Functional Analysis of Phosphate Transporter OsPHT4 Family Members in Rice

Abstract The transport of phosphate between cytoplasm and subcellular compartments is critical for plant metabolic regulation. We conducted bioinformatic analysis, heterologous expression in yeast, gene expression pattern and subcellular localization analysis to characterize the possible functions of OsPHT4 gene family in rice. Together with the PHT4 genes from higher plants, OsPHT4s can be classified into six distinct groups. OsPHT4;1–OsPHT4;4 are targeted to chloroplasts, and OsPHT4;6-1 and OsPHT4;6-2 are located to Golgi apparatus. OsPHT4 proteins can mediate inorganic phosphate (Pi) transport in yeast. In addition, dynamic transcriptional changes determined by qRT-PCR revealed different expression profiles of OsPHT4 genes in response to phosphate starvation, salicylic acid, abscisic acid and salt stress treatments. These results suggested that OsPHT4 proteins are involved in Pi distribution between the cytoplasm and chloroplast or Golgi apparatus and also involved in stress responses.