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Ureide metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana is modulated by C:N balance

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Abstract

Plants can respond and adapt to changes in the internal content of carbon and nitrogen by using organic compounds that widely differ in their carbon/nitrogen ratio. Among them, the amides asparagine and glutamine are believed to be preferred by most plants, including Arabidopsis. However, increases in the ureides allantoin and/or allantoate concentrations have been observed in different plant species under several environmental conditions. In this work, changes in the ratio between carbon skeletons and reduced nitrogen were investigated by varying the concentrations of nitrogen and sucrose in the growth media. Allantoin accumulation was observed when plants were grown in media with high ammonia concentrations. This increase was reverted by adding sucrose as additional carbon source. Moreover, mutant plants with a decreased capability to degrade allantoin showed a compromised growth compared to WT in ammonia supplemented media. Together, our results indicate that allantoin accumulation is induced by low carbon/nitrogen ratio and suggest that its degradation is critical for proper plant growth and development.

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Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Fund of Science and Technology (FONCyT, Argentina) [PICT-2009-0114] and of the Secretary of Science and Technology of the National University of Córdoba (SECyT-UNC, Argentina). We thank Dr. Nicolás Cecchini and Biol. Florencia Bogino for their feedback on this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Fund of Science and Technology (FONCyT, Argentina) [PICT-2009-0114] and of the Secretary of Science and Technology of the National University of Córdoba (SECyT-UNC, Argentina).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Multidisciplinary Institute of Plant Biology, National University of Córdoba, CONICET, Vélez Sarsfield Av. 299, X5000HUA, Córdoba, Argentina

    Ignacio Lescano, Andrés Matías Devegili, Carolina Martini, Tomás María Tessi, Claudio Alejandro González & Marcelo Desimone

  2. Plant Physiology Chair, Department of Physiology. Faculty of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, National University of Córdoba, Vélez Sarsfield Av. 299, X5000HUA, Córdoba, Argentina

    Carolina Martini, Claudio Alejandro González & Marcelo Desimone

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  1. Ignacio Lescano
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  2. Andrés Matías Devegili
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  3. Carolina Martini
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  4. Tomás María Tessi
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  5. Claudio Alejandro González
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  6. Marcelo Desimone
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Contributions

Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by IL, AMD, CM and TMT. CAG and MD: supervised the project. The first draft of the manuscript was written by IL and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. IL: agrees to serve as the author responsible for contact and ensures communication.

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Correspondence to Ignacio Lescano.

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Lescano, I., Devegili, A.M., Martini, C. et al. Ureide metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana is modulated by C:N balance. J Plant Res 133, 739–749 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-020-01215-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-020-01215-x

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