Abstract
Ion-gradient-coupled transport systems in plants are normally electrophoretic and carry inward current. Rapid inward electrical currents elicited by K+, by urea and by lysine in the freshwater acidophilic alga Nitella translucens Agh. are all very strongly dependent on the presence of Na+ or (except in the case of K+) Li+. These results indicate that Na+-coupled solute transport in plants, which had previously been demonstrated only in an alkalophilic species (Chara australis), did not evolve recently as an alternative to H+-coupled transport in high-pH environments, and might therefore be more widely distributed than has hitherto been recognised.
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We are very grateful to Professor E.A.C. MacRobbie and Mr J. Banfield (Botany School, University of Cambridge) for supplies of Nitella translucens. Financial support for this work was obtained from the Australian Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce and the Joint Research Council's Biotechnology Collaboration Scheme between Britain and Australia (to N.A.W. and D.S.), and from an Agricultural and Food Research Council Grant (PG 87/501 to D.S.). D.S. was a Nuffield Foundation Science Research Fellow.
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Walker, N.A., Sanders, D. Sodium-coupled solute transport in charophyte algae: A general mechanism for transport energization in plant cells?. Planta 185, 443–445 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00201070
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00201070