Electrophysiological characterization of AtAMT1;4, an extraordinarily high affinity ammonium transporter from Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

In plants high affinity transport proteins mediate the essential transport of ammonium across membranes. In Arabidopsis thaliana six of these AMmonium Transporters (AMTs) are encoded on the genome. All of these show a unique expression pattern. While most AMTs are highly expressed in the root, AtAMT1;4 expression is limited to the pollen grains and the pollen tube. Here, we addressed the transport characteristics of AtAMT1;4 in the heterologous Xenopus laevis oocytes system. Two electrode voltage clamp measurements tagged AtAMT1;4 as an electrogenic high affinity ammonium transporter. The transport was saturable and showed extraordinarily high affinity for ammonium with a Km value lower than 10 {micro}M.