title: Strategies for improving potassium use efficiency in plants.
abstract: Potassium is a macronutrient that is crucial for healthy plant growth. Potassium availability, however, is often limited in agricultural fields and thus crop yields and quality are reduced. Therefore, improving the efficiency of potassium uptake and transport, as well as its utilization, in plants is important for agricultural sustainability. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the molecular mechanisms involved in potassium uptake and transport in plants, and the molecular response of plants to different levels of potassium availability. Based on this information, four strategies for improving potassium use efficiency in plants are proposed; 1) increased root volume, 2) increasing efficiency of potassium uptake from the soil and translocation in planta, 3) increasing mobility of potassium in soil, and 4) molecular breeding new varieties with greater potassium efficiency through marker assisted selection which will require identification and utilization of potassium associated quantitative trait loci.
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryoung
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001692:Biological Transport; D001947:Breeding; D002414:Cations, Monovalent; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D016623:Ion Pumps / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D011188:Potassium / Q000378:metabolism*; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D002414:Cations, Monovalent; D016623:Ion Pumps; D012987:Soil; D011188:Potassium
keywords: plant; potassium deficient signaling; potassium uptake efficiency; potassium use efficiency