Skip Navigation


JXB Advance Access originally published online on May 23, 2005
Journal of Experimental Botany 2005 56(417):1741-1749; doi:10.1093/jxb/eri171
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
56/417/1741    most recent
eri171v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (6)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Márquez, A. J.
Right arrow Articles by Monza, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Márquez, A. J.
Right arrow Articles by Monza, J.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Márquez, A. J.
Right arrow Articles by Monza, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author [2005]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org

FOCUS PAPER

Nitrate assimilation in Lotus japonicus

Antonio J. Márquez1,*, Marco Betti1, Margarita García-Calderón1, Peter Pal'ove-Balang1,2, Pedro Díaz1,3 and Jorge Monza3

1Departamento de Bioquímica Vegetal y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Sevilla, Apartado 553, E-41080 Sevilla, Spain
2Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 14, SK-842 23-Bratislava, Slovakia
3Laboratorio de Bioquímica, Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Avda. E. Garzón 780, CP 12900, Montevideo, Uruguay

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: +34 95 462 6853; E-mail: cabeza{at}us.es

This paper summarizes some recent advances in the understanding of nitrate assimilation in the model legume Lotus japonicus. First, different types of experimental evidence are presented that emphasize the importance of the root in the nitrate-reducing assimilatory processes in this plant. Secondly, the main results from an ethyl methanesulphonate mutagenesis programme are presented. In this programme, chlorate-resistant and photorespiratory mutants were produced and characterized. The phenotype of one particular chlorate-resistant mutant suggested the importance of a low-affinity nitrate transport system for growth of L. japonicus plants under nitrate nutrition. The phenotype of photorespiratory mutants, affected in all forms of plastid glutamine synthetase in leaves, roots, and nodules, indicated that plastid glutamine synthetase was not required for primary nitrate assimilation nor for the symbiotic associations of the plant (nodulation, mycorrhization), provided photorespiration was suppressed. However, the phenotype of these mutants confirmed that plastid glutamine synthetase was required for the reassimilation of ammonium released by photorespiration. Finally, different aspects of the relationship between nitrate assimilation and osmotic stress in L. japonicus are also discussed, with specific reference to the biosynthesis of proline as an osmolyte.

Key words: Ammonium, drought, mutants, nitrogen, osmotic stress, roots, salt, transgenic plants


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.Home page
G. J. Workun, K. Moquin, R. A. Rothery, and J. H. Weiner
Evolutionary Persistence of the Molybdopyranopterin-Containing Sulfite Oxidase Protein Fold
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev., June 1, 2008; 72(2): 228 - 248.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.