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Nitrate reductase in needles, roots and trunk wood of spruce trees [Picea abies (L.) Karst.]

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Summary

Nitrate reductase (EC 1.6.6.2) activity (NRA), as measured by an in vivo assay, is present in needle leaves and mycorrhizal fine root tips of adult Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] in at least equal amounts on a fresh weight basis, in both adult and 5-year-old trees. NRA could also be demonstrated in trunk wood of deroted trees after fertilization with 5 mM \({\text{NO}}_{{\text{3}}^{\text{ - }} }\), exhibiting a longitudinal profile in the trunk. Inducibility in needles can more efficiently be achieved by NO2 (100 μg·m-3) than by 5 mM nitrate, which is effective only in root-amputated trees. A remarkably high level of needle-NRA in unfertilized trees, which are characterized by a very low level of nitrate in the xylem sap, suggests that NRA in spruce needles may in part be constitutive. Organic-N is a major nitrogen source for the needles even in root-amputated trees, indicating pronounced exchange processes between ray parenchyma and trunk xylem, which in turn are modified by the nitrogen source fed to the trunk stump. Intact trees exhibit a very similar amino acid composition of the xylem sap, regardless of whether \({\text{NO}}_{{\text{3}}^{\text{ - }} }\)or \({\text{NH}}_{{\text{4}}^{\text{ + }} }\)has been fed. The amino acid pattern of the needles is not thrown out of balance by “flooding” with \({\text{NO}}_{{\text{3}}^{\text{ - }} }\)and \({\text{NH}}_{{\text{4}}^{\text{ + }} }\), which occurs in fertilized derooted trees. This indicates a distinct potential for homoeostasis of nitrogen entrance-metabolism (i.e. NRA and glutamine synthetase activity) in the needles. In the ectomycorrhiza/fine root-system (EMC), marked differences in NRA were observed depending on root-tip diameter and along the longitudinal profile of the fine roots. EMC-nitrate reductase is strongly enhanced by \({\text{NO}}_{{\text{3}}^{\text{ - }} }\). Needle-NRA exhibits a circannual rhythm. An early summer maximum is followed by a December minimum. This activity pattern matches well the transitory increase of soluble nitrogen in spring and the total protein maximum in winter. In an indirect way assimilatory NRA may well contribute to nitrogen overfertilization (by consumption of NOX) as one possible cause of the contemporary decline of spruce populations.

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  1. Botanisches Institut der Universität zu Köln, III. Lehrstuhl, Gyrhofstrasse 15, W-5000, Köln 41, Federal Republic of Germany

    Brigitte Schmidt & Manfred Weidner

  2. Institut für Pharmazeutische Biologie der Technischen Universität Braunschweig, Mendelssohnstrasse 1, W-3300, Braunschweig, Federal Republic of Germany

    Dieter Strack

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  1. Brigitte Schmidt
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Schmidt, B., Strack, D. & Weidner, M. Nitrate reductase in needles, roots and trunk wood of spruce trees [Picea abies (L.) Karst.]. Trees 5, 215–226 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00227528

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