Phosphate environment and phosphate uptake studies: past and future.

The present review explains briefly the importance of phosphorus in the biological activities and states that the most phosphorus of living organisms is absorbed by plants from the soil. Next, previous studies on the mechanisms of phosphate uptake by plants are reviewed as H + -dependent or Na + -dependent co-transport systems and the phosphate environment in which plants grow is discussed. The evolution of transporter genes and their regulation mechanisms of expression is discussed in relation to the phosphorus environment.