(Oxford University Press, 2021) Ancín Rípodas, María; Larraya Reta, Luis María; Florez-Sarasa, Igor; Bénard, Camille; Fernández San Millán, Alicia; Veramendi Charola, Jon; Gibon, Yves; Fernie, Alisdair R.; Aranjuelo Michelena, Iker; Farrán Blanch, Inmaculada; Agronomia, Bioteknologia eta Elikadura; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB; Agronomía, Biotecnología y Alimentación
In plants, there is a complex interaction between carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) metabolism, and its coordination is fundamental for plant growth and development. Here, we studied the influence of thioredoxin (Trx) m on C and N partitioning using tobacco plants overexpressing Trx m from the chloroplast genome. The transgenic plants showed altered metabolism of C (lower leaf starch and soluble sugar accumulation) and N (with higher amounts of amino acids and soluble protein), which pointed to an activation of N metabolism at the expense of carbohydrates. To further delineate the effect of Trx m overexpression, metabolomic and enzymatic analyses were performed on these plants. These results showed an up-regulation of the glutamine synthetase-glutamate synthase pathway; specifically tobacco plants overexpressing Trx m displayed increased activity and stability of glutamine synthetase. Moreover, higher photorespiration and nitrate accumulation were observed in these plants relative to untransformed control plants, indicating that overexpression of Trx m favors the photorespiratory N cycle rather than primary nitrate assimilation. Taken together, our results reveal the importance of Trx m as a molecular mediator of N metabolism in plant chloroplasts.
