Summary

Nickel plays an important physiological role in plants, but how it is transported over long distances from stems and leaves to grains was poorly understood for more than 50 years. Now researchers have identified a key transporter gene, ZmNAET1, that controls nickel accumulation in cereal grains. They also uncovered how nicotianamine (NA), a plant-specific nonprotein amino acid, mediates the long-distance transport of nickel and established the crucial role of nickel-dependent urease activity in amino acid metabolism, seed vigor and yield formation.

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