Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2019, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (6): 688-698.DOI: 10.11983/CBB19140

• INVITED REVIEWS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Advances in Biofunctions of the ABCB Subfamily in Plants

Zhenmei He1,Dongming Li2,Yanhua Qi1,2,*()   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Institute of Plant Biology, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
    2 Key Laboratory of Herbage & Endemic Crop Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Huhhot 010000, China;
  • Received:2019-07-27 Accepted:2019-09-29 Online:2019-11-01 Published:2020-07-09
  • Contact: Yanhua Qi

Abstract: The superfamily of ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporters, which contains eight subfamilies from ABCA to ABCH, has diverse structures and complex functions. ABCB transporters, are mostly located in the plasma membrane, while others are located in the mitochondrial membrane or chloroplast membrane. ABCB transporters, together with AUX1/LAX (AUXIN1/LIKE AUXIN) and PIN (PIN-FORMED), coordinate and participate in the polar transport of auxin, and play an important role in regulating plant growth and development. ABCB transporters also function in plant tropism and resistance to heavy metals. In recent years, with the completion of whole-genome sequencing in different plants, research on ABCB genes is no longer confined to the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, rather, preliminary studies have been carried out to explore the functions of ABCB genes in cereal including rice, maize, and sorghum. However, the functions for most of the plant ABCB transporters remain elusive. Here we reviewed the research progress and future development of ABCB subfamily transporters in Arabidopsis and cereal, in the hope of providing clues for fully revealing biofunctions of the ABCB subfamily.

Key words: ABCB transporter, cereal crops, Arabidopsis thaliana, auxin, biofunctions