PMID:21914816

Citation	Melo, PM, Silva, LS, Ribeiro, I, Seabra, AR and Carvalho, HG (2011) Glutamine synthetase is a molecular target of nitric oxide in root nodules of Medicago truncatula and is regulated by tyrosine nitration. Plant Physiol. 157:1505-17
Abstract	Nitric oxide (NO) is emerging as an important regulatory player in the Rhizobium-legume symbiosis, but its biological role in nodule functioning is still far from being understood. To unravel the signal transduction cascade and ultimately NO function, it is necessary to identify its molecular targets. This study provides evidence that glutamine synthetase (GS), a key enzyme for root nodule metabolism, is a molecular target of NO in root nodules of Medicago truncatula, being regulated by tyrosine (Tyr) nitration in relation to active nitrogen fixation. In vitro studies, using purified recombinant enzymes produced in Escherichia coli, demonstrated that the M. truncatula nodule GS isoenzyme (MtGS1a) is subjected to NO-mediated inactivation through Tyr nitration and identified Tyr-167 as the regulatory nitration site crucial for enzyme inactivation. Using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, it is shown that GS is nitrated in planta and that its nitration status changes in relation to active nitrogen fixation. In ineffective nodules and in nodules fed with nitrate, two conditions in which nitrogen fixation is impaired and GS activity is reduced, a significant increase in nodule GS nitration levels was observed. Furthermore, treatment of root nodules with the NO donor sodium nitroprusside resulted in increased in vivo GS nitration accompanied by a reduction in GS activity. Our results support a role of NO in the regulation of nitrogen metabolism in root nodules and places GS as an important player in the process. We propose that the NO-mediated GS posttranslational inactivation is related to metabolite channeling to boost the nodule antioxidant defenses in response to NO.
Links	PubMed PMC3252174 Online version:10.1104/pp.111.186056
Keywords	Amino Acid Sequence; Catechin/pharmacology; Enzyme Activation/drug effects; Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase/chemistry; Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase/metabolism; Iodoacetamide/pharmacology; Medicago truncatula/drug effects; Medicago truncatula/enzymology; Models, Biological; Molecular Sequence Data; Nitrates/pharmacology; Nitric Oxide/metabolism; Nitroprusside/pharmacology; Nitrosation/drug effects; Root Nodules, Plant/drug effects; Root Nodules, Plant/enzymology; S-Nitrosoglutathione/pharmacology; Sequence Alignment; Tetranitromethane/pharmacology; Tyrosine/metabolism
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Annotations

Gene product	Qualifier	GO Term	Evidence Code	with/from	Aspect	Extension	Notes	Status
MEDTR:O04998	enables	GO:0004356: glutamate-ammonia ligase activity	ECO:0000314: direct assay evidence used in manual assertion		F		Seeded From UniProt	complete
MEDTR:O04998		GO:0004356: glutamate-ammonia ligase activity	ECO:0000314:		F		Figure 1 - An assay exhibiting the effects of PN (Figure 1.A) and TNM at pH 8 (Figure 1.B) on glutamine synthetase activity	complete CACAO 8535

References

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