Abstract

Plants require essential nutrients for maintaining normal physiological, biochemical, and molecular functions. Plasma membrane-localized nutrient transporters play key roles in acquiring and allocating plant nutrients. Extensive studies have been performed on the functional characterization of key plant nutrient transporters in the past decades. Crystal structures of a few plant nutrient transporters and bacterial or fungal homologs were solved, which helped to predict the key residues and transport mechanisms of plant nutrient transporters. Site-directed mutagenesis and yeast complementation studies have also identified functional residues. This review presents a comprehensive list of the functional residues of various macro- and micro-nutrient transporters involved in acquiring and redistributing nutrients in the plant. We have also analyzed the functionally important residues of various plant nutrient transporters with bioinformatics tools. We then draw insights on the possible application of CRISPR/Cas tools to edit key residues to improve nutrient transport and agronomical performance. Utilization of genome editing tools like CRISPR could help develop DNA-free GM crops for quicker approval for field cultivation, contributing to food security amidst global climate change.

摘要

植物需要必需的营养物质来维持正常的生理、生化和分子功能。质膜定位的养分转运蛋白在获取和分配植物养分方面发挥着关键作用。在过去的几十年里，人们对关键植物养分转运蛋白的功能特征进行了广泛的研究。解决了一些植物养分转运蛋白和细菌或真菌同系物的晶体结构，这有助于预测植物养分转运蛋白的关键残基和转运机制。定点诱变和酵母互补研究也鉴定出了功能残基。这篇综述提供了植物中参与获取和重新分配养分的各种大量和微量养分转运蛋白的功能残留物的全面列表。我们还利用生物信息学工具分析了各种植物养分转运蛋白的功能上重要的残留物。然后，我们深入了解 CRISPR/Cas 工具编辑关键残基以改善养分运输和农艺性能的可能应用。利用 CRISPR 等基因组编辑工具可以帮助开发无 DNA 转基因作物，从而更快地批准田间种植，从而在全球气候变化的情况下为粮食安全做出贡献。