[en] To maintain metal homeostasis within physiological limits independently of metal concentrations present in soil, plants developed a complex network including metal uptake, chelation, trafficking, and storage processes. In this network, transporters have a central role.
To study the molecular basis of zinc homeostasis in plants, we are using A. halleri, a zinc- and cadmium-tolerant and zinc-hyperaccumulating species representing the extreme end of natural variation in terms of metal homeostasis. Indeed, A. halleri stores high amount of metals in vacuoles of above-ground tissues (>1% Zn or 0.01% Cd in shoot dry weight).
Cross-species transcriptomic studies identified about thirty genes which are constitutively over-expressed in A. halleri compared to its non-tolerant and non-hyperaccumulator sister species, Arabidopsis thaliana (1-3). HMA4 is one of these genes. It encodes a Zn/Cd plasmamembrane pump involved in xylem loading/unloading which is a key step in the hyperaccumulation process (4-5). The HMA4 overexpression is determined by a combination of gene triplication and cis-regulatory changes increasing transcription levels of each three HMA4 copies (5).
We aim to identify the cis-elements underlying high expression of HMA4 in A. halleri using promoter-reporter constructs.
