Amino acid transporter mutants of Arabidopsis provides evidence that a non-mycorrhizal plant acquires organic nitrogen from agricultural soil

Author(s)
Ulrika Ganeteg, Iftikhar Ahmad, Sandra Jamtgard, Camila Aguetoni Cambui, Erich Inselsbacher, Henrik Svennerstam, Susanne Schmidt, Torgny Näsholm
Abstract

Although organic nitrogen (N) compounds are ubiquitous in soil solutions, their potential role in plant N nutrition has been questioned. We performed a range of experiments on Arabidopsis thaliana genetically modified to enhance or reduce root uptake of amino acids. Plants lacking expression of the Lysine Histidine Transporter 1 (LHT1) displayed significantly lower contents of 13C and 15N label and of U-13C5,15N2 L-glutamine, as determined by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry when growing in pots and supplied with dually labelled L-glutamine compared to wild type plants and LHT1-overexpressing plants. Slopes of regressions between accumulation of 13C-labelled carbon and 15N-labelled N were higher for LHT1-overexpressing plants than wild type plants, while plants lacking expression of LHT1 did not display a significant regression between the two isotopes. Uptake of labelled organic N from soil tallied with that of labelled ammonium for wild type plants and LHT1-overexpressing plants but was significantly lower for plants lacking expression of LHT1. When grown on agricultural soil plants lacking expression of LHT1 had the lowest, and plants overexpressing LHT1 the highest C/N ratios and natural δ15N abundance suggesting their dependence on different N pools. Our data show that LHT1 expression is crucial for plant uptake of organic N from soil.

Organisation(s)
Department of Geography and Regional Research
External organisation(s)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), University of Queensland
Journal
Plant, Cell and Environment
Volume
40
Pages
413-423
No. of pages
11
ISSN
0140-7791
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.12881
Publication date
2016
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
106013 Genetics, 106023 Molecular biology, 106031 Plant physiology
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Physiology, Plant Science
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/f47a873c-dbce-42f2-9b00-0bfc40d3a369