NRT1.1s in plants: functions beyond nitrate transport
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
Authors: Wang, Wei; Hu, Bin; Li, Aifu; Chu, Chengcai
Abstract
Arabidopsis AtNRT1.1 (CHL1/AtNPF6.3) is the first nitrate transporter identified in plants and was initially found to play a role in nitrate uptake and transport. AtNRT1.1 also displays auxin transport activity and mediates nitrate-modulated root development, suggesting that it has transport capacity for multiple substrates. Subsequent work revealed that AtNRT1.1 can respond to environmental nitrate fluctuations by altering its nitrate transport activity, modulated by phosphorylation, leading to the critical finding that AtNRT1.1 acts as a transceptor for nitrate sensing. Recent studies have revealed how OsNRT1.1B, the functional homologue of AtNRT1.1 in rice, mediates nitrate signal transduction from the plasma membrane to the nucleus, and how OsNRT1.1B integrates the nitrate and phosphate signaling networks. OsNRT1.1B has also been shown to be involved in regulating the root microbiota to facilitate organic nitrogen mineralization in soil, thus mediating plant-microbe interactions. Furthermore, the divergent functions of OsNRT1.1A and OsNRT1.1B in regulating nitrogen use in rice suggest that the function of NRT1.1 is still far from fully understood. In this review, we focus on the most recent progress on the molecular mechanisms of NRT1.1s in plants, with the aim of providing an up-to-date view of the versatile functions of NRT1.1 in nitrogen utilization in plants.
Effects of 1-MCP on chlorophyll degradation pathway-associated genes expression and chloroplast ultrastructure during the peel yellowing of Chinese pear fruits in storage
FOOD CHEMISTRY
Authors: Cheng, Yudou; Dong, Yu; Yan, Hongbo; Ge, Wenya; Shen, Chengguo; Guan, Junfeng; Liu, Liqin; Zhang, Yingying
Abstract
The peel yellowing is an important pigment physiological process of green fruit ripening, which mainly results from chlorophyll degradation in the fruit peel. In this work, two typical cultivars with different ripening speed, a slow ripening pear 'Emerald' (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd. cv. Emerald) and a fast ripening 'Jingbai' (Pyrus ussuriensis Maxim. cv. Jingbai) were used to investigate the molecular mechanism of chlorophyll degradation in pear yellowing/ripening during postharvest storage. The fruits after harvest were treated with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), an ethylene action inhibitor at 1.0 mu LI-1 to determine its effect on chloroplast ultrastructure and the expression of chlorophyll degradation associated genes in peel tissues. Our results show that the pears treated with 1-MCP had a lower ethylene production rate and higher chlorophyll content compared to those of untreated fruit. The more intact chloroplasts with well-organised grana thylakoids and small plastoglobuli were maintained in the peel of 1-MCP treated fruit for up to 30 and 15 d in 'Emerald' and 'Jingbai', respectively. The expression of chlorophyll degradation associated genes: pheophorbide a oxygenase (PAO), non-yellow colouring (NYC), NYC1-like (NOL), stay-green 1(SGR1), was suppressed, while no significant change was found in chlorophyllase 1 (CHL1) and red chlorophyll catabolite reductase (RCCR) in both cultivar fruits treated with 1-MCP. These results suggest that 1-MCP can delay chlorophyll degradation by inhibiting ethylene production and suppressing the gene expression of PAO, NYC, NOL and SGR1, which are closely associated with chlorophyll catabolic pathway. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.