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Arabidopsis boron transporter for xylem loading

Abstract

Boron deficiency hampers the productivity of 132 crops in more than 80 countries1. Boron is essential in higher plants primarily for maintaining the integrity of cell walls2,3,4 and is also beneficial and might be essential in animals5 and in yeast6. Understanding the molecular mechanism(s) of boron transport is crucial for alleviating boron deficiency. Here we describe the molecular identification of boron transporters in biological systems. The Arabidopsis thaliana mutant bor1-1 is sensitive to boron deficiency7,8. Uptake studies indicated that xylem loading is the key step for boron accumulation in shoots with a low external boron supply and that the bor1-1 mutant is defective in this process. Positional cloning identified BOR1 as a membrane protein with homology to bicarbonate transporters in animals. Moreover, a fusion protein of BOR1 and green fluorescent protein (GFP) localized to the plasma membrane in transformed cells. The promoter of BOR1 drove GFP expression in root pericycle cells. When expressed in yeast, BOR1 decreased boron concentrations in cells. We show here that BOR1 is an efflux-type boron transporter for xylem loading and is essential for protecting shoots from boron deficiency.

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Figure 1: Accumulation of boron in Arabidopsis mutant bor1-1.
Figure 2: Identification and sequence analysis of BOR1.
Figure 3: Subcellular localization of BOR1 and cell-type-specific localization of BOR1 expression.
Figure 4: Concentrations of boron in yeast cells.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Naito, N. von Wirén and P. Walch-Liu for critical reading of the manuscript; Y. Niwa for providing the sGFP construct; K. Mukaikawato, M. Hashimoto and M. Sugasawa for technical contributions; and F. Kurisu for use of the facilities of the Research Center for Water Environment Technology in the School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. RZ119b07 was kindly provided by Kazusa DNA Research Institute; BAC T3D7 clone was kindly provided by the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center at Ohio State University. This work is supported in part by grants to T.F. from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture, Science, and Technology and the Graduate School of Agricultural Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo.

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Correspondence to Toru Fujiwara.

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T.F. applied for a Japanese patent (application no. 2001-062191) on 6 March 2001.

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Takano, J., Noguchi, K., Yasumori, M. et al. Arabidopsis boron transporter for xylem loading. Nature 420, 337–340 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01139

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