| Plant nutrient uptake is an active process, requiring energy to accumulate essential elements at higher levels in plant tissues than in the soil solution, while the presence of toxic metals or excess of nutrients requires mechanisms to modulate the accumulation of ions. Genes encoding ion transporters isolated from plants and yeast were used to identify sugarcane putative homologues in the sugarcane expressed sequence tag (SUCEST) database. Five cluster consensi with sequence homology to plant high-affinity phosphate transporter genes were identified. One cluster consensus allowed the prediction of a full-length protein containing 541 amino acids, with 81% amino acid identity to the Nicotiana tabacum NtPT1 gene, consisting of 12 membrane-spanning domains... |
