Functional and biotechnological cues of potassium homeostasis for stress tolerance and plant development

ABSTRACT

Potassium (K⁺) is indispensable for the regulation of a plethora of functions like plant metabolism, growth, development, and abiotic stress responses. K⁺ is associated with protein synthesis and entangled in the activation of scores of enzymes, stomatal regulation, and photosynthesis. It has multiple transporters and channels that assist in the uptake, efflux, transport within the cell as well as from soil to different tissues, and the grain filling sites. While it is implicated in ion homeostasis during salt stress, it acts as a modulator of stomatal movements during water deficit conditions. K⁺ is reported to abate the effects of chilling and photooxidative stresses. K⁺ has been found to ameliorate effectively the co-occurrence of drought and high-temperature stresses. Nutrient deficiency of K⁺ makes leaves necrotic, leads to diminished photosynthesis, and decreased assimilate utilization highlighting the role it plays in photosynthesis. Notably, K⁺ is associated with the detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS) when plants are exposed to diverse abiotic stress conditions. It is irrefutable now that K⁺ reduces the activity of NADPH oxidases and at the same time maintains electron transport activity, which helps in mitigating the oxidative stress. K⁺ as a macronutrient in plant growth, the role of K⁺ during abiotic stress and the protein phosphatases involved in K⁺ transport have been reviewed. This review presents a holistic view of the biological functions of K⁺, its uptake, translocation, signaling, and the critical roles it plays under abiotic stress conditions, plant growth, and development that are being unraveled in recent times.

KEYWORDS:

• Potassium
• abiotic stress
• reactive oxygen species
• K⁺ transport
• K⁺ nutrition

Acknowledgements

SAK acknowledges the SERB-NPDF fellowship (PDF/2015/000929).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

PBK, PSR, and SP designed the outline of the review. SAK, SK, PHK, PBK have written the initial draft. PBK, PSR, SP, and PS have refined the manuscript. PHK has generated llustrations. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

S. Anil Kumar

S. Anil Kumar is an Associate Professor at Department of Biotechnology, Vignan's Foundation for Science, Technology & Research (Deemed to be University), Vadlamudi, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. His areas of interest are plant stress biology and crop improvement.

Sirisha Kaniganti

Sirisha Kaniganti –(Ph.D. from Osmania University), research fellow at the International crop research institute for Semi-Arid tropics(ICRISAT). Currently working as Crop Transformation and Genome Editing Specialist at Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom.

P. Hima Kumari

P. Hima Kumari is a scientist at Piatrika Biosystem, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Her areas of interest are salt tolerance and molecular breeding.

P. Sudhakar Reddy

P. Sudhakar Reddy is a scientist at ICRISAT, Patancheru, Telangana India. His research is in the areas of plant molecular biology, functional genomics and plant genome engineering.

Prashanth Suravajhala

Prashanth Suravajhala is a Principal Scientist, School of Biotechnology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kollam, Kerala, India. His research interests are in Bioinformatics, lncRNA Biology, Systems Genomics.

Suprasanna P

P. Suprasanna is a Professor and Director, Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Mumbai, India. His areas of interest are plant biotechnology, stress biology and crop improvement.

P. B. Kavi Kishor

P. B. Kavi Kishor - Emeritus Professor at MNR College of Pharmacy, MNR University, Fasalwadi, Sangareddy, Hyderabad-502 294, India. His areas of interest are crop biotechnology, plant genomics and stress biology.