SHORT-TERM EFFECTS OF NITRATE, NITRITE AND AMMONIUM ASSIMILATION ON PHOTOSYNTHESIS, CARBON PARTITIONING AND PROTEIN-PHOSPHORYLATION IN MAIZE

Maize (Zea mays L. cv. Contessa) was grown with a nitrogen supply that was just sufficient to support maximal biomass production. The third leaves from 14-to 21-d-old plants were harvested and net photosynthesi s allowed to attain steady-state rates at an irradiance of either 250 or 700 mumol.m-2-S-1 . Nitrogen in the form of either KNO3, KNO2 or NH 4Cl was then supplied to the leaves through the transpiration stream. In all cases the addition of the nitrogen source resulted in an approx imate doubling of the total amino-acid content of the leaves within 1 h. The glutamine pool increased to ten times the level found in contro l leaves in the light in the absence of added nitrogen. Glutamine acco unted for about 21-24% of the total amino-acid content in leaves fed w ith 40 mM NH4Cl. Nitrate caused a rapid, but transient inhibition of t he rate of net CO2 assimilation, accompanied by an increase in the act ivity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and a decrease in the maximum extractable activity of sucrose-phosphate synthase. This demonstrates that the activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and sucrose-ph osphate synthase are modulated by NO3- in the C4 plant maize, in a sim ilar manner to that observed in C3 plants. Nitrite or ammonium feeding resulted in decreased rates of CO2 assimilation for as long as the ni trogen source was supplied. In all cases the degree of inhibition was greatest at high irradiance and least at low irradiance, even though t he total amino-acid contents of the leaves were comparable at the time when maximum inhibition Of CO2 assimilation occurred. Measurements of chlorophyll-a fluorescence showed that the quantum efficiency of PSII decreased and non-radiative dissipation of excitation energy increase d as CO2 assimilation was inhibited by nitrate or nitrite. These metab olites had no direct effect on thylakoid PSII-based electron transport . Ammonium ions weakly inhibited O2 evolution at high concentrations. The addition of nitrogen (KNO3-, KNO2 or NH4Cl) caused a significant d ecrease in the phosphorylation state of the light-harvesting chlorophy ll-a/b-binding protein of the thylakoid membranes. We conclude that th e response of photosynthetic carbon assimilation and electron transpor t in maize is essentially similar whether nitrogen is supplied in the form of nitrate, nitrite or ammonium, with the noteworthy exception th at the nitrogen-induced inhibition of photosynthesis is transient when leaves are supplied with NO3- but sustained when NO2- or NH4+ is prov ided. We suggest that the observed modulation of phosphoenolpyruvate c arboxylase and sucrose-phosphate synthase is mediated by the increase in the endogenous level of glutamine. Furthermore, the transient natur e of the inhibition of CO2 assimilation in the case of NO3-, but not N O2- or NH4+, may be due to regulation of nitrate reductase.