Ammonium Accumulation Caused by Reduced Tonoplast V-ATPase Activity in Arabidopsis thaliana
Southern Regional Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain and Oil Crops in China, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
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Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22010002
Received: 31 October 2020
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Revised: 9 December 2020
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Accepted: 10 December 2020
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Published: 22 December 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Molecular Plant Sciences)
Plant vacuoles are unique compartments that play a critical role in plant growth and development. The vacuolar H+-ATPase (V-ATPase), together with the vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase (V-PPase), generates the proton motive force that regulates multiple cell functions and impacts all aspects of plant life. We investigated the effect of V-ATPase activity in the vacuole on plant growth and development. We used an Arabidopsisthaliana (L.) Heynh. double mutant, vha-a2 vha-a3, which lacks two tonoplast-localized isoforms of the membrane-integral V-ATPase subunit VHA-a. The mutant is viable but exhibits impaired growth and leaf chlorosis. Nitrate assimilation led to excessive ammonium accumulation in the shoot and lower nitrogen uptake, which exacerbated growth retardation of vha-a2 vha-a3. Ion homeostasis was disturbed in plants with missing VHA-a2 and VHA-a3 genes, which might be related to limited growth. The reduced growth and excessive ammonium accumulation of the double mutant was alleviated by potassium supplementation. Our results demonstrate that plants lacking the two tonoplast-localized subunits of V-ATPase can be viable, although with defective growth caused by multiple factors, which can be alleviated by adding potassium. This study provided a new insight into the relationship between V-ATPase, growth, and ammonium accumulation, and revealed the role of potassium in mitigating ammonium toxicity.
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Keywords:
proton pump; vacuole; nitrate; ammonium; ion homeostasis; potassium
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MDPI and ACS Style
Liang, G.; Song, H.; Xiao, Y.; Zhang, Z. Ammonium Accumulation Caused by Reduced Tonoplast V-ATPase Activity in Arabidopsis thaliana. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22, 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22010002
AMA Style
Liang G, Song H, Xiao Y, Zhang Z. Ammonium Accumulation Caused by Reduced Tonoplast V-ATPase Activity in Arabidopsis thaliana. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2021; 22(1):2. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22010002
Chicago/Turabian StyleLiang, Guihong, Haixing Song, Yan Xiao, and Zhenhua Zhang. 2021. "Ammonium Accumulation Caused by Reduced Tonoplast V-ATPase Activity in Arabidopsis thaliana" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22, no. 1: 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22010002
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