Abstract
Nitrogen metabolism in citrus arouses special interest among other plant nutrients due to its important role in plant growth and fruit production. Nitrogen is first assimilated in organic forms as glutamine, glutamate, aspartate, and asparagine from ammonium or nitrate. This vital process integrates pathways from energetic, central intermediary, and biosynthetic metabolism routes, culminating in the translocation of compounds by all parts of the plant. From a number of essential enzymes involved in this process, we depicted seven enzymes named nitrate reductase (NR), nitrite reductase (NiR), glutamine synthetase (GS), glutamate synthase (GOGAT), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT), and asparagine synthetase (AS) for gene prospection based on EST sequencing of Citrus sinensis, C. reticulata, C. aurantifolia, C. latifolia, C. aurantium, and Poncirus trifoliata. These species are part of the CitEST Brazilian program which is focusing on efforts to obtain a great number of EST (expressed sequence tags) related to different citrus species and genera at different developmental stages or under biotic or abiotic stresses. Irrespective of origin, conditions, and nucleotide similarities, citrus species in general conserve a precise set of enzymes for nitrogen metabolism.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bar-akiva A, Sagiv J (1967) Nitrate reductase in the citrus plants: properties, assay conditions and distribution within the plant. Physiol Plant 20:500–506
Bouma D, Mcintyre GA (1963) A factorial field experiment with citrus. J Hortic Sci 38:175–198
Bowsher CG, Hucklesby DP, Emes MJ (1989) Nitrite reduction and carbohydrate metabolism in plastids purified from roots of Pisum sativum L. Planta 177:359–366
Bowsher CG, Boulton EL, Rose J et al (1992) Reductant for glutamate synthase is generated by the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway in non-photosynthetic root plastids. Plant J 2:893–898
Cammaerts D, Jacobs M (1985) A study of the role of glutamate dehydrogenase in the nitrogen metabolism of Arabidopsis thaliana. Planta 163:517–526
Castle WS, Rouse RE (1990) Total nutrient content of Florida citrus nursery plants. Proc Fla State Hortic Soc 103:42–44
Chapman HD (1968) The mineral nutrition of citrus. In: Reuther W, Batchelor LD, Webber HJ (eds) The citrus industry, vol 2, Anatomy, physiology, genetics, and reproduction. University of California, Division of Agricultural Sciences, Berkeley, pp 127–289
Chaillou S, Rideout JW, Raper CD, Morot-Gaudry JF (1994) Responses of soybean to ammonium and nitrate supplied in combination to the whole root system or separately in a split-root system. Physiol Plant 90:259–268
Corruzi G, Last R (2000) Amino acids. In: Buchanan BB, Gruissem W, Jones RL (eds) Biochemistry & molecular biology of plants. American Society of Plant Physiologists, Rockville, pp 358–410
Crawford NM, Arst HNJ (1993) The molecular genetics of nitrate assimilation in fungi and plants. Annu Rev Genet 27:115–146
Crawford NM, Kahn ML, Leustek T (2000) Nitrogen and sulfur. In: Buchanan BB, Gruissem W, Jones RL (eds) Biochemistry & molecular biology of plants. American Society of Plant Physiologists, Rockville, pp 786–849
Day DA, Salom CL, Azcon-bieto J et al (1988) Glutamate oxidation by soybean cotyledon and leaf mitochondria. Plant Cell Physiol 29:1193–1200
Duplessis SF, Koen TJ (1988) The effect of N and K fertilization on yield and fruit size of Valencia. In: Goren R, Mendal K (ed) Proceeding of sixth international citrus congress, Rehovot, pp 663–672
Edwards JW, Walker EL, Coruzzi GM (1990) Cell-specific expression in transgenic plants reveals nonoverlapping roles for chloroplast and cytosolic glutamine synthetase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 87:3459–3463
Erickson LC (1968) The general physiology of citrus. In: Reuther W, Batchelor LD, Webber HJ (eds) The citrus industry, vol 2, Anatomy, physiology, genetics, and reproduction. University of California, Division of Agricultural Sciences, Berkeley, pp 86–126
FAO (2011) Sugar, tropical beverage crops and fruits – citrus fruit. In: Medium-term prospects for agricultural commodities – Projections to the year 2010. Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5143e/y5143e12.htm#bm38
Forest JC, Wightman F (1973) Amino acid metabolism in plants. III. Purification and some properties of a multispecific aminotransferase isolated from bushbean seedlings (Phaseo los vulgaris L.). Can J Biochem 50:813–829
Frith GJT, Nichols DG (1975) Preferential assimilation of ammonium ions from ammonium nitrate solutions by apple seedlings. Physiol Plant 33:247–250
Haynes RJ, Goh KM (1978) Ammonium and nitrate nutrition of plants. Biol Rev 53:465–510
Jackson LK, Davies FS (1984) Mulches and slow-release fertilizers in a citrus young tree care program. Proc Fla State Hortic Soc 97:37–39
Joy KW, Hageman RH (1966) The purification and properties of nitrite reductase from higher plants, and its dependence on ferredoxin. Biochem J 100:263–273
Kato T (1982) Major nitrogen compounds transported in xylem vessels from roots to top in citrus trees. Physiol Plant 52:275–279
Kato T (1986) Nitrogen metabolism and utilization in citrus. Hortic Rev 8(5):181–216
Kato T, Kubota S, Rambang S (1982) Uptake and utilization of nitrogen by Satsuma mandarin trees in low temperature season. Bull Shikoka Agric Exp Station 40:1–5
Lam HM, Peng SSY, Coruzzi GM (1994) Metabolic regulation of the gene encoding glutamine-dependent asparagines synthetase in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiol 106:1347–1357
Lam HM, Coschigano KT, Oliveira IC et al (1996) The molecular-genetics of nitrogen assimilation into amino acids in higher plants. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 47:569–593
Lea PJ, Thurman DA (1972) Intracellular location and properties of plant L-glutamate dehydrogenases. J Exp Bot 23:440–449
Lea PJ, Robinson SA, Stewart GR (1990) The enzymology and metabolism of glutamine, glutamate, and asparagine. In: Miflin BJ, Lea PJ (eds) The biochemistry of plants: intermediary nitrogen metabolism. Academic, New York, pp 121–159
Maust B (1992) Nutrition of citrus trees in the nursery. MSc thesis, University of Florida, Gainesville. Apud: Davies FS, Albrigo LG (1994) Citrus. Crop production science in horticulture, vol 2. CAB International, Wallingford
Miflin BJ, Lea PJ (1977) Amino acid metabolism. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 28:299–329
Miflin BJ, Lea PJ (1980) Ammonia assimilation. In: Miflin BJ (ed) The biochemistry of plants: amino acids and derivatives. Academic, New York, pp 169–202
Nason A (1963) Nitrate reductases. In: Boyer PD, Lardy H, Myrback K (eds) The enzymes, vol 7, 2nd edn. Academic, New York, pp 587–607
Neuhaus HE, Emes MJ (2000) Nonphotosynthetic metabolism in plastids. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 51:111–140
Oaks A, Ross DW (1984) Asparagine synthetase in Zea mays. Can J Bot 62:68–73
Reis MS, Takita MA, Palmieri DA et al (2007) Bioinformatics for the Citrus EST Project (CitEST). Genet Mol Biol 30(3):1024–1029
Richards NGJ, Schuster SM (1992) An alternative mechanism for the nitrogen transfer reaction in asparagine synthetase. FEBS Lett 313:98–102
Scultz CJ, Coruzzi GM (1995) The aspartate aminotransferase gene family of Arabidopsis encodes isoenzymes localized to three distinct subcellular compartments. Plant J 7:61–75
Sharples GC, Hilgeman RH (1969) Influence of differential nitrogen fertilization on production, tree growth, fruit size and quality, and foliage composition of Valencia orange trees in central Arizona. Proc First Int Citrus Symp 3:1569–1578
Smith PF (1966a) Citrus nutrition. In: Childers NF (ed) Fruit nutrition. Horticultural Publications, New Brunswick, pp 174–207
Smith PF (1966b) Leaf analysis of citrus. In: Childers NF (ed) Fruit nutrition. Horticultural Publications, New Brunswick, pp 208–228
Srivastava HS (1980) Regulation of nitrate reductase activity in higher plants. Phytochemistry 19:725–733
Srivastava HS (1992) Multiple functions and forms of higher plant nitrate reductase. Phytochemistry 31:2941–2947
Srivastava HS, Singh-Rana P (1987) Role and regulation of L-glutamate dehydrogenase activity in higher plants. Phytochemistry 26:597–610
Suzuki A, Gadal P (1984) Glutamate synthase: physicochemical and functional properties of different forms in higher plants and other organisms. Physiol Veg 22:471–486
Suzuki A, Vidal J, Gadal P (1982) Glutamate synthase isoforms in rice: immunological studies of enzymes in green leaf, etiolated leaf, and root tissues. Plant Physiol 70:827–832
Talon M, Gmitter FG (2008) Citrus genomics. Int J Plant Genomics ID 528361:17p
Targon MLPN, Takita MA, Amaral AM et al (2007) CitEST libraries. Genet Mol Biol 30(3):1019–1023
Tsai FY, Coruzzi GM (1990) Dark-induced and organ-specific expression of two asparagine synthetase genes in Pisum sativum. EMBO J 9:323–332
Urquhart AA, Joy KW (1982) Transport, metabolism, and redistribution of Xylem-borne amino acids in developing pea shoots. Plant Physiol 69:1226–1232
Vandercook CE (1977) Nitrogenous compounds. In: Nagy S, Shaw PE, Veldhuis MK (eds) Citrus science and technology. AVI, Westport, pp 239–265
Wallace A, Zidan ZI, Mueller RT et al (1954) Translocation of nitrogen in citrus trees. Proc Am Soc Hortic Sci 64:87–104
Wickert E, Marcondes J, Lemos MV et al (2007) Nitrogen assimilation in citrus based on CitEST data mining. Genet Mol Bio 30(3):810–818
Wilkie SE, Roper J, Smith A et al (1995) Isolation, characterization and expression of a cDNA clone encoding aspartate aminotransferase from Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Mol Biol 27:1227–1233
Wray JL (1993) Molecular biology, genetics and regulation of nitrite reduction in higher plants. Physiol Plant 89:607–612
Yamada T, Oaks A (1987) Synthesis of glutamate by mitochondria – an anaplerotic function for glutamate dehydrogenase. Plant Physiol 70:749–756
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the cited Dr. E. Wickert and other authors, and also to Dr. M. A. Machado from Sylvio Moreira APTA Citrus Center (Agronomic Institute of Campinas), São Paulo/Brazil, which coordinated CitEST program and turned open the access to CitEST database.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Marcondes, J., Lemos, E.G.M. (2012). Nitrogen Metabolism in Citrus Based on Expressed Tag Analysis. In: Srivastava, A. (eds) Advances in Citrus Nutrition. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4171-3_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4171-3_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4170-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4171-3
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)