Use of transcriptomics and co-expression networks to analyze the interconnections between nitrogen assimilation and photorespiratory metabolism.
Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for plants and, in natural soils, its availability is often a major limiting factor for plant growth. Here we examine the effect of different forms of nitrogen nutrition and of photorespiration on gene expression in the model legume Lotus japonicus with the aim of identifying regulatory candidate genes co-ordinating primary nitrogen assimilation and photorespiration. The transcriptomic changes produced by the use of different nitrogen sources in leaves of L. japonicus plants combined with the transcriptomic changes produced in the same tissue by different photorespiratory conditions were examined. The results obtained provide novel information on the possible role of plastidic glutamine synthetase in the response to different nitrogen sources and in the C/N balance of L. japonicus plants. The use of gene co-expression networks establishes a clear relationship between photorespiration and primary nitrogen assimilation and identifies possible transcription factors connected to the genes of both routes.
Departamento de Bioquímica Vegetal y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Profesor García González, 1, 41012-Sevilla, Spain.
Carmen M
CM
Pérez-Delgado
Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, FONDAP Center for Genome Regulation, Millennium Nucleus Center for Plant Systems and Synthetic Biology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile.
Tomás C
TC
Moyano
Departamento de Bioquímica Vegetal y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Profesor García González, 1, 41012-Sevilla, Spain.
Margarita
M
García-Calderón
Instituto de Bioquímica y Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Campus Isla Teja s/n, Valdivia 5090000, Chile.
Javier
J
Canales
Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, FONDAP Center for Genome Regulation, Millennium Nucleus Center for Plant Systems and Synthetic Biology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile.
Rodrigo A
RA
Gutiérrez
Departamento de Bioquímica Vegetal y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Profesor García González, 1, 41012-Sevilla, Spain.
Antonio J
AJ
Márquez
Departamento de Bioquímica Vegetal y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Profesor García González, 1, 41012-Sevilla, Spain mbetti@us.es.
Marco
0000-0002-7334-5734
M
Betti
D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000502:physiology; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase / Q000378:metabolism; D000070116:Lotus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase; D009584:Nitrogen
Co-expression networks; Lotus; japonicus; nitrogen metabolism; nitrogen nutrition; photorespiration; transcriptomics.