title: Ammonium assimilation and amino acid metabolism in conifers.
abstract: Conifers are the most important group of gymnosperms, which include tree species of great ecological and economic importance that dominate large ecosystems and play an essential role in global carbon fixation. Nitrogen (N) economy has a special importance in these woody plants that are able to cope with seasonal periods of growth and development over a large number of years. As N availability in the forest soil is extremely low, efficient mechanisms are required for the assimilation, storage, mobilization, and recycling of inorganic and organic forms of N. The cyclic interconversion of arginine and the amides glutamine and asparagine plays a central role in the N metabolism of conifers and the regulation of these pathways is of major relevance to the N economy of the plant. In this paper, details of recent progress in our understanding of the metabolism of arginine and the other major amino acids glutamine, glutamate, aspartate, and asparagine in pine, a conifer model tree, are presented and discussed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Instituto Andaluz de Biotecnología, Unidad Asociada UMA-CSIC, Universidad de Málaga, E-29071 Málaga, Spain. canovas@uma.es
authors.forename: Francisco M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Cánovas
authors.forename: Concepción
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Avila
authors.forename: Francisco R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Cantón
authors.forename: Rafael A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Cañas
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de la Torre
mesh_terms: D024342:Amino Acids, Acidic / Q000378:metabolism*; D024361:Amino Acids, Basic / Q000378:metabolism*; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000096:biosynthesis; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D005973:Glutamine / Q000096:biosynthesis; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D028223:Pinus / Q000378:metabolism*; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D024342:Amino Acids, Acidic; D024361:Amino Acids, Basic; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds; D005973:Glutamine; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D009584:Nitrogen