How nickel is transported in plants and how it affects crop yield has always been a mystery to scientists. Researchers in our country have found the answer. Chao Daiyin's research team from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor Yan Jianbing's team from the Shanghai Zhangjiang Intelligent Species Center and Professor Yan Jianbing's team from Huazhong Agricultural University identified for the first time the key transporter ZmNAet1, which controls nickel accumulation in gramineal crops by comparing genetic differences and grain nickel content in 1404 parts of corn, revealing the transport mechanism of nickel in corn, and showing the effects of nickel on crop yield and seed germination. The relevant results were published online in the international academic journal “Cell” on the 11th. According to the research team, corn needs an elaborate transportation system to deliver nickel from the stem to the seed and growth point, and zMNaET1 is the key “outlet” of this transportation system. It is responsible for delivering a small molecule called nicotinamine in the plant to the outside of the cell, and nicotinamine then grabs nickel like a small clip and transports it into the pipeline leading to the grains through subsequent transport of proteins. The study found that in growth points and grains, nickel is a key component: if nickel is insufficient and urea cannot be metabolized properly, subsequent amino acid and protein formation will be affected, thereby affecting corn growth and seed germination. This also means that for some corn varieties with low nickel content in their grains, or corn grown in environments prone to lack of nickel, such as alkaline soil, problems such as reduced yield, low seed germination rate, or poor germination may be solved by supplementing nickel. For a long time, academics believed that the demand for nickel in gramineae plants was low, and nickel deficiency was rare. For the first time, this study provided genetic evidence of nickel as an essential element for crop growth, identified genes that control the long-distance transport of nickel in gramineae plants, and opened up a new direction for increasing yield and seed viability of graminaceae crops through nutritional regulation and molecular breeding.

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