Purple acid phosphatase genes in soybean

Purple acid phosphatases (PAPs) are members of the metallo-phosphoesterase family and have been known to play important roles in P acquisition and recycling in plants. Li et al. identify 35 PAP genes from genomes of soybean, Glycine max, and use quantitative real-time PCR to analyse the expression patterns in response to P deficiency and symbiosis. They provide evidence that some members of the GmPAP gene family are possibly involved in the response plants make to symbiosis with rhizobia or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi under P-limited conditions.