title: PIP1 aquaporins: Intrinsic water channels or PIP2 aquaporin modulators?
abstract: The highly conserved plant aquaporins, known as Plasma membrane Intrinsic Proteins (PIPs), are the main gateways for cell membrane water exchange. Years of research have described in detail the properties of the PIP2 subfamily. However, characterizing the PIP1 subfamily has been difficult due to the failure to localize to the plasma membrane. In addition, the discovery of the PIP1-PIP2 interaction suggested that PIP1 aquaporins could be regulated by a complex posttranslational mechanism that involves trafficking, heteromerization and fine-tuning of channel activity. This review not only considers the evidence and findings but also discusses the complexity of PIP aquaporins. To establish a new benchmark in PIP regulation, we propose to consider PIP1-PIP2 pairs as functional units for the purpose of future research into their physiological roles.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biodiversidad de Biología Experimental and Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental (IBBEA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Agustín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yaneff
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biodiversidad de Biología Experimental and Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental (IBBEA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vitali
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biodiversidad de Biología Experimental and Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental (IBBEA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: amodeo@bg.fcen.uba.ar.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Amodeo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020346:Aquaporins / Q000378:metabolism*; D001692:Biological Transport; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D020346:Aquaporins; D014867:Water
keywords: Heteromerization; Osmotic permeability; Water channel