) using cryo-EM. This reveals how plants move essential phosphate, offering targets for improving crop nutrient efficiency.

Keywords:
SPDTcryo-em structuremolecular mechanismphosphate homeostasisplant nutrientprotein dynamicstransporter

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Area of Science:

  • Plant Biology
  • Structural Biology
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Phosphorus is vital for plant growth, absorbed as inorganic phosphate (Pi).
  • Specialized transporters, like SULTR-like phosphorus distribution transporters (SPDTs), manage Pi distribution.
  • SPDTs are key targets for enhancing crop nutrient use efficiency in sustainable agriculture.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the structural basis of Pi transport by rice SPDT.
  • To elucidate the dynamic mechanism regulating SPDT activity and its interaction with the STAS domain.

Main Methods:

  • Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to obtain high-resolution structures of rice SPDT.
  • Integrative structural analysis and single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) to study transporter dynamics.

Main Results:

  • Revealed an elevator-type transport mechanism involving a mobile Pi-binding core domain and a stationary gate domain.
  • Identified specific residues and an electropositive vestibule crucial for Pi coordination and transport.
  • Demonstrated the STAS domain acts as a bidirectional conformation-switch, regulating transporter states.

Conclusions:

  • The study provides a detailed mechanistic blueprint of SPDT function.
  • Understanding SPDT regulation offers opportunities for engineering phosphorus allocation in crops.
  • Findings highlight conserved regulatory mechanisms across related transporter families for enhanced nutrient-use efficiency.