Abstract
Interaction between carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) metabolisms in plants is important to ensure efficient assimilation of these two major nutrients and thus to allow maximum growth and yield. Both pathways are well studied, but the regulatory elements and the processes are still mostly unknown. Quantitative genetics explore the natural variation of traits and offer an alternative approach to discover new genes and to unravel new interactions that would not have been detected by classical functional genomics. C and N metabolisms have been the target for quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis especially in crop plants due to their close impact on yield, for example in potato or cereals, respectively. C/N interactions have not been studied extensively using these approaches, nevertheless, several interesting co-localisations have been evidenced. Several candidate genes have been located near loci involved in C and N dependent traits, but most of these loci need further characterisation. Arabidopsis thaliana was only recently used as a model species, but might now accelerate the progress by facilitating QTL cloning.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Abbreviations
- AA:
-
amino acid content
- NP:
-
nitrogen content
- NO:
-
nitrate content
- DM:
-
biomass
- ST:
-
starch content
- FR:
-
fructose content
References
HAS Agrama AG Zacharia M Said M Truistra (1999) ArticleTitleIdentification of quantitative trait loci for nitrogen use efficiency in maize Mol breed 5 187–195 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1009669507144
C Alonso-Blanco M Koornneef (2000) ArticleTitleNaturally occurring variation in Arabidopsis: an underexploited resource for plant genetics Trends Plant Sci: 5 22–29 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S1360-1385(99)01510-1
InstitutionalAuthorNameGenome Initiative Arabidopsis (2000) ArticleTitleAnalysis of the genome sequence of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana Nature 408 796–815
P Bertin A Gallais (2000a) ArticleTitlePhysiological and genetic basis of nitrogen use efficiency in maize: I Agrophysiological results Maydica 45 53–66
P Bertin A Gallais (2000b) ArticleTitlePhysiological and genetic basis of nitrogen use efficiency in maize: II QTL detection and coincidences Maydica 46 53–68
Bloom AJ (1997) Nitrogen as a limiting factor: crop acquisition of ammonium and nitrate. In: Ecology in Agriculture, pp 145–172
JO Borevitz J Chory (2004) ArticleTitleGenomics tools for QTL analysis and gene discovery Curr Op in Plant Biol 7 132–136 Occurrence Handle10.1016/j.pbi.2004.01.011
M Causse JP Rocher AM Henry A Charcosset JL Prioul D Vienne Particlede (1995) ArticleTitleGenetic dissection of the relationship between carbon metabolism and early growth in maize, with emphasis on key enzyme loci Mol Breed 1 259–272
M Causse V Saliba-Colombani L Lecomte P Duffe P Rousselle M Buret (2002) ArticleTitleQTL analysis of fruit quality in fresh market tomato: a few chromosome regions control the variation of sensory and instrumental traits J Exp Bot 53 2089–2098 Occurrence Handle12324532
X Chen F Salamini C Gebhardt (2001) ArticleTitleA potato molecular-function map for carbohydrate metabolism and transport Theor Appl Genet 102 284–295 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s001220051645
E Coe K Cone M McMullen SS Chen G Davis J Gardiner E Liscum M Polacco A Paterson H Sanchez-Villeda C Soderlund R Wing (2002) ArticleTitleAccess to the maize genome: an integrated physical and genetic map Plant Physiol 128 9–12 Occurrence Handle10.1104/pp.128.1.9 Occurrence Handle11788746
B Cong J Liu SD Tanksley (2002) ArticleTitleNatural alleles at a tomato fruit size quantitative trait locus differ by heterochronic regulatory mutations Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99 13606–13611 Occurrence Handle10.1073/pnas.172520999 Occurrence Handle12370431
G Coruzzi DR Bush (2001) ArticleTitleNitrogen and carbon nutrient and metabolite signaling in plants Plant Physiol 125 61–64 Occurrence Handle10.1104/pp.125.1.61 Occurrence Handle11154297
GM Coruzzi L Zhou (2001) ArticleTitleCarbon and nitrogen sensing and signaling in plants: emerging ‘matrix effects’ Curr Opin Plant Biol 4 247–253 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S1369-5266(00)00168-0 Occurrence Handle11312136
M Cren B Hirel (1999) ArticleTitleGlutamine synthetase in higher plants: regulation of gene and protein expression from the organ to the cell Plant Cell Physiol 40 1187–1193
Y Eshed D Zamir (1995) ArticleTitleAn introgression line population of Lycopersicon pennellii in the cultivated tomato enables the identification and fine mapping of yield-associated QTL Genetics 141 1147–1162 Occurrence Handle8582620
C Etienne C Rothan A Moing C Plomion C Bodenes L Svanella-Dumas P Cosson V Pronier R Monet E Dirlewanger (2002) ArticleTitleCandidate genes and QTLs for sugar and organic acid content in peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] Theor Appl Genet 105 145–159 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s00122-001-0841-9 Occurrence Handle12582572
CB Field HA Mooney (1986) The photosynthesis-nitrogen relationship in wild plants TJ Givnish (Eds) The Economy of Plant Form and Function Cambridge University Press Cambridge 25–55
CH Foyer M Parry G Noctor (2003) ArticleTitleMarkers and signals associated with nitrogen assimilation in higher plants J Exp Bot 54 585–593 Occurrence Handle10.1093/jxb/erg053 Occurrence Handle12508069
A Frary TC Nesbitt S Grandillo E Knaap B Cong J Liu J Meller R Elber KB Alpert SD Tanksley (2000) ArticleTitlefw2.2: a quantitative trait locus key to the evolution of tomato fruit size Science 289 85–88 Occurrence Handle10884229
E Fridman T Pleban D Zamir (2000) ArticleTitleA recombination hotspot delimits a wild-species quantitative trait locus for tomato sugar content to 484 bp within an invertase gene Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97 4718–4723 Occurrence Handle10.1073/pnas.97.9.4718 Occurrence Handle10781077
E Fridman YS Liu L Carmel-Goren A Gur M Shoresh T Pleban Y Eshed D Zamir (2002) ArticleTitleTwo tightly linked QTLs modify tomato sugar content via different physiological pathways Mol Genet Genom 266 821–826 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s00438-001-0599-4 Occurrence Handle11810256
TM Fulton P Bucheli E Voirol J Lopez V Pétiard SD Tanksley (2002) ArticleTitleQuantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting sugars, organic acids and other biochemical properties possibly contributing to flavor, identified in four advanced backcross populations of tomato Euphytica 163 163–177 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1020209930031
A Gallais B Hirel (2004) ArticleTitleAn approach to the genetics of nitrogen use efficiency in maize J Exp Bot 55 295–306 Occurrence Handle10.1093/jxb/erh006 Occurrence Handle14739258
SA Goff D Ricke TH Lan G Presting R Wang M Dunn J Glazebrook A Sessions P Oeller H Varma D Hadley D Hutchison C Martin F Katagiri BM Lange T Moughamer Y Xia P Budworth J Zhong T Miguel U Paszkowski S Zhang M Colbert WL Sun L Chen B Cooper S Park TC Wood L Mao P Quail R Wing R Dean Y Yu A Zharkikh R Shen S Sahasrabudhe A Thomas R Cannings A Gutin D Pruss J Reid S Tavtigian J Mitchell G Eldredge T Scholl RM Miller S Bhatnagar N Adey T Rubano N Tusneem R Robinson J Feldhaus T Macalma A Oliphant S Briggs (2002) ArticleTitleA draft sequence of the rice genome (Oryza sativa L ssp. japonica). Science 296 92–100 Occurrence Handle10.1126/science.1068275 Occurrence Handle11935018
J Harrison B Hirel AM Limami (2004) ArticleTitleVariation in nitrate uptake and assimilation between two ecotypes of Lotus japonicus and their recombinant inbred lines Physiol Planta 120 124–131 Occurrence Handle10.1111/j.0031-9317.2004.0221.x
SP Hasen RM Hawley GL Davis B Henrissat JD Walton (2003) ArticleTitleQuantitative trait loci and comparative genomics of cereal cell wall composition Plant Phys 132 263–271 Occurrence Handle10.1104/pp.103.020016
G Hehl K Mengel (1972) ArticleTitleDer Einfluss einer variierten Kalium- und Stickstoffduengung auf den Kohlenhydratgehalt verschiedener Futterpflanzen Landwirtsch Forsch Sonderh 27 117–129
B Hirel PJ Lea (2001) Ammonia assimilation P Lea JF Morot-Gaudry (Eds) Plant Nitrogen Springer-Verlag Berlin 79–99
B Hirel P Bertin I Quillere W Bourdoncle C Attagnant C Dellay A Gouy S Cadiou C Retailliau M Falque A Gallais (2001) ArticleTitleTowards a better understanding of the genetic and physiological basis for nitrogen use efficiency in maize Plant Physiol 125 1258–1270 Occurrence Handle10.1104/pp.125.3.1258 Occurrence Handle11244107
HC Huppe TJ Farr DH Turpin (1994) ArticleTitleCoordination of chloroplastic metabolism in N-limited Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by redox modulation 2. Redox modulation activates the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway during photosynthetic nitrate assimilation. Plant Physiol 105 1043–1048 Occurrence Handle12232264
T Ingestad (1977) ArticleTitleNitrogen and plant growth maximum efficiency of nitrogen fertilizers Ambio 6 146–151
J Ingram D Bartels (1996) ArticleTitleThe molecular basis of dehydration tolerance in plants Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 47 377–403 Occurrence Handle10.1146/annurev.arplant.47.1.377 Occurrence Handle15012294
K Ishimaru (2003) ArticleTitleIdentification of a locus increasing rice yield and physiological analysis of its function Plant Physiol 133 1083–1090 Occurrence Handle10.1104/pp.103.027607 Occurrence Handle14576284
RC Jansen P Stam (1994) ArticleTitleHigh resolution of quantitative traits into multiple loci via interval mapping Genetics 136 1447–1455 Occurrence Handle8013917
U Johanson J West C Lister S Michaels R Amasino C Dean (2000) ArticleTitleMolecular analysis of FRIGIDA, a major determinant of natural variation in Arabidopsis flowering time Science 290 344–347 Occurrence Handle11030654
AS Kondrashov M Turelli (1992) ArticleTitleDeleterious mutations, apparent stabilizing selection and the maintenance of quantitative variation Genetics 117 603–618
M Koornneef C Alonso-Blanco AJM Peeters W Soppe (1998) ArticleTitleGenetic control of flowering time in Arabidopsis Annu Rev Plant Physiol 49 345–370 Occurrence Handle10.1146/annurev.arplant.49.1.345
M Koornneef C Alonso-Blanco D Vreugdenhil (2004) ArticleTitleNaturally occurring genetic variation in Arbidopsis thaliana Annu Rev Plant Biol 55 141–172 Occurrence Handle10.1146/annurev.arplant.55.031903.141605 Occurrence Handle15377217
HM Lam J Chiu MH Hsieh L Meisel I Oliveira M Shin G Coruzzi (1998) ArticleTitleGlutamate-receptor genes in plants Nature 396 125–126 Occurrence Handle10.1038/24066 Occurrence Handle9823891
DW Lawlor (2002) ArticleTitleCarbon and nitrogen assimilation in relation to yield: mechanisms are the key to understanding production systems J Exp Bot 53 773–787 Occurrence Handle10.1093/jexbot/53.370.773
DW Lawlor M Konturri AT Young (1989) ArticleTitlePhotosynthesis by flag leaves of wheat in relation to protein, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase activity and nitrogen supply J Exp Bot 40 43–52
L Lecomte V Saliba-Colombani A Gautier MC Gomez-Jimenez P Duffé M Buret M Causse (2004) ArticleTitleFine mapping of QTLs of chromosome 2 affecting the fruit architecture and composition of tomato Mol Breed 13 1–14 Occurrence Handle10.1023/B:MOLB.0000012325.77844.0c
AM Limami C Rouillon G Glevarec A Gallais B Hirel (2002) ArticleTitleGenetic and physiological analysis of germination efficiency in maize in relation to nitrogen metabolism reveals the importance of cytosolic glutamine synthetase Plant Physiol 130 1860–1870 Occurrence Handle10.1104/pp.009647 Occurrence Handle12481069
O Loudet S Chaillou C Camilleri D Bouchez F Daniel-Vedele (2002) ArticleTitleBay-0 × Shahdara recombinant inbred line population: a powerful tool for the genetic dissection of complex traits in Arabidopsis Theor Appl Genet 104 1173–1184 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s00122-001-0825-9 Occurrence Handle12582628
O Loudet S Chaillou P Merigout J Talbotec F Daniel-Vedele (2003) ArticleTitleQuantitative trait loci analysis of nitrogen use efficiency in Arabidopsis Plant Physiol 131 345–358 Occurrence Handle10.1104/pp.102.010785 Occurrence Handle12529542
TF Mackay (2001) ArticleTitleThe genetic architecture of quantitative traits Annu Rev Genet 35 303–339 Occurrence Handle10.1146/annurev.genet.35.102401.090633 Occurrence Handle11700286
T Mae K Ohira (1981) ArticleTitleThe remobilization of nitrogen related to leaf growth and senescence in rice plants (Oryza sativa L.) Plant Cell Physiol 22 1067–1074
JN Maloof (2003) ArticleTitleQTL for plant growth and morphology Curr Opin Plant Biol 6 85–90 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S1369526602000080 Occurrence Handle12495756
JN Maloof JO Borevitz T Dabi J Lutes RB Nehring JL Redfern GT Trainer JM Wilson T Asami CC Berry D Weigel J Chory (2001) ArticleTitleNatural variation in light sensitivity of Arabidopsis Nat Genet 29 441–446 Occurrence Handle10.1038/ng777 Occurrence Handle11726931
M Marschner (1995) Mineral Nutrition in Higher Plants Academic Press London
T Martin O Oswald IA Graham (2002) ArticleTitleArabidopsis seedling growth, storage lipid mobilization, and photosynthetic gene expression are regulated by carbon: nitrogen availability Plant Physiol 128 472–481 Occurrence Handle10.1104/pp.128.2.472 Occurrence Handle11842151
P Matt A Krapp V Haake HP Mock M Stitt (2002) ArticleTitleDecreased Rubisco activity leads to dramatic changes of nitrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism and the levels of phenylpropanoids and nicotine in tobacco antisense RBCS transformants Plant J 30 663–677 Occurrence Handle10.1046/j.1365-313X.2002.01323.x Occurrence Handle12061898
SD Michaels RM Amasino (1999) ArticleTitleFLOWERING LOCUS C encodes a novel MADS domain protein that acts as a repressor of flowering Plant Cell 11 949–956 Occurrence Handle10330478
T Mitchell-Olds D Pedersen (1998) ArticleTitleThe molecular basis of quantitative genetic variation in central and secondary metabolism in Arabidopsis Genetics 149 739–747 Occurrence Handle9611188
HE Neuhaus M Stitt (1990) ArticleTitleControl analysis of photosynthate partitioning: impact of reduced activity of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase or plastid phosphoglucomutase on the fluxes of starch and sucrose in Arabidopsis thaliana (L) Heynh Planta 182 445–454
M Obara M Kajiura Y Fukuta M Yano M Hayashi T Yamaya T Sato (2001) ArticleTitleMapping of QTLs associated with cytosolic glutamine synthetase and NADH-glutamate synthase in rice (Oryza sativa L.) J Exp Bot 52 1209–1217 Occurrence Handle10.1093/jexbot/52.359.1209 Occurrence Handle11432939
M Orsel S Filleur V Fraisier F Daniel-Vedele (2002) ArticleTitleNitrate transport: which gene and which control J Exp Bot 53 825–833 Occurrence Handle10.1093/jexbot/53.370.825 Occurrence Handle11912225
MK Osterberg O Shavorskaya M Lascoux U Lagercrantz (2002) ArticleTitleNaturally occurring indel variation in Brassica nigra COL1 gene is associated with variation in flowering time Genetics 161 299–306 Occurrence Handle12019243
J Price A Laxmi SK Martin St J-C Jang (2004) ArticleTitleGlobal transcription profiling reveals multiple sugar signal transduction mechanisms in Arabidopsis Plant Cell 16 2128–2150 Occurrence Handle10.1105/tpc.104.022616 Occurrence Handle15273295
JL Prioul S Pelleschi M Sène C Thévenot M Causse D Vienne Particlede A Leonardi (1999) ArticleTitleFrom QTLs for enzyme activity to candidate genes in maize J Exp Bot 50 1281–1288 Occurrence Handle10.1093/jexbot/50.337.1281
L Rauh C Basten St Buckler (2002) ArticleTitleQuantitative trait loci analysis of growth response to varying nitrogen sources in Arabidopsis thaliana Theor Appl Genet 104 743–750 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s00122-001-0815-y Occurrence Handle12582633
F Rolland B Moore J Sheen (2002) ArticleTitleSugar sensing and signaling in plants Plant Cell 14 S185–S205 Occurrence Handle12045277
H Sakakibara S Kawabata H Takahashi T Hase T Sugiyama (1992) ArticleTitleMolecular cloning of the family of glutamine synthetase genes from maize: expression of genes for glutamine synthetase and ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthase in photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic tissues Plant Cell Physiol 33 49–58
R Schäfer-Pregl E Ritter L Concilio J Hesselbach L Lovatti B Walkemier H Thelen F Salamini C Gebhardt (1998) ArticleTitleAnalysis of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and quantitative trait alleles (QTAs) for potato tuber yield and starch content Theor Appl Genet 97 834–846 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s001220050963
WR Scheible M Lauerer ED Schulze M Caboche M Stitt (1997a) ArticleTitleAccumulation of nitrate in the shoot acts as a signal to regulate shoot-root allocation in tobacco Plant J 11 671–691 Occurrence Handle10.1046/j.1365-313X.1997.11040671.x
WR Scheible A Gonzalez-Fontes M Lauerer B Muller-Rober M Caboche M Stitt (1997b) ArticleTitleNitrate acts as a signal to induce organic acid metabolism and repress starch metabolism in tobacco Plant Cell 9 783–798 Occurrence Handle10.1105/tpc.9.5.783
K Schneider R Schäfer-Pregl DC Borchardt F Salamini (2002) ArticleTitleMapping QTLs for sucrose content, yield and quality in a sugar beet population fingerprinted by EST-related markers Theor Appl Genet 104 1107–1113 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s00122-002-0890-8 Occurrence Handle12582619
LI Sergeeva D Vreugdenhil (2002) ArticleTitleIn situ staining of activities of enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism in plant tissues J Exp Bot 53 361–370 Occurrence Handle10.1093/jexbot/53.367.361 Occurrence Handle11807140
LI Sergeeva J Vonk JJ Keurentjes LH Plas Particlevander M Koornneef D Vreugdenhil (2004) ArticleTitleHistochemical analysis reveals organ-specific quantitative trait loci for enzyme activities in Arabidopsis Plant Physiol 134 237–245 Occurrence Handle10.1104/pp.103.027615 Occurrence Handle14671010
M Stitt V Hurry (2002) ArticleTitleA plant for all seasons: alterations in photosynthetic carbon metabolism during cold acclimation in Arabidopsis Curr. Opin Plant Biol 5 199–206 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S1369-5266(02)00258-3 Occurrence Handle11960736
M Stitt A Krapp (1999) ArticleTitleThe interaction between elevated carbon dioxide and nitrogen nutrition: the physiological and molecular background Plant Cell Environ 22 583–621 Occurrence Handle10.1046/j.1365-3040.1999.00386.x
LI Tecsi AM Smith AJ Maule RC Leegood (1996) ArticleTitleA spatial analysis of physiological changes associated with infection of cotyledons of marrow plants with cucumber mosaic virus Plant Physiol 111 975–985 Occurrence Handle12226342
S Yanagisawa A Akiyama H Kisaka H Uchimiya T Miwa (2004) ArticleTitleMetabolic engineering with Dof1 transcription factor in plants: improved nitrogen assimilation and growth under low-nitrogen conditions PNAS 101 7833–7838 Occurrence Handle10.1073/pnas.0402267101 Occurrence Handle15136740
S Yelle RT Chetelat M Dorais JW DeVerna AB Bennett (1991) ArticleTitleSink metabolism in tomato fruit IV. Genetic and biochemical analysis of sucrose accumulation. Plant Physiol 95 1026–1035
J Yu S Hu J Wang GK Wong S Li B Liu Y Deng L Dai Y Zhou X Zhang M Cao J Liu J Sun J Tang Y Chen X Huang W Lin C Ye W Tong L Cong J Geng Y Han L Li W Li G Hu J Li Z Liu Q Qi T Li X Wang H Lu T Wu M Zhu P Ni H Han W Dong X Ren X Feng P Cui X Li H Wang X Xu W Zhai Z Xu J Zhang S He J Xu K Zhang X Zheng J Dong W Zeng L Tao J Ye J Tan X Chen J He D Liu W Tian C Tian H Xia Q Bao G Li H Gao T Cao W Zhao P Li W Chen Y Zhang J Hu S Liu J Yang G Zhang Y Xiong Z Li L Mao C Zhou Z Zhu R Chen B Hao W Zheng S Chen W Guo M Tao L Zhu L Yuan H Yang (2002) ArticleTitleA draft sequence of the rice genome (Oryza sativa L ssp. indica). Science 296 79–92 Occurrence Handle11935017
ZB Zeng (1994) ArticleTitlePrecision mapping of quantitative trait loci Genetics 136 1457–1468 Occurrence Handle8013918
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Krapp, A., Saliba-Colombani, V. & Daniel-Vedele, F. Analysis of C and N metabolisms and of C/N interactions using quantitative genetics. Photosynth Res 83, 251–263 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-004-3196-7
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-004-3196-7