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Mineral Nutrition: Potassium

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Part of the book series: Progress in Botany/Fortschritte der Botanik ((BOTANY,volume 50))

Abstract

Although it is not metabolised, potassium plays a number of important roles in biochemistry and osmotic regulation in plant cells. It is involved in the maintenance of enzyme structure, in protein synthesis through its role in the binding of mRNA to ribosomes, and in the maintenance of electrostatic balance and turgor within the cell. In these interactions it is preferred to the sodium ion. the hydrated radius of which is greater. The significance of K+ in biochemical events has been appreciated for a long time and was the subject of a classic review by Evans and Sorger in 1966. In textbooks on transport in plants the subject index for “potassium” covers up to an entire page (Clarkson 1974, Lüttge and Higinbotham 1979), and for the literature up to the early 1980’s encyclopedic treatment is provided (Lüttge and Pitman 1976; Läuchli and Bieleski 1983).

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Lüttge, U., Clarkson, D.T. (1989). Mineral Nutrition: Potassium. In: Behnke, HD., Esser, K., Kubitzki, K., Runge, M., Ziegler, H. (eds) Progress in Botany. Progress in Botany/Fortschritte der Botanik, vol 50. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74061-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74061-9_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74063-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74061-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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