title: Understanding nitrate assimilation and its regulation in microalgae.
abstract: Nitrate assimilation is a key process for nitrogen (N) acquisition in green microalgae. Among Chlorophyte algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has resulted to be a good model system to unravel important facts of this process, and has provided important insights for agriculturally relevant plants. In this work, the recent findings on nitrate transport, nitrate reduction and the regulation of nitrate assimilation are presented in this and several other algae. Latest data have shown nitric oxide (NO) as an important signal molecule in the transcriptional and posttranslational regulation of nitrate reductase and inorganic N transport. Participation of regulatory genes and proteins in positive and negative signaling of the pathway and the mechanisms involved in the regulation of nitrate assimilation, as well as those involved in Molybdenum cofactor synthesis required to nitrate assimilation, are critically reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Cordoba Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Emanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sanz-Luque
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Cordoba Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chamizo-Ampudia
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Cordoba Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Llamas
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Cordoba Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Aurora
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galvan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Cordoba Cordoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernandez
keywords: Chlamydomonas; green algae; nitrate assimilation; nitrate/nitrite uptake; nitric oxide; nitrogen metabolism