Isolation and functional characterization of CsLsi2, a cucumber silicon efflux transporter gene

Silicon has been proven to exert beneficial effects on plant growth and stress tolerance, and silicon accumulation varies among different plant species. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is a widely used dicot model for silicon accumulation, but little is known about the molecular mechanism of its silicon uptake. Previously, we isolated and characterized CsLsi1, a silicon influx transporter gene from cucumber. In this study, we cloned a putative silicon efflux transporter gene, CsLsi2, from cucumber and investigated its role in silicon uptake.