Patch-clamp studies in cell membranes of higher plants

The patch-clamp technique is a relatively new and powerful electrophysiological technique. Its resolving power is such that ion currents can be recorded through only one protein or ion-channel. The application of this technique in higher plant physiology, its principles and advantages are discussed in this paper. Furthermore, some actual results of single-channel recordings, whole cell recordings and ATPase currents are shown and examples are given of ion-channel conductance and selectivity calculations.