Abstract
Phosphorus is one of the most essential elements for biological organisms. Free phosphate concentrations in the soil, however, are very low, usually less than 10 micro M. Plants must take up large amounts of phosphorus from this poor supply. To ameliorate such situation, plants have developed various physiological mechanisms, that is, changes in root architecture, release of inorganic phosphates in the soil, activation of membrane transport, long distance transport via xylem and phloem, re-translocation from older tissues and cells to younger ones, changes in phosphate-related metabolism, store in the vacuole for cytoplasmic Pi homeostasis, and synthesis and accumulation of phytate in seeds.
In the present study, we report some of these physiological phenomena based on the phosphate membrane transport system.
