N. Uozumi et al., The Arabidopsis HKT1 gene homolog mediates inward Na+ currents in Xenopus laevis oocytes and Na+ uptake in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, PLANT PHYSL, 122(4), 2000, pp. 1249-1259
The Na+-K+ co-transporter HKT1, first isolated from wheat, mediates high-af
finity K+ uptake. The function of HKT1 in plants, however, remains to be el
ucidated, and the isolation of HKT1 homologs from Arabidopsis would further
studies of the roles of HKT1 genes in plants. We report here the isolation
of a cDNA homologous to HKT1 from Arabidopsis (AtHKT1) and the characteriz
ation of its mode of ion transport in heterologous systems. The deduced ami
no acid sequence of AtHKT1 is 41% identical to that of HKT1, and the hydrop
athy profiles are very similar. AtHKT1 is expressed in roots and, to a less
er extent, in other tissues. Interestingly, we found that the ion transport
properties of AtHKT1 are significantly different from the wheat counterpar
t. As detected by electrophysiological measurements, AtHKT1 functioned as a
selective Na+ uptake transporter in Xenopus laevis oocytes, and the presen
ce of external K+ did not affect the AtHKT1-mediated ion conductance (unlik
e that of HKT1). When expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, AtHKT1 inhibit
ed growth of the yeast in a medium containing high levels of Na+, which cor
relates to the large inward Na+ currents found in the oocytes. Furthermore,
in contrast to HKT1, AtHKT1 did not complement the growth of yeast cells d
eficient in K+ uptake when cultured in K+-limiting medium. However, express
ion of AtHKT1 did rescue Escherichia coli mutants carrying deletions in Ktransporters. The rescue was associated with a less than 2-fold stimulation
of K+ uptake into K+-depleted cells. These data demonstrate that AtHKT1 di
ffers in its transport properties from the wheat HKT1, and that AtHKT1 can
mediate Na+ and, to a small degree, K+ transport in heterologous expression
systems.