Screening for Solute Transporters in Plant Photosynthetic Membranes

As compared to chloroplast envelope transporters, the field of thylakoid transporters is largely unexplored. There is evidence for several transport activities in the plant thylakoid membrane, but only a copper P-type ATPase and an ATP/ADP carrier have been so far identified at the gene level in Arabidopsis thaliana. Using in silico analyses, we have predicted the existence of approximately 15 thylakoid transporters, including phosphate transporters and cation channels. For experimental validation, we have used peptide- specific antibodies and functional analyses in heterologous system. These novel data are highly relevant to understand the transport network of the thylakoid membrane and it…