Recent Discoveries on the Roles of Polyphosphates in Plants

Autor: Matías J. Curzi, Manfredo J. Seufferheld
Rok vydání: 2010
Předmět:
Zdroj: Plant Molecular Biology Reporter. 28:549-559
ISSN: 1572-9818
0735-9640
DOI: 10.1007/s11105-010-0187-z
Popis: Polyphosphate (polyP) has been abundant on Earth long before life began. In living organisms, polyphosphate can be stored in electron-dense granules that have long been referred to as volutin granules. After having being ignored for a long time, this polymer has proven to have numerous unsuspected functions in living organisms and is receiving more attention. The ubiquitous presence of polyP in nature and its structural and physico-chemical characteristics appear to be the drivers for the evolutionary selection of this versatile molecule as a component of cellular processes. Most of our knowledge about the functions of polyP comes from the microbial world. PolyP can influence the transcription and translation of specific genes, act as a metabolic regulator, provide an alternative source of energy, and modulate several stress responses. In plant systems, although the presence of polyP has long been known, its roles in cellular processes have begun to emerge only recently. The purpose of this mini-review is to provide a brief overview of the proposed biological roles of polyphosphates in plants and their roles in microbial/plant interactions.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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