Abstract
Plants take up inorganic nitrogen and store it unchanged or convert it to organic forms. The nitrogen in such organic compounds is stoichiometrically recoverable by the Kjeldahl method. The sum of inorganic nitrogen and Kjeldahl nitrogen has long been known to equal the total nitrogen in plants. However, in our attempt to study the mechanism of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) metabolism, we unexpectedly discovered that about one-third of the total nitrogen derived from 15N-labeled NO2 taken up by Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. plants was converted to neither inorganic nor Kjeldahl nitrogen, but instead to an as yet unknown nitrogen compound(s). We here refer to this nitrogen as unidentified nitrogen (UN). The generality of the formation of UN across species, nitrogen sources and cultivation environments for plants has been shown as follows. Firstly, all of the other 11 plant species studied were found to form the UN in response to fumigation with 15NO2. Secondly, tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants fed with 15N-nitrate appeared to form the UN. And lastly, the leaves of naturally fed vegetables, grass and roadside trees were found to possess the UN. In addition, the UN appeared to comprise a substantial proportion of total nitrogen in these plant species. Collectively, all of our present findings imply that there is a novel nitrogen mechanism for the formation of UN in plants. Based on the analyses of the exhaust gas and residue fractions of the Kjeldahl digestion of a plant sample containing the UN, probable candidates for compounds that bear the UN were deduced to be those containing the heat-labile nitrogen–oxygen functions and those recalcitrant to Kjeldahl digestion, including organic nitro and nitroso compounds. We propose UN-bearing compounds may provide a chemical basis for the mechanism of the reactive nitrogen species (RNS), and thus that cross-talk may occur between UN and RNS metabolisms in plants. A mechanism for the formation of UN-bearing compounds, in which RNS are involved as intermediates, is proposed. The important broad impact of this novel nitrogen metabolism, not only on the general physiology of plants, but also on plant substances as human and animal food, and on plants as an integral part of the global environment, is discussed.
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Abbreviations
- NO :
-
Nitric oxide
- NO 2 :
-
Nitrogen dioxide
- RNS :
-
Reactive nitrogen species
- UN :
-
Unidentified nitrogen
- TNNAT, RNNAT, INNAT and UNNAT :
-
Total, Kjeldahl, inorganic and unidentified nitrogen in naturally fed plants, respectively
- TNNIT, RNNIT, INNIT and UNNIT :
-
Total, Kjeldahl, inorganic and unidentified nitrogen derived from nitrate, respectively
- TNNO2, RNNO2, INNO2 and UNNO2 :
-
Total, Kjeldahl, inorganic and unidentified nitrogen derived from NO2, respectively
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Acknowledgements
We thank T. Sugiyama of Nagoya University and T. Yamaya of Tohoku University for discussions on nitrogen metabolism, and M. Kawahara of Hiroshima University for nitrogen analysis. This work was supported in part by the Research for the Future Program, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS-RFTF96L00604) and by a Grant-in-Aid for Creative Scientific Research (no.13GS0023) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
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Morikawa, H., Takahashi, M., Sakamoto, A. et al. Formation of unidentified nitrogen in plants: an implication for a novel nitrogen metabolism. Planta 219, 14–22 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-1200-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-1200-7