Arginine Increases Tolerance to Nitrogen Deficiency in Malus hupehensis via Alterations in Photosynthetic Capacity and Amino Acids Metabolism

Abstract

Arginine plays an important role in the nitrogen (N) cycle because it has the highest ratio of N to carbon among amino acids. In recent years, there has been increased research interest in improving the N use of plants, reducing the use of N fertilizer, and enhancing the tolerance of plants to N deficiency. Here, the function of arginine in the growth of apple (Malus hupehensis) under N deficiency was explored. The application of 100 μmol L–1 arginine was effective for alleviating N-deficiency stress. Exogenous arginine promoted the absorption and use of N, phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) under low N stress. The net photosynthetic rate, maximal photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, and chlorophyll content were higher in treated plants than in control plants. Exogenous arginine affected the content of many metabolites, and the content of many amino acids with important functions was significantly increased, such as glutamate and ornithine, which play an important role in the urea cycle. Half of the metabolites were annotated to specialized metabolic pathways, including the synthesis of phenolic substances, flavonoids, and other substances with antioxidant activity. Our results indicate that arginine promotes the plant photosynthetic capacity and alters amino acid metabolism and some antioxidants including phenolic substances and flavonoids to improve the tolerance of apple to N deficiency, possibly through the improvement of arginine content, and the absorption of mineral.

Integrated analyses of transcriptome and metabolome provides new insights into the primary and secondary metabolism in response to nitrogen deficiency and soil compaction stress in peanut roots

“…Amino acids are the units of protein synthesis and the precursors of N metabolism in cells. Amino acid metabolism is closely linked with abiotic stress responses of plants in many species (Verslues and Juenger, 2011;Lei et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2021).…”

“…Amino acids are the units of protein synthesis and the precursors of N metabolism in cells. Amino acid metabolism is closely linked with abiotic stress responses of plants in many species (Verslues and Juenger, 2011 ; Lei et al, 2015 ; Chen et al, 2021 ). In the present study, we found that a significant proportion of N deficiency- and soil-compaction-responsive metabolites were assigned to the amino acid metabolism pathway.…”

Nitrogen and Biochar Addition Affected Plant Traits and Nitrous Oxide Emission From Cinnamomum camphora

“…The aboveground mass (leaf mass+stem mass), underground mass (root mass), total mass (underground mass+aboveground mass) and root-shoot ratio (R: S = underground mass: aboveground mass) could be obtained by calculation ( Zhang et al, 2013 ; Deng et al, 2019 ). After the above data were recorded, the roots, stems and leaves of seedlings were crushed to pass through 0.149 mm sieve for determination of N, P, and K. The total phosphorus content was determined by molybdenum blue colorimetry, the total nitrogen content was determined by indophenol blue colorimetry after removing part of the digestion liquid and adjusting to neutral pH, and the total potassium in the digestion liquid was determined by flame photometry ( Chen et al, 2022 ).…”

Effect of choline amino acid ionic liquids on maize seed germination and endogenous plant hormone levels

“…The contents of amino acids and endogenous hormones in maize shoot tips were analyzed using liquid chromatographymass spectrometry following previously described methods. [25][26][27][28] Briey, fresh tissues of maize shoot-tips (2 cm) were ground to a ne powder in liquid nitrogen. To extract amino acids, 0.5 g of the ne powder was subjected to extraction at 4 °C for 15 h with 1 mL 50% ethanol (containing 0.1 mol L −1 HCl).…”