A charged existence: A century of transmembrane ion transport in plants

Abstract

If the past century marked the birth of membrane transport as a focus for research in plants, the past 50 years has seen the field mature from arcane interest to a central pillar of plant physiology. Ion transport across plant membranes accounts for roughly 30% of the metabolic energy consumed by a plant cell, and it underpins virtually every aspect of plant biology, from mineral nutrition, cell expansion, and development to auxin polarity, fertilization, plant pathogen defense, and senescence. The means to quantify ion flux through individual transporters, even single channel proteins, became widely available as voltage clamp methods expanded from giant algal cells to the fungus Neurospora crassa in the 1970s and the cells of angiosperms in the 1980s. Here, I touch briefly on some key aspects of the development of modern electrophysiology with a focus on the guard cells of stomata, now without dispute the premier plant cell model for ion transport and its regulation. Guard cells have proven to be a crucible for many technical and conceptual developments that have since emerged into the mainstream of plant science. Their study continues to provide fundamental insights and carries much importance for the global challenges that face us today.

Homeostats – the hidden rulers of ion homeostasis in plants

“…Before approaching such complexity, a first step towards understanding the principles of ion homeostasis in plants can be a theoretical approach, looking at the simplest possible system and searching for emergent properties. Over the last four to five decades, our knowledge of plant membrane transport has improved considerably thanks to the development of new techniques and molecular genomic analyses (Ward et al, 2009; Hedrich, 2012; Anschütz et al, 2014; Jegla et al, 2019; Stanton et al, 2022; Blatt, 2024) and physiological data that enable such a theoretical approach. Nevertheless, membrane transport in plants is still widely analyzed using more than 70 years old concepts.…”

Celebrating the American Society of Plant Biologists centennial anniversary: A compendium of review articles in plant biology

“…Rounding out the set in Plant Physiology are 2 reviews covering topics in cell biology and synthetic biology. In “A charged existence: A century of transmembrane ion transport in plants,” Blatt (2024) brings us into the field of electrophysiology, focusing on stomatal guard cells, with an engaging review of the history and current state of research on ion transport across plant membranes. Finally, in “A pilot oral history of plant synthetic biology,” Joshi and Hanson (2024) provide a fascinating glimpse into the world of plant synthetic biology, revealed through interviews with 8 of the pioneering researchers in the field.…”

Celebrating the American Society of Plant Biologists centennial anniversary: A compendium of review articles in plant biology

“…Rounding out the set in Plant Physiology are 2 reviews covering topics in cell biology and synthetic biology. In A charged existence: A century of transmembrane ion transport in plants , Blatt (2024) brings us into the field of electrophysiology, focusing on stomatal guard cells, with an engaging review of the history and current state of research on ion transport across plant membranes. Finally, in A pilot oral history of plant synthetic biology , Joshi and Hanson (2024) provide a fascinating glimpse into the world of plant synthetic biology, revealed through interviews with eight of the pioneering researchers in the field.…”