Proteolysis and nitrogen: emerging insights

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) is a core component of fertilizers used in modern agriculture to increase yields and thus to help feed a growing global population. However, this comes at a cost to the environment, through run-off of excess N as a result of poor N-use efficiency (NUE) by crops. An obvious remedy to this problem would therefore be the improvement of NUE, which requires advancing our understanding on N homeostasis, sensing, and uptake. Proteolytic pathways are linked to N homeostasis as they recycle proteins that contain N and carbon; however, emerging data suggest that their functions extend beyond this simple recycling. Here, we highlight roles of proteolytic pathways in non-symbiotic and symbiotic N uptake and in systemic N sensing. We also offer a novel view in which we suggest that proteolytic pathways have roles in N homeostasis that differ from their accepted function in recycling.

Keywords

Autophagy; neddylation; nitrogen; proteases; proteasome; sumoylation

Published in

Journal of Experimental Botany
2019, volume: 70, number: 7, pages: 2009-2019
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS

SLU Authors

• Törnkvist, Anna

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Liu, Chen

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Moschou, Panagiotis Nikolaou

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH)
  • University of Crete

Global goals (SDG)

SDG12 Responsible consumption and production

UKÄ Subject classification

Botany

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erz024

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/100392