Dale Sanders
Paul Bethke

The selective movement and redistribution of ions and small organic molecules is essential for plant growth and cellular homeostasis. Because of this, plants have evolved numerous proteins that facilitate the transport of minerals, sugars, metabolites, and other compounds through the limiting membranes of cells and organelles. These membrane transporters are selective for the compound being transported, and their activities are often tightly regulated. Membrane transporters are usually members of multigene families that show developmental and tissue-specific expression. How the activities of individual transporters are coordinated at the cell or tissue level is only beginning to be understood.