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Plants
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Transport of Specialized Metabolites
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Transport of Specialized Metabolites

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Physiology and Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 17340

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Nobukazu Shitan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Medicinal Cell Biology, Kobe Pharmaceutical University, 4-19-1 Motoyamakita-machi, Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-8558, Japan
Interests: transporter; ABC transporter; MATE transproter; specialized metabolites; alkaloid; transporter engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Specialized metabolites, also called secondary metabolites, are involved in defense against herbivores and pathogens; communication between plants, insects, and microorganisms; defense against ultraviolet radiation, and others. Most of such specialized metabolites are either accumulated in specific organelles, such as the vacuole, of specific tissues, or are released from cells to the phyllosphere, atmosphere, and rhizosphere in response to environmental changes and biotic and abiotic stresses. The accumulation or release of specialized metabolites is necessary to exhibit their physiological roles. In addition, studies of biosynthetic enzymes have shown that biosynthetic intermediates move at the intra- and inter-cellular levels.

In recent years, many studies have reported not only the phenomenon of specialized metabolite transport but also the isolation and functional analysis of transporters, e.g., ABC transporter, MATE transporter, NPF, and PUP, and their physiological roles. More recently, the application of transporters, i.e., transport engineering, has enabled control of the production of specialized metabolites.

In this Special Issue, articles (original research papers, perspectives, opinions, reviews) are welcome that focus on transport or transporters of specialized metabolites.

Dr. Nobukazu Shitan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • specialized metabolites
  • transport
  • transporter
  • transport engineering
  • biosynthesis
  • alkaloids
  • terpenoids
  • phenolic compounds
  • glucosinolates

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 4668 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Triterpene Saponin Glycyrrhizin Transport by Glycyrrhiza glabra
by Kakuki Kato, Asako Horiba, Hiroaki Hayashi, Hajime Mizukami and Kazuyoshi Terasaka
Plants 2022, 11(9), 1250; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11091250 - 5 May 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2659
Abstract
Glycyrrhizin (GL), a triterpene compound produced by Glycyrrhiza species, is a crucial pharmacologically active component of crude drugs. In contrast to the biosynthesis of GL in plants, little is known about GL transport and accumulation in plants. The transport mechanism of GL was [...] Read more.
Glycyrrhizin (GL), a triterpene compound produced by Glycyrrhiza species, is a crucial pharmacologically active component of crude drugs. In contrast to the biosynthesis of GL in plants, little is known about GL transport and accumulation in plants. The transport mechanism of GL was characterized using cultured cells of Glycyrrhiza glabra. Cultured cells of G. glabra efficiently incorporated exogenously supplied GL. Proton pump inhibitors, such as probenecid and niflumic acid, as well as a protonophore (carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone), markedly inhibited GL uptake by cultured cells, whereas vanadate exhibited a moderate inhibition. Furthermore, GL transport by G. glabra tonoplast vesicles is dependent not on a H+-electrochemical gradient but MgATP and is markedly inhibited by vanadate. These results suggest that GL uptake by cultured cells is mediated by a H+-symporter in the plasma membrane and an ATP-binding cassette transporter, which has high specificity for the aglycone structure of GL on the tonoplast. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transport of Specialized Metabolites)
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15 pages, 3028 KiB  
Article
Active Transport of Lignin Precursors into Membrane Vesicles from Lignifying Tissues of Bamboo
by Natsumi Shimada, Noriaki Munekata, Taku Tsuyama, Yasuyuki Matsushita, Kazuhiko Fukushima, Yoshio Kijidani, Keiji Takabe, Kazufumi Yazaki and Ichiro Kamei
Plants 2021, 10(11), 2237; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10112237 - 20 Oct 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4294
Abstract
Lignin is the second most abundant natural polymer on Earth and is a major cell wall component in vascular plants. Lignin biosynthesis has three stages: biosynthesis, transport, and polymerization of its precursors. However, there is limited knowledge on lignin precursor transport, especially in [...] Read more.
Lignin is the second most abundant natural polymer on Earth and is a major cell wall component in vascular plants. Lignin biosynthesis has three stages: biosynthesis, transport, and polymerization of its precursors. However, there is limited knowledge on lignin precursor transport, especially in monocots. In the present study, we aimed to elucidate the transport mode of lignin monomers in the lignifying tissues of bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens). The growth manners and lignification processes of bamboo shoots were elucidated, which enabled us to obtain the lignifying tissues reproducibly. Microsomal membrane fractions were prepared from tissues undergoing vigorous lignification to analyze the transport activities of lignin precursors in order to show the ATP-dependent transport of coniferin and p-glucocoumaryl alcohol. The transport activities for both precursors depend on vacuolar type H+-ATPase and a H+ gradient across the membrane, suggesting that the electrochemical potential is the driving force of the transport of both substrates. These findings are similar to the transport properties of these lignin precursors in the differentiating xylem of poplar and Japanese cypress. Our findings suggest that transport of coniferin and p-glucocoumaryl alcohol is mediated by secondary active transporters energized partly by the vacuolar type H+-ATPase, which is common in lignifying tissues. The loading of these lignin precursors into endomembrane compartments may contribute to lignification in vascular plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transport of Specialized Metabolites)
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13 pages, 3437 KiB  
Article
Triterpenoid and Steroidal Saponins Differentially Influence Soil Bacterial Genera
by Masaru Nakayasu, Shinichi Yamazaki, Yuichi Aoki, Kazufumi Yazaki and Akifumi Sugiyama
Plants 2021, 10(10), 2189; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10102189 - 15 Oct 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3844
Abstract
Plant specialized metabolites (PSMs) are secreted into the rhizosphere, i.e., the soil zone surrounding the roots of plants. They are often involved in root-associated microbiome assembly, but the association between PSMs and microbiota is not well characterized. Saponins are a group of PSMs [...] Read more.
Plant specialized metabolites (PSMs) are secreted into the rhizosphere, i.e., the soil zone surrounding the roots of plants. They are often involved in root-associated microbiome assembly, but the association between PSMs and microbiota is not well characterized. Saponins are a group of PSMs widely distributed in angiosperms. In this study, we compared the bacterial communities in field soils treated with the pure compounds of four different saponins. All saponin treatments decreased bacterial α-diversity and caused significant differences in β-diversity when compared with the control. The bacterial taxa depleted by saponin treatments were higher than the ones enriched; two families, Burkholderiaceae and Methylophilaceae, were enriched, while eighteen families were depleted with all saponin treatments. Sphingomonadaceae, which is abundant in the rhizosphere of saponin-producing plants (tomato and soybean), was enriched in soil treated with α-solanine, dioscin, and soyasaponins. α-Solanine and dioscin had a steroid-type aglycone that was found to specifically enrich Geobacteraceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Moraxellaceae, while soyasaponins and glycyrrhizin with an oleanane-type aglycone did not specifically enrich any of the bacterial families. At the bacterial genus level, the steroidal-type and oleanane-type saponins differentially influenced the soil bacterial taxa. Together, these results indicate that there is a relationship between the identities of saponins and their effects on soil bacterial communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transport of Specialized Metabolites)
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Review

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24 pages, 762 KiB  
Review
Terpenoid Transport in Plants: How Far from the Final Picture?
by Olivia Costantina Demurtas, Alessandro Nicolia and Gianfranco Diretto
Plants 2023, 12(3), 634; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12030634 - 1 Feb 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4594
Abstract
Contrary to the biosynthetic pathways of many terpenoids, which are well characterized and elucidated, their transport inside subcellular compartments and the secretion of reaction intermediates and final products at the short- (cell-to-cell), medium- (tissue-to-tissue), and long-distance (organ-to-organ) levels are still poorly understood, with [...] Read more.
Contrary to the biosynthetic pathways of many terpenoids, which are well characterized and elucidated, their transport inside subcellular compartments and the secretion of reaction intermediates and final products at the short- (cell-to-cell), medium- (tissue-to-tissue), and long-distance (organ-to-organ) levels are still poorly understood, with some limited exceptions. In this review, we aim to describe the state of the art of the transport of several terpene classes that have important physiological and ecological roles or that represent high-value bioactive molecules. Among the tens of thousands of terpenoids identified in the plant kingdom, only less than 20 have been characterized from the point of view of their transport and localization. Most terpenoids are secreted in the apoplast or stored in the vacuoles by the action of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. However, little information is available regarding the movement of terpenoid biosynthetic intermediates from plastids and the endoplasmic reticulum to the cytosol. Through a description of the transport mechanisms of cytosol- or plastid-synthesized terpenes, we attempt to provide some hypotheses, suggestions, and general schemes about the trafficking of different substrates, intermediates, and final products, which might help develop novel strategies and approaches to allow for the future identification of terpenoid transporters that are still uncharacterized. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transport of Specialized Metabolites)
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