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The tomato nia gene complements a Nicotiana plumbaginifolia nitrate reductase-deficient mutant and is properly regulated

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Abstract

A nitrate reductase (NR) deficient mutant of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia totally impaired in the production of functional nia transcript and protein was restored for NR activity by transformation with a cloned tomato nia gene. The transgenic plants expressed from undetectable to 17% of the control NR activity in their leaves. Restoration of growth rates comparable to the wild type was obtained for transgenic plants expressing as little as 10% of the wild-type activity showing that nitrate reduction is not a growth-limiting factor in the wild-type plant. The analysis of the transgene expression showed that the tomato nia gene transcription was regulated by light, nitrate and a circadian rhythm as in tomato plants. These results suggest that all the cis-acting sequences involved in these regulations are contained in the 3 kb upstream region of the tomato nia gene and are still functional in transgenic N. plumbaginifolia plants. The amount of NR transcript synthesized from the tomato nia gene was reduced when a functional N. plumbaginifolia nia locus was introduced by sexual crosses. These data support the hypothesis that nitrate reduction is regulated by nitrate-derived metabolites as demonstrated in fungi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire, INRA, Route de Saint-Cyr, 78026, Versailles Cedex, France

    Marie-France Dorbe, Michel Caboche & Françoise Daniel-Vedele

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  1. Marie-France Dorbe
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  2. Michel Caboche
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  3. Françoise Daniel-Vedele
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Dorbe, MF., Caboche, M. & Daniel-Vedele, F. The tomato nia gene complements a Nicotiana plumbaginifolia nitrate reductase-deficient mutant and is properly regulated. Plant Mol Biol 18, 363–375 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00034963

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00034963

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