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Functional analysis of a high-affinity potassium transporter PaHAK1 from Phytolacca acinosa by overexpression in eukaryotes

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Abstract

Aims

KUP/HAK/KT transporters mainly play a role of K+ uptake in plants. PaHAK1 was a previously isolated KUP/HAK/KT transporter gene from a high K+ plant Phytolacca acinosa Roxb. In this study, we want to identify the function of PaHAK1.

Methods

PaHAK1 was overexpressed in eukaryotes including Arabidopsis, rice, and yeast. The growth and K+ uptake of transgenic lines in media of low K+ concentration were investigated.

Results

We found that PaHAK1 rescued the growth phenotype of athak5 seedlings which was hard to grow in the media of 10 μM K+. Faster depletion from diluted K solutions was detected for transgenic than for WT plants. Moreover, PaHAK1 confers the growth of K+ uptake deletion yeast mutant on AP media containing 50 μM of K+.

Conclusions

Taken together, these results suggest an important role for PaHAK1 transporter on K+ uptake.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 91317312 and 30900099) and Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (Grant Nos. 15K061, 12K061, and 13K065). We thank Professor Myeon Haeng Cho from Yonsei University for the donation of Arabidopsis mutants and Professor Alonso Rodríguez-Navarro from Universidad Politécnica of Madrid for the donation of yeast mutant strain WΔ6. We are also grateful to Prof. Langtao Xiao and Dr. Zhigang Huang who provided some valuable suggestions in this study.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Phytohormones and Growth Development, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China

      Yi Su, Weigui Luo, Xin Zhao, Liying Ma, Huizhen Liu & Wanhuang Lin

    2. Hunan Co-Innovation Center for Utilization of Botanical Functional Ingredients, Changsha, China

      Yi Su & Wanhuang Lin

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    1. Yi Su
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    2. Weigui Luo
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    3. Xin Zhao
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    Correspondence to Wanhuang Lin.

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    Responsible Editor: Guillermo Santa Maria.

    Yi Su and Weigui Luo contributed equally to this work.

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    Su, Y., Luo, W., Zhao, X. et al. Functional analysis of a high-affinity potassium transporter PaHAK1 from Phytolacca acinosa by overexpression in eukaryotes. Plant Soil 397, 63–73 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2601-7

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