The Roles of Plant Peptide and Amino Acid Transporters in Iron Transport

Abstract

Iron (Fe) is an important micronutrient for plants, and its deficiency causes serious yield losses by inhibiting plant growth and development. Detailed studies have been carried out for many years on the uptake of available iron in the soil by plants and its transport to plant organs. These studies proved that Fe can be transported in chelated form with some organic substances including peptides and amino acids. However, detailed studies have not been conducted on the uptake of peptide- or amino acid-chelated Fe into the plant or its transport between organs. Few studies have focused on the oligopeptide transporter (OPT) and drug/metabolite transporter (DMT) families. The possible roles of the recently discovered UMAMIT amino acid transporter family have not been studied in iron transport in plants yet. In this review, the transporter families responsible for the uptake and translocation of iron were summarized. Then, the roles of the OPT, DMT, and UMAMIT families in transporting iron-peptide and iron-amino acid complexes were discussed in detail.