Calcium- and potassium-permeable plasma membrane transporters are activated by copper inArabidopsisroot tips: linking copper transport with cytosolic hydroxyl radical production

Transition metals such as copper can interact with ascorbate or hydrogen peroxide to form highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (OH . ), with numerous implications to membrane transport activity and cell metabolism. So far, such interaction was described for extracellular (apoplastic) space but not cytosol. Here, a range of advanced electrophysiological and imaging techniques were applied to Arabidopsis thaliana plants differing in their copper-transport activity: Col-0, high-affinity copper transporter COPT1-overexpressing (C1 OE ) seedlings, and T-DNA COPT1 insertion mutant ( copt1 ). Low Cu concentrations (10 μ m) stimulated a dose-dependent Gd 3+ and verapamil sensitive net Ca 2+ influx in …