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Molecular characterization, expression and functional analysis of the amino acid transporter gene family (OsAATs) in rice

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Abstract

Nitrogen (N) is one of the most important limiting factors for plant growth and development. Amino acids are the major source of organic N, which is converted from inorganic N absorbed by plant roots from the soil. Amino acid transporters are the principal mediators of organic N distribution and important regulators of resource allocation in plants. Although the complete genomic sequence of rice has already been released, there is still little known about amino acid transporter genes in rice. In this study, 79 OsAAT genes were identified by a database search of the rice genome based upon HMM profiles. A bioinformatics analysis of the complete set of OsAAT genes is presented, including chromosomal location, phylogenetic analysis, gene structure, protein analysis, conserved motifs, protein structures and cis-element analysis of the promoters. In addition, the comprehensive expression profile of OsAAT genes in rice tissues/organs under N starvation conditions was investigated by real-time PCR analysis. Diverse expression patterns of OsAAT genes indicated diverse biological functions of the amino acid transporters and the important roles of OsAAT genes in N uptake, metabolism and distribution during N starvation. The evaluation of yield and carbon (C) and N content of osaat knockout mutants also suggested the important roles of the OsAAT5, OsAAT7, OsAAT24, OsAAT49 and OsAAT60 genes in yield and biomass production and C and N metabolism and distribution in rice plants.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31000932), the Specialized Research Found for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education, the Ministry of Education of China (20100146120017), the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201003016), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2009BQ078, 2011PY150). We thank Prof. Qifa Zhang and Fangsen Xu for comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (Middle and Lower Reaches of Yangtse River), Ministry of Agriculture, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Hongmei Cai

  2. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Yongen Lu, Zhiyong Song, Kai Lü & Xingming Lian

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  1. Yongen Lu
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  2. Zhiyong Song
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Correspondence to Hongmei Cai.

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Communicated by J. W. Sadowski.

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Lu, Y., Song, Z., Lü, K. et al. Molecular characterization, expression and functional analysis of the amino acid transporter gene family (OsAATs) in rice. Acta Physiol Plant 34, 1943–1962 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-012-0995-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-012-0995-x

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