New insight into the structure and regulation of the plant vacuolar H+-ATPase

Plant cells are characterized by a highly active secretory system that includes the large central vacuole found in most differentiated tissues. The plant vacuolar H+-ATPase plays an essential role in maintaining the ionic and metabolic gradients across endomembranes, in activating transport processes and vesicle dynamics, and, hence, is indispensable for plant growth, development, and adaptation to changing environmental conditions. The review summarizes recent advances in elucidating the structure, subunit composition, localization, and regulation of plant V-ATPase. Emerging knowledge on subunit isogenes from Arabidopsis and rice genomic sequences as well as from Mesembryanthemum illustrates another level of complexity, the regulation of isogene expression and function of subunit isoforms. To this end, the review attempts to define directions of future research on plant V-ATPase.