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SYSTEMS BIOLOGY, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, AND GENE REGULATION

Nitrite Acts as a Transcriptome Signal at Micromolar Concentrations in Arabidopsis Roots^1,[W],[OA]

Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, La Jolla, California 92093–0116

Nitrate serves as a potent signal to control gene expression in plants and algae, but little is known about the signaling role of nitrite, the direct product of nitrate reduction. Analysis of several nitrate-induced genes showed that nitrite increases mRNA levels as rapidly as nitrate in nitrogen-starved Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) roots. Both nitrite and nitrate induction are apparent at concentrations as low as 100 nM. The response at low nitrite concentrations was not due to contaminating nitrate, which was present at <1% of the nitrite concentration. High levels of ammonium (20 mM) in the growth medium suppressed induction of several genes by nitrate, but had varied effects on the nitrite response. Transcriptome analysis using 250 or 5 µM nitrate or nitrite showed that over one-half of the nitrate-induced genes, which included genes involved in nitrate and ammonium assimilation, energy production, and carbon and nitrogen metabolism responded equivalently to nitrite; however, the nitrite response was more robust and there were many genes that responded specifically to nitrite. Thus, nitrite can serve as a signal as well as if not better than nitrate.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Nigel Crawford (ncrawford{at}ucsd.edu).

^[W] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.

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www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.107.108944

^* Corresponding author; e-mail ncrawford{at}ucsd.edu.

Received September 10, 2007; accepted October 12, 2007; published October 19, 2007.

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