Vacuolar Iron Transporter (Like) proteins: Regulators of cellular iron accumulation in plants

• Published in: Physiologia plantarum Vol. 171; no. 4; pp. 823 - 832
• Main Authors: Ram, Hasthi, Sardar, Shaswati, Gandass, Nishu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2021; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Accumulation; Biological activity; Coloration; Flowers; Flowers - metabolism; Functional analysis; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes; Homeostasis; Iron; Iron - metabolism; Legumes; Molecular evolution; Molecular structure; Nitrogen fixation; Nitrogenation; Nodules; Nutrients; Plant cells; Plant physiology; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plant species; Protein transport; Proteins; Regulators; Toxic substances; Vacuoles - metabolism
• ISSN: 0031-9317; 1399-3054
• DOI: 10.1111/ppl.13363

Iron is not only important for plant physiology, but also a very important micronutrient in human diets. The vacuole is the main site for accumulation of excess amounts of various nutrients and toxic substances in plant cells. During the past decade, many Vacuolar Iron Transporter (VIT) and VIT‐Like (VTL) genes have been identified and shown to play important roles in iron homeostasis in different plants. Furthermore, recent reports identified novel roles of these transporter genes in symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) in legume crops as well as in the blue coloration of petals in flowers. The literature indicates their universal role in Fe transport across different tissues (grains, nodules, flowers) to different biological processes (cellular iron homeostasis, SNF, petal coloration) in different plants. Here, we have systematically reviewed different aspects, such as structure, molecular evolution, expression, and function of VIT/VTL proteins. This will help future studies aimed at functional analysis of VIT/VTL genes in other plant species, vacuolar transportation mechanisms, and iron biofortification at large.