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Wheat nitrogen metabolism during grain filling: comparative role of glumes and the flag leaf

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Abstract

The mobilization of nitrogen (N) compounds and the roles played by glumes and the flag leaf during grain filling were studied in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Florida) grown under field conditions. Glumes lost twice as much of their total N content as that lost by the flag leaf between the milk and early dough stages. In the flag leaf, glumes and grains, Glu, Asp, Ser and Ala accounted for 85% of all the reductions in the free amino acid pool. Principal component analysis of free amino acid pools separated grains from the glumes and the flag leaf, suggesting grain specific regulations in the use of free amino acids in protein synthesis. In all three organs, no decrease in Gln was detected, probably due to steady glutamine synthetase (GS; EC 6.3.1.2) activities per soluble protein in both the flag leaf and glumes. Compared with the flag leaf, glumes presented relatively smaller amounts of the chloroplast GS associated isoform. This we show is due to a lower relative number of mesophyll cells in glumes as supported by the different anatomy and the cellular pattern of the GS immunolocalization. We argue that cellular distribution plays a key role in supporting metabolism to enable the various functions undertaken by glume tissue.

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Abbreviations

C:

Carbon

dw:

Dry weight

Fd-GOGAT:

Ferredoxin dependent glutamate synthase

fw:

Fresh weight

GS1 and 2:

Glutamine synthetase isoforms

N:

Nitrogen

PEPc:

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase

RLI:

Relative labelling index

Rubisco:

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr Conxita Royo (Centro UdL-IRTA, Lleida, Spain) who was responsible for all field trials. We also thank Dr Juan José Guiamet (Universidad de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina) for generously providing the LSU Rubisco antibody. This research was supported by SUSTAIN QLK5-CT-2001-01461 project and the Spanish Project CICYT AGL2002-04285-C03-03. Marta S. Lopes was the recipient of a predoctoral fellowship sponsored by the Fundaçao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal). We acknowledge Dr B. Hirel (INRA, Versailles, France) for carefully revising our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unitat de Fisiologia Vegetal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Marta S. Lopes & José L. Araus

  2. Unitat de Microscopia Electronica, Facultat de Medicina, Serveis Cientíticotècnics de la Universitat de Barcelona, Casanovas 143, 6ª planta, 08036, Barcelona, Spain

    Nuria Cortadellas

  3. Crop Performance and Improvement Division, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, UK

    Dimah Z. Habash

  4. Unité de Biologie des Plantes et Contrôle des Insectes Ravageurs, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, 33 rue St Leu, 80039, Amiens, France

    Thomas Kichey & Frédéric Dubois

Authors
  1. Marta S. Lopes
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  2. Nuria Cortadellas
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  3. Thomas Kichey
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  4. Frédéric Dubois
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  6. José L. Araus
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Correspondence to José L. Araus.

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Lopes, M.S., Cortadellas, N., Kichey, T. et al. Wheat nitrogen metabolism during grain filling: comparative role of glumes and the flag leaf. Planta 225, 165–181 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-006-0338-5

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