Background

Aquaporins are water channel proteins that permit faster transport of water through cellular membranes. They were discovered in plants in 1994 (Maurel et al. 1994).

Aquaporins form a large gene family of about 35 genes. This family has four subfamilies.

> Tonoplast Intrinsic Proteins (TIPs)
> Plasma Membrane Intrinsic Proteins (PIPs)
> Nodule-Like-MIP Integral Proteins (NIPs)
> Basic Intrinsic Proteins (SIPs).

Figure 1. Phylogenetic tree showing the four subfamilies of Aquaporins. Click image to enlarge.

Figure 2. Proposed model of Zea Mays PIP. Click image to enlarge.

Aquaporins of Different Plant Species

> Zea Mays Aquaporins (HTML journal)
> Arabidopsis Aquaporins (PDF journal)
> Orzya Sativa Aquaporin Database