Excessive ammonium assimilation by plastidic glutamine synthetase causes ammonium toxicity in Arabidopsis thaliana

Takushi Hachiya (), Jun Inaba, Mayumi Wakazaki, Mayuko Sato, Kiminori Toyooka, Atsuko Miyagi, Maki Kawai-Yamada, Daisuke Sugiura, Tsuyoshi Nakagawa, Takatoshi Kiba, Alain Gojon and Hitoshi Sakakibara
Additional contact information
Takushi Hachiya: Shimane University
Jun Inaba: RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science
Mayumi Wakazaki: RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science
Mayuko Sato: RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science
Kiminori Toyooka: RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science
Atsuko Miyagi: Saitama University
Maki Kawai-Yamada: Saitama University
Daisuke Sugiura: Nagoya University
Tsuyoshi Nakagawa: Shimane University
Takatoshi Kiba: Nagoya University
Alain Gojon: CNRS/INRA/SupAgro-M/Montpellier University
Hitoshi Sakakibara: Nagoya University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Plants use nitrate, ammonium, and organic nitrogen in the soil as nitrogen sources. Since the elevated CO2 environment predicted for the near future will reduce nitrate utilization by C3 species, ammonium is attracting great interest. However, abundant ammonium nutrition impairs growth, i.e., ammonium toxicity, the primary cause of which remains to be determined. Here, we show that ammonium assimilation by GLUTAMINE SYNTHETASE 2 (GLN2) localized in the plastid rather than ammonium accumulation is a primary cause for toxicity, which challenges the textbook knowledge. With exposure to toxic levels of ammonium, the shoot GLN2 reaction produced an abundance of protons within cells, thereby elevating shoot acidity and stimulating expression of acidic stress-responsive genes. Application of an alkaline ammonia solution to the ammonium medium efficiently alleviated the ammonium toxicity with a concomitant reduction in shoot acidity. Consequently, we conclude that a primary cause of ammonium toxicity is acidic stress.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-25238-7

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25238-7

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