Nitric oxide (NO) is an essential reactive oxygen species and a signal molecule in plants. Although several studies have proposed the occurrence of oxidative NO production, only reductive routes for NO production, such as the nitrate (NO-3) -upper-reductase pathway, have been evidenced to date in land plants. However, plants grown axenically with ammonium as the sole source of nitrogen exhibit contents of nitrite and NO, evidencing the existence of a metabolic pathway for oxidative production of NO.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIron (Fe) is an essential plant micronutrient, being a major limiting growth factor in calcareous soils. To increase Fe uptake, plants induce lateral roots growth, the expression of a Fe(III)-chelate reductase (FCR), a Fe(II)-transporter and a H-ATPase and the secretion of flavins. Furthermore, auxin hormone family is involved in the Fe-deficiency responses but the action mechanism remains elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe iron superoxide dismutase (FeSOD) is a first barrier to defend photosynthetic organisms from superoxide radicals. Although it is broadly present in plants and bacteria, FeSODs are absent in animals. They belong to the same phylogenic family as Mn-containing SODs, which are also highly efficient at detoxifying superoxide radicals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aromatic amino acid tryptophan is the main precursor for indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), which involves various parallel routes in plants, with indole-3-acetaldoxime (IAOx) being one of the most common intermediates. Auxin signaling is well known to interact with free radical nitric oxide (NO) to perform a more complex effect, including the regulation of root organogenesis and nitrogen nutrition. To fathom the link between IAA and NO, we use a metabolomic approach to analyze the contents of low-molecular-mass molecules in cultured cells of after the application of S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), an NO donor or IAOx.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ornithine-urea cycle (urea cycle) makes a significant contribution to the metabolic responses of lower photosynthetic eukaryotes to episodes of high nitrogen availability. In this study, we compared the role of the plant urea cycle and its relationships to polyamine metabolism in ammonium-fed and nitrate-fed Medicago truncatula plants. High ammonium resulted in the accumulation of ammonium and pathway intermediates, particularly glutamine, arginine, ornithine, and putrescine.
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