Poster: Membrane Transport

Abs # 1200: Functional Characterization of OsNramp1 and OsNramp2

Presenter:	Kim, Yu-Young , yyk@postech.ac.kr
Authors	Kim, Yu-Young  (A)   Lee, Youngsook  (A)
Affiliations:	(A): Pohang University of Science and Technology

Members of Nramp family transporters are integral membrane proteins that transport essential divalent metals in plants, animals and fungi. Three Nramp genes have been identified in rice (Oryza sativa). Although OsNramp1 is reported to complement an iron-transporter defective yeast mutant, systematic study on the substrate specificity of OsNramp members and their roles in cellular ion homeostasis has not been done yet. We characterized Nramp members in rice using yeast expression system. Wild type yeast and Smf1 (a yeast Nramp localized at the plasma membrane) knock out mutant yeast were transformed with OsNramp1 or OsNramp2, grown in media complemented with different cations, and their growth and metal content were determined. For further understanding of their functions, we are investigating the intracellular localization of the transporters and also screening rice mutants with T-DNA inserted at the OsNramp genes.