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. 1979 Sep;64(3):374–378. doi: 10.1104/pp.64.3.374

Rubidium (Potassium) Uptake by Arabidopsis

A Comparison of Uptake by Cells in Suspension Culture and by Roots of Intact Seedlings 1

L David Polley a, Johns W Hopkins a
PMCID: PMC543094  PMID: 16660969

Abstract

Experiments are reported in which the uptake of 86Rb+, used as an analog of K+, into cultured cells of Arabidopsis thaliana is investigated. A single transport system is found with Km = 0.34 millimolar and Vmax = 14 nmoles per milligram of protein per hour. This system is blocked by the metabolic inhibitor carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP) and by cold. At high concentrations of external K+ (above 1 millimolar), a significant fraction of total uptake is energy-independent. No evidence is found for more than one energy-dependent uptake system or for concentration-dependent modifications of a carrier as postulated in multiphasic transport models.

Rb+ uptake was also examined in cultured cells derived from an “osmotic mutant” of Arabidopsis. The system closely resembles that found in wild type cells with the exception that the Michaelis-Menten constants are higher: Km = 1 millimolar and Vmax = 32 nanomoles per milligram of protein per hour.

The possibility that these results are artifacts associated with use of cultured cells was checked by examining 86Rb+ uptake by roots of intact seedlings of wild type Arabidopsis. A single energy-dependent transport system is found with Km = 0.42 millimolar which is not significantly different from the Km of cultured cells. There is also energy-independent uptake at high external ion concentration.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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