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Research article2008Peer reviewedOpen access

Capacities and constraints of amino acid utilization in Arabidopsis

Forsum, Oskar; Svennerstam, Henrik; Ganeteg, Ulrika; Naesholm, Torgny

Abstract

Various amino acids, including both L- and D-enantiomers, may be present in soils, and recent studies have indicated that plants may access such nitrogen (N) forms. Here, the capacity of Arabidopsis to utilize different L- and D-amino acids is investigated and the constraints on this process are explored.Mutants defective in the lysine histidine transporter 1 (LHT1) and transgenic plants overexpressing LHT1 as well as plants expressing D-amino acid-metabolizing enzymes, were used in studies of uptake and growth on various N forms.Arabidopsis absorbed all tested N-forms, but D-enantiomers at lower rates than L-forms. Several L- but no D-forms were effective as N sources. Plants deficient in LHT1 displayed strong growth reductions and plants overexpressing LHT1 showed strong growth enhancement when N was supplied as amino acids, in particular when these were supplied at low concentrations. Several D- amino acids inhibited growth of wild-type plants, while transgenic Arabidopsis-expressing genes encoding D-amino acid-metabolizing enzymes could efficiently utilize such compounds for growth.These results suggest that several amino acids, and in particular L-Gln and L-Asn, promote growth of Arabidopsis, and increased expression of specific amino acid transporters enhances growth on amino acids. The efficiency by which transgenic plants exploit D-amino acids illustrates how plants can be engineered to utilize specific N sources otherwise inaccessible to them.

Keywords

D-amino acid; D-amino acid oxidase; D-serine dehydratase; growth; lysine histidine transporter 1; metabolism; nitrogen uptake

Published in

New Phytologist
2008, Volume: 179, number: 4, pages: 1058-1069
Publisher: BLACKWELL PUBLISHING