Involvement of Reversible Inactivation in the Regulation of Nitrate Reductase Enzyme Levels in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Understanding nitrate assimilation and its regulation in microalgae

Nitrate assimilation is a key process for nitrogen (N) acquisition in green microalgae. Among Chlorophyte algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has resulted to be a good model system to unravel important facts of this process, and has provided important insights for agriculturally relevant plants. In this work, the recent findings on nitrate transport, nitrate reduction and the regulation of nitrate assimilation are presented in this and several other algae. Latest data have shown nitric oxide (NO) as an important signal molecule in the transcriptional and posttranslational regulation of nitrate reductase and inorganic N transport. Participation of regulatory genes and proteins in positive and negative signaling of the pathway and the mechanisms involved in the regulation of nitrate assimilation, as well as those involved in Molybdenum cofactor synthesis required to nitrate assimilation, are critically reviewed.

THB1 regulates nitrate reductase activity and THB1 and THB2 transcription differentially respond to NO and the nitrate/ammonium balance in Chlamydomonas

Nitric oxide (NO) has emerged as an important regulator of the nitrogen assimilation pathway in plants. Nevertheless, this free radical is a double-edged sword for cells due to its high reactivity and toxicity. Hemoglobins, which belong to a vast and ancestral family of proteins present in all kingdoms of life, have arisen as important NO scavengers, through their NO dioxygenase (NOD) activity. The green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has 12 hemoglobins (THB1-12) belonging to the truncated hemoglobins family. THB1 and THB2 are regulated by the nitrogen source and respond differentially to NO and the nitrate/ammonium balance. THB1 expression is upregulated by NO in contrast to THB2, which is downregulated. THB1 has NOD activity and thus a role in nitrate assimilation. In fact, THB1 is upregulated by nitrate and is under the control of NIT2, the major transcription factor in nitrate assimilation. In Chlamydomonas, it has been reported that nitrate reductase (NR) has a redox regulation and is inhibited by NO through an unknown mechanism. Now, a model in which THB1 interacts with NR is proposed for its regulation. THB1 takes electrons from NR redirecting them to NO dioxygenation. Thus, when cells are assimilating nitrate and NO appears (i.e. as a consequence of nitrite accumulation), THB1 has a double role: 1) to scavenge NO avoiding its toxic effects and 2) to control the nitrate reduction activity.

The effect of glufosinate on nitrogen assimilation at the physiological, biochemical and molecular levels in Phaeodactylum tricornutum

This study investigated the effects of glufosinate, a widely used herbicide, on the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum through short-term toxicity tests at the physiological and gene transcriptional levels. Glufosinate (4 mg L(-1)) decreased the amount of pigments but increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde levels. As a glutamine synthetase (GS) inhibitor, glufosinate affected the transcripts and activities of key enzymes related to nitrogen assimilation. Transcript levels of GS and nitrate reductase (NR) in P. tricornutum decreased to only 57 and 26 % of the control. However, transcript levels of nitrate transporter (NRT) and the small subunit of glutamate synthase (GltD) were 1.79 and 1.76 times higher than that of the control. The activities of NRT, GS and GOGAT were consistent with gene expression except for NR, which was regulated mainly by post-translational modification. Furthermore, the results of electron microscopy showed that chloroplast structure was disrupted in response to glufosinate exposure. These results demonstrated that glufosinate first disturbed nitrogen metabolism and caused a ROS burst, which disrupted chloroplast ultrastructure. Ultimately, the growth of P. tricornutum was greatly inhibited by glufosinate.

Nitric oxide controls nitrate and ammonium assimilation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Nitrate and ammonium are major inorganic nitrogen sources for plants and algae. These compounds are assimilated by means of finely regulated processes at transcriptional and post-translational levels. In Chlamydomonas, the expression of several genes involved in high-affinity ammonium (AMT1.1, AMT1.2) and nitrate transport (NRT2.1) as well as nitrate reduction (NIA1) are downregulated by ammonium through a nitric oxide (NO)-dependent mechanism. At the post-translational level, nitrate/nitrite uptake and nitrate reductase (NR) are also inhibited by ammonium, but the mechanisms implicated in this regulation are scarcely known. In this work, the effect of NO on nitrate assimilation and the high-affinity ammonium uptake was addressed. NO inhibited the high-affinity uptake of ammonium and nitrate/nitrite, as well as the NR activity, in a reversible form. In contrast, nitrite reductase and glutamine synthetase activities were not affected. The in vivo and in vitro studies suggested that NR enzyme is inhibited by NO in a mediated process that requires the cell integrity. These data highlight a role of NO in inorganic nitrogen assimilation and suggest that this signalling molecule is an important regulator for the first steps of the pathway.

MACRONUTRIENT UTILIZATION BY PHOTOSYNTHETIC EUKARYOTES AND THE FABRIC OF INTERACTIONS

Organisms acclimate to a continually fluctuating nutrient environment. Acclimation involves responses specific for the limiting nutrient as well as responses that are more general and occur when an organism experiences different stress conditions. Specific responses enable organisms to efficiently scavenge the limiting nutrient and may involve the induction of high-affinity transport systems and the synthesis of hydrolytic enzymes that facilitate the release of the nutrient from extracellular organic molecules or from internal reserves. General responses include changes in cell division rates and global alterations in metabolic activities. In photosynthetic organisms there must be precise regulation of photosynthetic activity since when severe nutrient limitation prevents continued cell growth, excitation of photosynthetic pigments could result in the formation of reactive oxygen species, which can severely damage structural and functional features of the cell. This review focuses on ways that photosynthetic eukaryotes assimilate the macronutrients nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, and the mechanisms that govern assimilatory activities. Also discussed are molecular responses to macronutrient limitation and the elicitation of those responses through integration of environmental and cellular cues.

Acclimation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to its nutrient environment

To cope with low nutrient availability in nature, organisms have evolved inducible systems that enable them to scavenge and efficiently utilize the limiting nutrient. Furthermore, organisms must have the capacity to adjust their rate of metabolism and make specific alterations in metabolic pathways that favor survival when the potential for cell growth and division is reduced. In this article I will focus on the acclimation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a unicellular, eukaryotic green alga to conditions of nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus deprivation. This organism has a distinguished history as a model for classical genetic analyses, but it has recently been developed for exploitation using an array of molecular and genomic tools. The application of these tools to the analyses of nutrient limitation responses (and other biological processes) is revealing mechanisms that enable Chlamydomonas to survive harsh environmental conditions and establishing relationships between the responses of this morphologically simple, photosynthetic eukaryote and those of both nonphotosynthetic organisms and vascular plants.

Transcriptional regulation of the Nia1 gene encoding nitrate reductase in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: effects of various environmental factors on the expression of a reporter gene under the control of the Nia1 promoter

The NAD(P)H nitrate reductase (NR) from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is encoded by the structural gene Nia1. Numerous data from the literature indicate that this enzyme is submitted to complex regulation mechanisms involving multiple controls at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. To specifically investigate the regulation of the Nia1 gene at the transcriptional level, NR+ and NR- transformed cells harbouring the Nia1:Ars construct (Nia1 promoter fused to the arylsulfatase (ARS)-encoding Ars reporter gene) were cultivated under various experimental conditions and the ARS activities were recorded. ARS levels were very low in cells grown in the presence of NH4Cl and dramatically increased on agar medium deprived of any nitrogen source or containing nitrate, nitrite, urea, arginine or glutamine. Compared to nitrogen-free medium, a slight positive effect of nitrate in the NR+ strain and a significant negative effect of nitrite in both NR+ and NR- strains were observed. The ARS activities were high in the light and very low in the dark or in the light in the presence of DCMU, indicating that Nia1 transcription is strikingly dependent on photosynthetic activity. Acetate used as a carbon source in the dark did not substitute for light in stimulating Nia1:Ars expression. Inactivation of NR by tungstate treatment of the NR+ strain resulted in a dramatic increase of ARS level suggesting that in Chlamydomonas, like in higher plants, active NR negatively regulates the transcription of the NR structural gene. Deleting the major part of the Nia1 leader sequence still present in the chimeric gene resulted in a decrease of ARS level but did not modify the regulation pattern.

Nitrate Reductase Regulates Expression of Nitrite Uptake and Nitrite Reductase Activities in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mutants defective at the structural locus for nitrate reductase (nit-1) or at loci for biosynthesis of the molybdopterin cofactor (nit-3, nit-4, or nit-5 and nit-6), both nitrite uptake and nitrite reductase activities were repressed in ammonium-grown cells and expressed at high amounts in nitrogen-free media or in media containing nitrate or nitrite. In contrast, wild-type cells required nitrate induction for expression of high levels of both activities. In mutants defective at the regulatory locus for nitrate reductase (nit-2), very low levels of nitrite uptake and nitrite reductase activities were expressed even in the presence of nitrate or nitrite. Both restoration of nitrate reductase activity in mutants defective at nit-1, nit-3, and nit-4 by isolating diploid strains among them and transformation of a structural mutant upon integration of the wild-type nit-1 gene gave rise to the wild-type expression pattern for nitrite uptake and nitrite reductase activities. Conversely, inactivation of nitrate reductase by tungstate treatment in nitrate, nitrite, or nitrogen-free media made wild-type cells respond like nitrate reductase-deficient mutants with respect to the expression of nitrite uptake and nitrite reductase activities. Our results indicate that nit-2 is a regulatory locus for both the nitrite uptake system and nitrite reductase, and that the nitrate reductase enzyme plays an important role in the regulation of the expression of both enzyme activities.

Regulation of nitrite uptake and nitrite reductase expression in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Expression of nitrite uptake and nitrite reductase activities has been studied in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under different nutritional conditions. Both activities were expressed at a low level in derepressed cells (with no nitrogen source) and at a high level in induced cells (with nitrate or nitrite). Nitrate was required for both activities to be maximally expressed. Ammonium-grown cells did not show nitrite uptake capability and had a basal nitrite reductase activity. Nitrite uptake but not nitrite reductase levels decreased very significantly in nitrate-induced cells subject to cycloheximide treatment, which suggests that protein(s) involved in the uptake are under a rapid turnover. Nitrite uptake expression was strongly inhibited by the presence of the glutamine synthetase inhibitor L-methionine-D,L-sulfoximine under either derepression or induction conditions, whereas that of nitrite reductase was not affected under the same conditions. Our results indicate that nitrite uptake expression is regulated primarily by ammonium, and that of nitrite reductase by both ammonium and ammonium derivative(s).

Stable nuclear transformation of Chlamydomonas using the Chlamydomonas gene for nitrate reductase

We have developed a nuclear transformation system for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, using micro-projectile bombardment to introduce the gene encoding nitrate reductase into a nit1 mutant strain which lacks nitrate reductase activity. By using either supercoiled or linear plasmid DNA, transformants were recovered consistently at a low efficiency, on the order of 15 transformants per microgram of plasmid DNA. In all cases the transforming DNA was integrated into the nuclear genome, usually in multiple copies. Most of the introduced copies were genetically linked to each other, and they were unlinked to the original nit1 locus. The transforming DNA and nit+ phenotype were stable through mitosis and meiosis, even in the absence of selection. nit1 transcripts of various sizes were expressed at levels equal to or greater than those in wild-type nit+ strains. In most transformants, nitrate reductase enzyme activity was expressed at approximately wild-type levels. In all transformants, nit1 mRNA and nitrate reductase enzyme activity were repressed in cells grown on ammonium medium, showing that expression of the integrated nit1 genes was regulated normally. When a second plasmid with a nonselectable gene was bombarded into the cells along with the nit1 gene, transformants carrying DNA from both plasmids were recovered. In some cases, expression of the unselected gene could be detected. With the advent of nuclear transformation in Chlamydomonas, it becomes the first photosynthetic organism in which both the nuclear and chloroplast compartments can be transformed.

Regulation by ammonium of nitrate and nitrite assimilation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

The inhibitor of mRNA synthesis, 6-methylpurine, inhibited nitrate reductase derepression in either ammonium-grown or methylammonium-treated wild-type cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, but not in nitrogen-starved cells. In contrast, 6-methylpurine did not inhibit nitrate reductase synthesis in the methylammonium-resistant mutant 2170 (ma-1) either grown on ammonium, treated with methylammonium or nitrogen starved, but did inhibit the continuous synthesis of nitrate reductase, which required the presence of nitrate in the media. In both wild-type and mutant 2170 grown on ammonium and transferred to nitrate media, cycloheximide immediately prevented nitrate reductase derepression when added either at the beginning or at different times of induction treatment. Unlike wild-type cells, mutant 2170 was able to take up either nitrate or nitrite simultaneously with ammonium in whose presence nitrate and nitrite reductases were synthesized. However, synthesis of nitrate reductase was progressively inhibited in the mutant cells when the intracellular ammonium levels were raised as a result of an increase in either the external pH or the extracellular ammonium concentrations. The results rule out the existence of maturase-like proteins in Chlamydomonas and indicate that ammonium has a double effect on the regulation of nitrate reductase synthesis: (a) it prevents nitrate reductase mRNA production; and (b) it controls negatively the expression of this mRNA.