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Isolation and functional characterization of a high affinity urea transporter from roots of Zea mays

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Plant Biology, August 2014
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Title
Isolation and functional characterization of a high affinity urea transporter from roots of Zea mays
Published in
BMC Plant Biology, August 2014
DOI 10.1186/s12870-014-0222-6
Pubmed ID
Authors

Laura Zanin, Nicola Tomasi, Corina Wirdnam, Stefan Meier, Nataliya Y Komarova, Tanja Mimmo, Stefano Cesco, Doris Rentsch, Roberto Pinton

Abstract

BackgroundDespite its extensive use as a nitrogen fertilizer, the role of urea as a directly accessible nitrogen source for crop plants is still poorly understood. So far, the physiological and molecular aspects of urea acquisition have been investigated only in few plant species highlighting the importance of a high-affinity transport system. With respect to maize, a worldwide-cultivated crop requiring high amounts of nitrogen fertilizer, the mechanisms involved in the transport of urea have not yet been identified. The aim of the present work was to characterize the high-affinity urea transport system in maize roots and to identify the high affinity urea transporter.ResultsKinetic characterization of urea uptake (<300 ¿M) demonstrated the presence in maize roots of a high-affinity and saturable transport system; this system is inducible by urea itself showing higher Vmax and Km upon induction. At molecular level, the ORF sequence coding for the urea transporter, ZmDUR3, was isolated and functionally characterized using different heterologous systems: a dur3 yeast mutant strain, tobacco protoplasts and a dur3 Arabidopsis mutant. The expression of the isolated sequence, ZmDUR3-ORF, in dur3 yeast mutant demonstrated the ability of the encoded protein to mediate urea uptake into cells. The subcellular targeting of DUR3/GFP fusion proteins in tobacco protoplasts gave results comparable to the localization of the orthologous transporters of Arabidopsis and rice, suggesting a partial localization at the plasma membrane. Moreover, the overexpression of ZmDUR3 in the atdur3-3 Arabidopsis mutant showed to complement the phenotype, since different ZmDUR3-overexpressing lines showed either comparable or enhanced 15[N]-urea influx than wild-type plants. These data provide a clear evidence in planta for a role of ZmDUR3 in urea acquisition from an extra-radical solution.ConclusionsThis work highlights the capability of maize plants to take up urea via an inducible and high-affinity transport system. ZmDUR3 is a high-affinity urea transporter mediating the uptake of this molecule into roots. Data may provide a key to better understand the mechanisms involved in urea acquisition and contribute to deepen the knowledge on the overall nitrogen-use efficiency in crop plants.

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Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Chile 1 3%
Kenya 1 3%
Unknown 38 95%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 12 30%
Student > Ph. D. Student 10 25%
Student > Bachelor 3 8%
Student > Doctoral Student 3 8%
Student > Master 3 8%
Other 6 15%
Unknown 3 8%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 26 65%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 6 15%
Unspecified 1 3%
Business, Management and Accounting 1 3%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 1 3%
Other 0 0%
Unknown 5 13%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 August 2014.
All research outputs
#18,376,927
of 22,761,738 outputs
Outputs from BMC Plant Biology
#2,083
of 3,236 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#168,260
of 236,210 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Plant Biology
#31
of 61 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,761,738 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 11th percentile – i.e., 11% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,236 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 3.0. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 61 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 24th percentile – i.e., 24% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.