Metabolic control of seed germination in legumes.

Seed development, dormancy, and germination are connected with changes in metabolite levels. Not surprisingly, a complex regulatory network modulates biosynthesis and accumulation of storage products. Seed development has been studied profusely in Arabidopsis thaliana and has provided valuable insights into the genetic control of embryo development. However, not every inference applies to crop legumes, as these have been domesticated and selected for high seed yield and specific metabolic profiles and fluxes. Given its enormous economic relevance, considerable work has contributed to shed light on the mechanisms that control legume seed growth and germination. Here, we summarize recent progress in the understanding of regulatory networks that coordinate seed metabolism and development in legumes.

How do wheat plants cope with Pyricularia oryzae infection? A physiological and metabolic approach.

MAIN CONCLUSION: The infection of wheat leaves by Pyricularia oryzae induced remarkable reprogramming of the primary metabolism (amino acids, sugars, and organic acids) in favor of a successful fungal infection and certain changes were conserved among cultivars regardless of their level of resistance to blast. Wheat blast, caused by Pyricularia oryzae, has become one of the major threats for food security worldwide. Here, we investigated the behavior of three wheat cultivars (BR-18, Embrapa-16, and BRS-Guamirim), differing in their level of resistance to blast, by analyzing changes in cellular damage, antioxidative metabolism, and defense compounds as well as their photosynthetic performance and metabolite profile. Blast severity was lower by 45 and 33% in Embrapa-16 and BR-18 cultivars (moderately resistant), respectively, at 120 h after inoculation in comparison to BRS-Guamirim cultivar (susceptible). Cellular damage caused by P. oryzae infection was great in BRS-Guamirim compared to BR-18. The photosynthetic performance of infected plants was altered due to diffusional and biochemical limitations for CO2 fixation. At the beginning of the infection process, dramatic changes in both carbohydrate metabolism and on the levels of amino acids, intermediate compounds of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and polyamines were noticed regardless of cultivar suggesting an extensive metabolic reprogramming of the plants following fungal infection. Nevertheless, Embrapa-16 plants displayed a more robust and efficient antioxidant metabolism, higher phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and polyphenoloxidase activities and higher concentrations of phenolics and lignin, which, altogether, helped them to counteract more efficiently the infection by P. oryzae. Our results demonstrated that P. oryzae infection significantly modified the metabolism of wheat plants and different types of metabolic defence may act both additively and synergistically to provide additional plant protection to blast.

Characterization of maize leaf pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase using high throughput sequencing.

In C4 photosynthesis, pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) catalyzes the regeneration of phosphoenolpyruvate in the carbon shuttle pathway. Although the biochemical function of PPDK in maize is well characterized, a genetic analysis of PPDK has not been reported. In this study, we use the maize transposable elements Mutator and Ds to generate multiple mutant alleles of PPDK. Loss-of-function mutants are seedling lethal, even when plants were grown under 2% CO2 , and they show very low capacity for CO2 assimilation, indicating C4 photosynthesis is essential in maize. Using RNA-seq and GC-MS technologies, we examined the transcriptional and metabolic responses to a deficiency in PPDK activity. These results indicate loss of PPDK results in downregulation of gene expression of enzymes of the C4 cycle, the Calvin cycle, and components of photochemistry. Furthermore, the loss of PPDK did not change Kranz anatomy, indicating that this metabolic defect in the C4 cycle did not impinge on the morphological differentiation of C4 characters. However, sugar metabolism and nitrogen utilization were altered in the mutants. An interaction between light intensity and genotype was also detected from transcriptome profiling, suggesting altered transcriptional and metabolic responses to environmental and endogenous signals in the PPDK mutants.

Influência do nitrato e do amônio sobre a fotossíntese e a concentração de compostos nitrogenados em mandioca / Influence of nitrate and ammonium on the photosynthesis and nitrogen compounds concentration in cassava

Plantas de mandioca (Manihot esculenta Crantz) apresentam redução no acúmulo de matéria seca quando cultivadas com altos níveis de amônio na solução do solo. A razão para esse efeito do amônio ainda permanece pouco estudada. O presente trabalho foi desenvolvido visando avaliar a influência do NO3- e do NH4+ sobre alguns aspectos relacionados à fotossíntese e à concentração de alguns compostos nitrogenados em plantas de mandioca. Para esse estudo, utilizou-se a variedade Cigana Preta, que foi cultivada em solução nutritiva, tendo areia grossa lavada como substrato. Os tratamentos consistiram de três proporções entre NO3-:NH4+, em mM (12:0, 6:6, e 0:12). Plantas cultivadas apenas com NO3- ou com NO3- + NH4+ não apresentaram diferenças na taxa fotosssintética. No entanto, observou-se redução desse evento quando o NH4+ foi a única fonte nitrogenada. O valor da condutância estomática obtido para as plantas cultivadas apenas com NO3- foi de 0,49mol m-2s-1, enquanto que para as plantas cultivadas apenas com NH4+, o valor foi de apenas 0,16mol m-2s-1 (três vezes menor). Não houve diferenças significativas na concentração foliar de amônio livre, sugerindo não ter ocorrido efeito tóxico direto do NH4+ sobre a fotossíntese. A concentração de proteínas foi maior para as plantas cultivadas apenas com NH4+. Os resultados sugerem que o menor acúmulo de matéria seca das plantas de mandioca cultivadas exclusivamente com NH4+ é decorrente, dentre outros fatores, do efeito desse íon sobre a atividade fotosssintética, em virtude, principalmente, de sua ação negativa sobre a condutância estomática.

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) plants present reduction in dry matter accumulation when grown at high levels of ammonium in the soil solution. The reason for that still remains to be determined. The present research was carried out in order to evaluate the influence of nitrate and ammonium on aspects related to photosynthesis and the concentration of nitrogen compounds of cassava plants. Cultivar Cigana Preta plants were grown in nutritive solution with sand as substrate. Treatments consisted of three ratios of NO3-:NH4+, in mM (12:0, 6:6, e 0:12). Plants grown only on NO3- or NO3- + NH4+ did not show differences in photosynthetic rates, but reduction of them were observed for NH4+ as the only nitrogen source. Stomatal conductance of plants grown on nitrate was 0.49mol m-2s-1 and three times less for plants grown only on ammonium (0.16mol m-2s-1). There were no significant differences in leaf concentration of free ammonium among treatments, suggesting no direct toxic effect of ammonium on photosynthesis. Protein concentration was higher for plants grown only on ammonium. The results strongly suggest that the lower dry matter accumulation of cassava plants grown just on ammonium is due, among other factors, to its effect on photosynthetic activity, mainly because of its negative influence on stomatal conductance.