title: Interactions between nitrate and ammonium in their uptake, allocation, assimilation, and signaling in plants.
abstract: Nitrogen (N) availability is a major factor determining plant growth and productivity. Plants acquire inorganic N from the soil, mainly in the form of nitrate and ammonium. To date, researchers have focused on these N sources, and demonstrated that plants exhibit elaborate responses at both physiological and morphological levels. Mixtures of nitrate and ammonium are beneficial in terms of plant growth, as compared to nitrate or ammonium alone, and therefore synergistic responses to both N sources are predicted at different steps ranging from acquisition to assimilation. In this review, we summarize interactions between nitrate and ammonium with respect to uptake, allocation, assimilation, and signaling. Given that cultivated land often contains both nitrate and ammonium, a better understanding of the synergism between these N sources should help to identify targets with the potential to improve crop productivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Mechanisms and Functions, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601, Japan.|Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan.
authors.forename: Takushi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hachiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Mechanisms and Functions, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601, Japan.|RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakakibara
mesh_terms: D064751:Ammonium Compounds / Q000378:metabolism*; D001692:Biological Transport; D000069599:Crop Production; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000502:physiology*; D009566:Nitrates / Q000378:metabolism*; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D064751:Ammonium Compounds; D009566:Nitrates
keywords: Ammonium assimilation; ammonium uptake; metabolic flux; nitrate sensing; primary nitrate response; root-to-shoot transport.