The Roles of Aquaporins in Plant Stress Responses

Aquaporins are membrane channel proteins ubiquitously present in all kingdoms of life. Although aquaporins were originally discovered as water channels, their roles in the transport of small neutral solutes, gasses, and metal ions are now well established. Plants contain the largest number and greatest diversity of aquaporin homologs with diverse subcellular localization patterns, gating properties, and solute specificity. The roles of aquaporins in physiological functions throughout plant growth and development are well known. As an integral regulator of plant-water relations, they are presumed to play an important role in plant defense responses against biotic and abiotic stressors. This review highlights involvement of various aquaporin homologs in plant stress responses against a variety of environmental stresses that disturb plant cell osmotic balance and nutrient homeostasis.