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Light-regulated expression of the nitrate-reductase and nitrite-reductase genes in tomato and in the phytochrome-deficient aurea mutant of tomato

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Abstract

The phytochrome-deficient aurea mutant of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum (L.) Mill) was used to investigate if phytochrome plays a role in the regulation of nitrate-reductase (NR, EC 1.6.6.1) and nitrite-reductase (NiR, EC 1.7.7.1) gene expression. We show that the expression of the tomato NR and NiR genes is stimulated by light and that this light response is mediated by the photoreceptor phytochrome. The red-light response of the NR and NiR genes was reduced in etiolated aurea seedlings when compared to isogenic wild-type cotyledons. The relative levels of NR mRNA and NiR transcripts and their diurnal fluctuations were identical in mature white-light-grown leaves of the wild-type and of the aurea mutant. The transcript levels for cab and RbcS (genes for the chlorophyll-a/b-binding protein of PSII and the small subunit of the enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, respectively) in aurea leaves grown in white light were indistinguishable from the respective transcript levels in the leaves of the wildtype grown under the same conditions. Despite a severe reduction in the chlorophyll content, the rate of net CO2 uptake by leaves of the aurea mutant was only slightly reduced when compared to the rate of net photosynthesis of wild-type leaves. This difference in the photosynthetic performances of wild-type and aurea mutant plants disappeared during aging of the plants. The increase in zeaxanthin and the concomitant decrease in violaxanthin in leaves of the aurea mutant compared with the same pigment levels in leaves of the wild-type indicate that the activity of the xanthophyll cycle is increased in aurea leaves as a consequence of the reduced CO2-fixation capacity of the mutant leaves.

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Abbreviations

Chl:

chlorophyll

NR:

nitrate reductase

NiR:

nitrite reductase

cab:

gene for the chlorophyll-a/b-binding proteins of PS II

RbcS :

gene for the small subunit of the enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

RuBPCase:

ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoires de Biologie Cellulaire, INRA, Centre de Versailles, Route de Saint-Cyr, F-78026, Versailles Cedex, France

    Thomas W. Becker & Michel Caboche

  2. Laboratoires du Métabolisme et de la Nutrition des Plantes, INRA, Centre de Versailles, Route de Saint-Cyr, F-78026, Versailles Cedex, France

    Christine Foyer

Authors
  1. Thomas W. Becker
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  2. Christine Foyer
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  3. Michel Caboche
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Additional information

The authors wish to thank Dr. Maarten Koornneef (Institute for Plant Breeding, Wageningen, The Netherlands) for the generous gift of seeds of the tomato aurea mutant, Professor Yves Lemoine and Gerald Zabulon (both Université de Paris-Sud, Orsay, France) for the carotenoid analysis, and Jean-Charles Lescure (INRA), for excellent technical assistance. We are grateful to Drs. Karl Josef Kunert (ICI, Durban, Republic of South Africa) and Michel Vincentz (INRA) for critical reading of the manuscript. T.W.B. was supported by a BAP research grant from the Commission of the European Communities.

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Becker, T.W., Foyer, C. & Caboche, M. Light-regulated expression of the nitrate-reductase and nitrite-reductase genes in tomato and in the phytochrome-deficient aurea mutant of tomato. Planta 188, 39–47 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00198937

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00198937

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