Description: | Potassium (K+) is a major plant nutrient. In order to fulfil its many physiological functions K+ needs to be accumulated from soil and distributed over the whole plant. Experimental data suggest redundant pathways for root K+ uptake, and the Arabidopsis genome database contains a variety of putative K+ channels and transporters (several of which represented on the AFGC microarray). However, the physiological contributions of individual gene products are only poorly understood, and regulatory elements of K+ uptake and distribution remain to be identified. Here we propose to use microarrays as a tool for high-throughput identification of Arabidopsis genes involved in K+ nutrition, based on the hypothesis that key cDNAs are induced when K+ supplies become limiting for plant growth. Plants will be grown on 2 mM or 60 microM [K+], respectively, and mRNA isolated from 3 week old seedlings. |