IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-021-25238-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Excessive ammonium assimilation by plastidic glutamine synthetase causes ammonium toxicity in Arabidopsis thaliana

Author

Listed:
  • Takushi Hachiya

    (Shimane University
    Nagoya University
    Nagoya University)

  • Jun Inaba

    (RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science)

  • Mayumi Wakazaki

    (RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science)

  • Mayuko Sato

    (RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science)

  • Kiminori Toyooka

    (RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science)

  • Atsuko Miyagi

    (Saitama University)

  • Maki Kawai-Yamada

    (Saitama University)

  • Daisuke Sugiura

    (Nagoya University)

  • Tsuyoshi Nakagawa

    (Shimane University)

  • Takatoshi Kiba

    (Nagoya University
    RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science)

  • Alain Gojon

    (CNRS/INRA/SupAgro-M/Montpellier University)

  • Hitoshi Sakakibara

    (Nagoya University
    RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science)

Abstract

Plants use nitrate, ammonium, and organic nitrogen in the soil as nitrogen sources. Since the elevated CO2 environment predicted for the near future will reduce nitrate utilization by C3 species, ammonium is attracting great interest. However, abundant ammonium nutrition impairs growth, i.e., ammonium toxicity, the primary cause of which remains to be determined. Here, we show that ammonium assimilation by GLUTAMINE SYNTHETASE 2 (GLN2) localized in the plastid rather than ammonium accumulation is a primary cause for toxicity, which challenges the textbook knowledge. With exposure to toxic levels of ammonium, the shoot GLN2 reaction produced an abundance of protons within cells, thereby elevating shoot acidity and stimulating expression of acidic stress-responsive genes. Application of an alkaline ammonia solution to the ammonium medium efficiently alleviated the ammonium toxicity with a concomitant reduction in shoot acidity. Consequently, we conclude that a primary cause of ammonium toxicity is acidic stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Takushi Hachiya & Jun Inaba & Mayumi Wakazaki & Mayuko Sato & Kiminori Toyooka & Atsuko Miyagi & Maki Kawai-Yamada & Daisuke Sugiura & Tsuyoshi Nakagawa & Takatoshi Kiba & Alain Gojon & Hitoshi Sakaki, 2021. "Excessive ammonium assimilation by plastidic glutamine synthetase causes ammonium toxicity in Arabidopsis thaliana," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-25238-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25238-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25238-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-021-25238-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaojun Li & Xiaohong Lu & Mengshuang Liu & Chenggang Xiang & Wenqian Liu & Cuicui Wang & Xiaojing Zhang & Tao Wang & Zixi Liu & Lihong Gao & Wenna Zhang, 2021. "Genome-Wide Characterization of Glutamine Synthetase Family Genes in Cucurbitaceae and Their Potential Roles in Cold Response and Rootstock-Scion Signaling Communication," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Momoyo Ito & Yuri Tajima & Mari Ogawa-Ohnishi & Hanna Nishida & Shohei Nosaki & Momona Noda & Naoyuki Sotta & Kensuke Kawade & Takehiro Kamiya & Toru Fujiwara & Yoshikatsu Matsubayashi & Takuya Suzaki, 2024. "IMA peptides regulate root nodulation and nitrogen homeostasis by providing iron according to internal nitrogen status," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Linhe Sun & Wei Wang & Fengjun Liu & Jixiang Liu & Fengfeng Du & Xiaojing Liu & Yajun Chang & Dongrui Yao, 2022. "Differences in Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal under Different Temperatures in Oenanthe javanica Cultivars," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Satoshi Ogawa & Songkui Cui & Alexandra R. F. White & David C. Nelson & Satoko Yoshida & Ken Shirasu, 2022. "Strigolactones are chemoattractants for host tropism in Orobanchaceae parasitic plants," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-25238-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.