Oat

The oat (Avena sativa), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed.

Origin

The wild ancestor of Avena sativa and the closely related minor crop, A. byzantina, is the hexaploid wild oat A. sterilis. Genetic evidence shows the ancestral forms of A. sterilis grew in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East. Domesticated oats appear relatively late, and far from the Near East, in Bronze Age Europe. Oats, like rye, are usually considered a secondary crop, i.e., derived from a weed of the primary cereal domesticates wheat and barley. As these cereals spread westwards into cooler, wetter areas, this may have favored the oat weed component, leading to its eventual domestication.

Cultivation

Oats are best grown in temperate regions. They have a lower summer heat requirement and greater tolerance of rain than other cereals, such as wheat, rye or barley, so are particularly important in areas with cool, wet summers, such as Northwest Europe and even Iceland. Oats are an annual plant, and can be planted either in autumn (for late summer harvest) or in the spring (for early autumn harvest).

Oat (disambiguation)

Oat may refer to:

Organic anion transporter 1

The organic anion transporter 1 (OAT1) also known as solute carrier family 22 member 6 (SLC22A6) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC22A6 gene. It is a member of the organic anion transporter (OAT) family of proteins. OAT1 is a transmembrane protein that is expressed in the brain, the placenta, the eyes, smooth muscles, and the basolateral membrane of proximal tubular cells of the kidneys. It plays a central role in renal organic anion transport. Along with OAT3, OAT1 mediates the uptake of a wide range of relatively small and hydrophilic organic anions from plasma into the cytoplasm of the proximal tubular cells of the kidneys. From there, these substrates are transported into the lumen of the nephrons of the kidneys for excretion. OAT1 homologs have been identified in rats, mice, rabbits, pigs, flounders, and nematodes.

Function

OAT1 functions as organic anion exchanger. When the uptake of one molecule of an organic anion is transported into a cell by an OAT1 exchanger, one molecule of an endogenous dicarboxylic acid (such as glutarate, ketoglutarate, etc.) is simultaneously transported out of the cell. As a result of the constant removal of endogenous dicarboxylic acid, OAT1-positive cells are at risk of depleting their supply of dicarboxylates. Once the supply of dicarboxylates is depleted, the OAT1 transporter can no longer function.