AUTHOR=Wang Xue , Wei Chunxue , He Fei , Yang Qingchuan 

TITLE=MtPT5 phosphate transporter is involved in leaf growth and phosphate accumulation of Medicago truncatula

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.1005895

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.1005895

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Phosphorus (P) is an indispensable mineral nutrient for plant growth and agricultural production. Plants acquire and redistribute inorganic phosphate (Pi) via Pi transporters (PHT1s/PTs). However, apart from MtPT4, functions of the <italic>M. truncatula</italic> (<italic>Medicago truncatula</italic>) PHT1s remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the function of the PHT1 family transporter MtPT5 in <italic>M. truncatula.</italic> MtPT5 was closely related to AtPHT1; 1 in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> (<italic>Arabidopsis thaliana</italic>) and GmPT7 in soybean (<italic>Glycine max</italic>). <italic>MtPT</italic>5 was highly expressed in leaves in addition to roots and nodules. Ectopic expression of <italic>MtPT5</italic> complemented the Pi-uptake deficiency of <italic>Arabidopsis pht1;1Δ4Δ</italic> double mutant, demonstrating the Pi-transport activity of MtPT5 in plants. When overexpressing <italic>MtPT5</italic> in <italic>M. truncatula</italic>, the transgenic plants showed larger leaves, accompanying with higher biomass and Pi enrichment compared with wild type. All these data demonstrate that MtPT5 is important for leaf growth and Pi accumulation of <italic>M. truncatula</italic> and provides a target for molecular breeding to improve forage productivity.</p>