Sodium (Na) toxicity is one of the most formidable challenges for crop production world-wide. Nevertheless, despite decades of intensive research, the pathways of Na(+) entry into the roots of plants under high salinity are still not definitively known. Here, we review critically the current paradigms in this field. In particular, we explore the evidence supporting the role of nonselective cati...

High-affinity K+ (HAK) transporters are encoded by a large family of genes and are ubiquitous in the plant kingdom. These HAK-type transporters participate in low- and high-affinity potassium (K+) uptake and are crucial for the maintenance of K+ homeostasis under hostile conditions. In this study, the full-length cDNA of CcHAK1 gene was isolated from roots of the habanero pepper (Capsicum chine...

Potassium (K(+)) is an essential macronutrient required for plant growth, development and high yield production of crops. Members of group I of the KT/HAK/KUP family of transporters, such as HAK5, are key components for K(+) acquisition by plant roots at low external K(+) concentrations. Certain abiotic stress conditions such as salinity or Cs(+)-polluted soils may jeopardize plant K(+) nutriti...

Suc represents the major transport form for carbohydrates in plants. Suc is loaded actively against a concentration gradient into sieve elements, which constitute the conduit for assimilate export out of leaves. Three members of the Suc transporter family with different properties were identified: SUT1, a high-affinity Suc proton cotransporter; SUT4, a low-affinity transporter; and SUT2, which ...

In plants the vacuolar functions are the cellular storage of soluble carbohydrates, organic acids, inorganic ions and toxic compounds. Transporters and channels located in the vacuolar membrane, the tonoplast, are modulated by PTMs to facilitate the optimal functioning of a large number of metabolic pathways. Here we present a phosphoproteomic approach for the identification of in vivo phosphor...

In the central nervous system Na(+)-dependent glutamate transporters bind extracellular glutamate and transport it into cells surrounding the synapse, terminating excitatory signals. These glutamate transporters also function as ion channels. The glutamate transporter, GLAST-1, is expressed in the plasma membrane of osteoblasts and osteocytes and is the same molecular weight as in brain. Thus i...

Na+-dependent, high-affinity glutamate transporters in the central nervous system are generally credited with regulating extracellular levels of L-glutamate and maintaining concentrations below those that would induce excitotoxic injury. Under pathological conditions, however, it has been suggested that these same transporters may contribute to excitotoxic injury by serving as sites of efflux f...

Objective(s): Glutamate is the most widespread neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and has several functions as a neuromodulator in the brain although in pathological conditions like ischemia it is excessively released causing cell death. Under physiological conditions, glutamate is rapidly scavenged from the synaptic cleft by excitatory amino-acid transport...

We have used ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) to quantify ion fluxes across giant membrane patches by measuring and simulating ion gradients on both membrane sides. Experimental conditions are selected with low concentrations of the ions detected on the membrane side being monitored. For detection from the cytoplasmic (bath) side, the patch pipette is oscillated laterally in front of an ISE. For...