Vacuolar-Iron-Transporter1-Like proteins mediate iron homeostasis in Arabidopsis.

Iron deficiency is a nutritional problem in plants and reduces crop productivity, quality and yield. With the goal of improving the iron (Fe) storage properties of plants, we have investigated the function of three Arabidopsis proteins with homology to Vacuolar Iron Transporter1 (AtVIT1). Heterologous expression of Vacuolar Iron Transporter-Like1 (AtVTL1; At1g21140), AtVTL2 (At1g76800) or AtVTL5 (At3g25190) in the yeast vacuolar Fe transport mutant, Δccc1, restored growth in the presence of 4 mM Fe.