Metal Transport and Metabolism in Plants
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Physiology and Metabolism".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 369
Special Issue Editor
Interests: heavy metals; zinc; cadmium; metal uptake; root-to-shoot translocation; zinc deficiency; plant microelement physiology; tobacco; gene expression; plant biotechnology; transgenic plants
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Mo, and Ni are necessary for proper plant growth, development and response to abiotic and biotic stressors. In plant cells, they play three major roles: structural, regulatory and enzymatic, being part of active sites. In turn, Na and Co are not classified as an essential element for plants; however, they have been described as beneficial. Essential and beneficial metals can be toxic when present in excess. In the environment, there are also metals that have no known function in plants and seem to be more or less toxic to these organisms.
To absorb and maintain a balance of mineral nutrient and toxic metals, plants utilize mechanisms involving a large number of membrane transporters and organic ligands, such as cell wall polysaccharide components, metallothioneins, phytoferritin, mugineic acid, nicotianamine, phytate, amino acids, organic acid, glutathione, and phytochelatins. Membrane transporters and ligands, however, do not have full substrate specificity for individual metals but are characterized by the ability to transport/bind different metals with different affinity. The efficiency of transport/binding depends, inter alia, on their biochemical specificity and the mutual concentration of metals. The abovementioned properties are the reason why in the deficiency condition of one metal, other ones are excessively accumulated. On the other hand, with an excess of one, uptake and/or translocation of another can be inhibited. Today, despite significant progress in the identification of genes related to metal homeostasis, we are still far from understanding the mechanisms controlling metal utilization efficiency and distribution at organ, tissue, and subcellular level.
Understanding plant metal uptake, root-to-shoot translocation, compartmentation, detoxification, and utilization efficiency has numerous agronomical implications, not only due to the crop yields, but also their nutritional value for humans and animals.
The objective of this Special Issue is to present review, mini-review, and research articles focusing on mechanisms regulating metal uptake, distribution, compartmentalization, and utilization efficiency.
Dr. Anna Barabasz
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- microelement homeostasis
- macroelement homeostasis
- transmembrane transporters
- chelators
- cofactors
- metal distribution
- metal deficiency
- metal toxicity
- metal utilization efficiency
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