Molecular evolution of aquaporins and silicon influx in plants
TLDR
Genomic data now offer a reliable tool to predict with accuracy which plant species are predisposed to benefit from Si, which will undoubtedly result in a better understanding of Si role in many fundamental aspects of ecology regarding plant fitness under stress.Abstract:
Summary
Silicon (Si), although mostly ignored by plant nutritionists and ecologists, is now gaining more attention because of its beneficial role in plant fitness under stress environment imposed by a diverse range of biotic and abiotic factors. Si appears to systematically confer benefits to plants as long as a given species can absorb the element. Here, we review recent developments regarding the molecular mechanisms, evolution, regulation and structural specificity of influx transporter proteins involved in Si uptake by plants.
Si absorption is facilitated by specific nodulin 26-like intrinsic proteins (NIPs). The Si transporter NIPs have evolved a unique amino acid selective filter (SF), which is one of the required features to regulate the influx of Si. While Si accumulation in plants requires the dual action of both an influx transporter and an efflux transporter, it appears that the presence of the former is the indispensable key for a plant to be able to absorb Si.
Based on sequence analyses and comparisons, influx transporters appear to have conserved features across all species that allow to discriminate between plants that are Si competent or not. While it is unclear how and why plants have acquired or lost this trait, genomic data now offer a reliable tool to predict with accuracy which plant species are predisposed to benefit from Si. This will undoubtedly result in a better understanding of Si role in many fundamental aspects of ecology regarding plant fitness under stress.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Role of Silicon in Mitigation of Heavy Metal Stresses in Crop Plants.
Javaid Akhter Bhat,S. M. Shivaraj,Pritam Singh,Devanna B. Navadagi,Durgesh Kumar Tripathi,Prasanta K. Dash,Amolkumar U. Solanke,Humira Sonah,Rupesh Deshmukh +8 more
TL;DR: The potential role and mechanisms involved in the Si-mediated alleviation of metal toxicity as well as different approaches for enhancing Si-derived benefits in crop plants are discussed.
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Silicon: Potential to Promote Direct and Indirect Effects on Plant Defense Against Arthropod Pests in Agriculture.
TL;DR: Understanding silicon under plant ecological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular contexts will assist in fully elucidating the mechanisms behind silicon and plant response to biotic stress at both the bi- and tri-trophic levels.
Journal ArticleDOI
Consistent alleviation of abiotic stress with silicon addition: a meta-analysis.
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that across plant families and stress types, Si increases dry weight, assimilation rate and chlorophyll biosynthesis and alleviates oxidative damage in stressed plants, and Meta-analyses showed consistent alleviation by Si of oxidative damage caused by a range of abiotic stresses across diverse species.
Journal ArticleDOI
The role of silicon in plant biology: a paradigm shift in research approach
Adam Frew,Leslie A. Weston,Olivia L. Reynolds,Olivia L. Reynolds,Geoff M. Gurr,Geoff M. Gurr +5 more
TL;DR: A holistic and comparative approach is proposed to assess the mode of action of Si between plant trait types and between biotic and abiotic stressors, highlighting potential pathways highlighted by recent empirical evidence.
Journal ArticleDOI
Silicon-mediated Improvement in Plant Salinity Tolerance: The Role of Aquaporins.
TL;DR: A model is proposed to explain how Si absorption alleviates stress in plants grown under saline conditions through the conjugated action of different aquaporins.
References
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TL;DR: Ample evidence is presented that silicon, when readily available to plants, plays a large role in their growth, mineral nutrition, mechanical strength, and resistance to fungal diseases, herbivory, and adverse chemical conditions of the medium.
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Jian Feng Ma,Naoki Yamaji +1 more
TL;DR: Genetically manipulating the Si uptake capacity of the root might help plants to accumulate more Si and, hence, improve their ability to overcome biotic and abiotic stresses.
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A silicon transporter in rice
Jian Feng Ma,Kazunori Tamai,Naoki Yamaji,Namiki Mitani,Saeko Konishi,Maki Katsuhara,Masaji Ishiguro,Yoshiko Murata,Masahiro Yano +8 more
TL;DR: The identification of a silicon transporter provides both an insight into the silicon uptake system in plants, and a new strategy for producing crops with high resistance to multiple stresses by genetic modification of the root's silicon uptake capacity.
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Plant Aquaporins: Membrane Channels with Multiple Integrated Functions
TL;DR: How a wide range of selectivity profiles and regulation properties allows aquaporins to be integrated in numerous functions, throughout plant development, and during adaptations to variable living conditions is examined.
Journal ArticleDOI
Phylogenetic Variation in the Silicon Composition of Plants
TL;DR: Information on the phylogenetic variation in shoot Si concentration may provide useful palaeoecological and archaeological information, and inform studies of the biogeochemical cycling of Si and those of the molecular genetics of Si uptake and transport in plants.