Keywords: 
• biochemistry /
• phosphorus /
• Populus /
• genome /
• sequence analysis /
• bioinformatics

Abstract: Phosphate transporters are a family of proteins which actively transport phosphate. To investigate members of phosphate transporter family and their physical，chemical and structural properties in the woody model Populus trichocarpa，phylogenesis of the phosphate transporter family members and their physical，chemical，structural properties as well as sub-cellular locations of four phosphate transporters （PtrPHT1-1，PtrPHT1-9，PtrPHT2-1，and PtrPHO1-N1） from the sequenced genome of Populus trichocarpa were studied. A phylogenetic analysis of the transporters was conducted using local bioinformatics software，such as CLUSTALX 2.0，GeneDOC，and MEGA5. In addition，online bioinformatics software was utilized to analyze the physical and chemical properties，hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity，transmembrane domains，secondary and three-dimensional structures，and sub-cellular locations. Results showed 31 phosphate transporters in the P. trichocarpa genome divided into four subfamilies （PtrPHT1，PtrPHT2，PtrPHO1，and PtrPHO2） according to their sequencing similarities. The sequence identity of amino acids within PtrPHTs was higher than in PtrPHOs，and was highly conserved. The transporters were hydrophobic -protein. Also，PtrPHTs contained 12 transmembrane domains which were more than the PtrPHOs with the PtrPHT family members being located at different sub-cellular locations. Therefore，phosphate transporter subfamilies in P. trichocarpa could have separated in an early stage during their evolutionary processes，and these transporters could have played different roles in phosphorus metabolism to maintain phosphorus homeostasis for changing phosphorus conditions. ［Ch，6 fig. 4 tab. 17 ref.］