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Nutrient recycling and mobilization from organ to organ all along the plant lifespan is essential for plant survival under changing environments. Nutrient remobilization to the seeds is also essential for good seed production. In this review, we summarize the recent advances made to understand how plants manage nutrient remobilization from senescing organs to sink tissues and what is the contribution of autophagy in this process. Plant engineering manipulating autophagy for better yield and plant tolerance to stresses will be presented., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Glutamine synthetase (GS) is central for ammonium assimilation and consists of cytosolic (GS1) and chloroplastic (GS2) isoenzymes. During plant ageing, GS2 protein decreases due to chloroplast degradation, and GS1 activity increases to support glutamine biosynthesis and N remobilization from senescing leaves. The role of the different Arabidopsis GS1 isoforms in nitrogen remobilization was examined using 15N tracing experiments. Only the gln1;1-gln1;2-gln1;3 triple-mutation affecting the three GLN1;1, GLN1;2, and GLN1;3 genes significantly reduced N remobilization, total seed yield, individual seed weight, harvest index, and vegetative biomass. The triple-mutant accumulated a large amount of ammonium that could not be assimilated by GS1. Alternative ammonium assimilation through asparagine biosynthesis was increased and was related to higher ASN2 asparagine synthetase transcript levels. The GS2 transcript, protein, and activity levels were also increased to compensate for the lack of GS1-related glutamine biosynthesis. Localization of the different GLN1 genes showed that they were all expressed in the phloem companion cells but in veins of different order. Our results demonstrate that glutamine biosynthesis for N-remobilization occurs in veins of all orders (major and minor) in leaves, it is mainly catalysed by the three major GS1 isoforms (GLN1;1, GLN1;2, and GLN1;3), and it is alternatively supported by AS2 in the veins and GS2 in the mesophyll cells.

Autophagy is essential for nutrient recycling and plays a fundamental role in seed production and grain filling in plants. Autophagy participates in nitrogen remobilization at the whole-plant level, and the seeds of autophagy mutants present abnormal C and N contents relative to wild-type (WT) plants. It is well known that autophagy (ATG) genes are induced in leaves during senescence; however, expression of such genes in seeds has not yet been reported. In this study we show that most of the ATG genes are induced during seed maturation in Arabidopsis siliques. Promoter-ATG8f::UIDA and promoter-ATG8f::GFP fusions showed the strong expression of ATG8f in the phloem companion cells of pericarps and the funiculus, and in the embryo. Expression was especially strong at the late stages of development. The presence of many GFP-ATG8 pre-autophagosomal structures and autophagosomes confirmed the presence of autophagic activity in WT seed embryos. Seeds of atg5 and WT plants grown under low- or high-nitrate conditions were analysed. Nitrate-independent phenotypes were found with higher seed abortion in atg5 and early browing, higher total protein concentrations in the viable seeds of this mutant as compared to the WT. The higher total protein accumulation in atg5 viable seeds was significant from early developmental stages onwards. In addition, relatively low and early accumulation of 12S globulins were found in atg5 seeds. These features led us to the conclusion that atg5 seed development is accelerated and that the protein storage deposition pathway is somehow abnormal or incomplete.

Leaf senescence is a long developmental process important for nutrient management and for source to sink remobilization. Constituents of the mesophyll cells are progressively degraded to provide nutrients to the rest of the plant. Up to now, studies on leaf senescence have not paid much attention to the role of the different leaf tissues. In the present study, we dissected leaf laminae from the midvein to perform metabolite profiling. The laminae mesophyll cells are the source of nutrients, and in C3 plants they contain Rubisco as the most important nitrogen storage pool. Veins, rich in vasculature, are the place where all the nutrients are translocated, and sometimes interconverted, before being exported through the phloem or the xylem. The different metabolic changes we observed in laminae and midvein with ageing support the idea that the senescence programme in these two tissues is different. Important accumulations of metabolites in the midvein suggest that nutrient translocations from source leaves to sinks are mainly controlled at this level. Carbon and nitrogen long-distance molecules such as fructose, glucose, aspartate, and asparagine were more abundant in the midvein than in laminae. In contrast, sucrose, glutamate, and aspartate were more abundant in laminae. The concentrations of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) compounds were also lower in the midvein than in laminae. Since nitrogen remobilization increased under low nitrate supply, plants were grown under two nitrate concentrations. The results revealed that the senescence-related differences were mostly similar under low and high nitrate conditions except for some pathways such as the TCA cycle., (© The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.)

Glutamine synthetase (EC 6.3.1.2) is a key enzyme of ammonium assimilation and recycling in plants where it catalyses the synthesis of glutamine from ammonium and glutamate. In Arabidopsis, five GLN1 genes encode GS1 isoforms. GLN1;2 is the most highly expressed in leaves and is over-expressed in roots by ammonium supply and in rosettes by ample nitrate supply compared with limiting nitrate supply. It is shown here that the GLN1;2 promoter is mainly active in the minor veins of leaves and flowers and, to a lower extent, in the parenchyma of mature leaves. Cytoimmunochemistry reveals that the GLN1;2 protein is present in the companion cells. The role of GLN1;2 was determined by examining the physiology of gln1;2 knockout mutants. Mutants displayed lower glutamine synthetase activity, higher ammonium concentration, and reduced rosette biomass compared with the wild type (WT) under ample nitrate supply only. No difference between mutant and WT can be detected under limiting nitrate conditions. Despite total amino acid concentration was increased in the old leaves of mutants at high nitrate, no significant difference in nitrogen remobilization can be detected using (15)N tracing. Growing plants in vitro with ammonium or nitrate as the sole nitrogen source allowed us to confirm that GLN1;2 is induced by ammonium in roots and to observe that gln1;2 mutants displayed, under such conditions, longer root hair and smaller rosette phenotypes in ammonium. Altogether the results suggest that GLN1;2 is essential for nitrogen assimilation under ample nitrate supply and for ammonium detoxification.

Nitrogen plays an essential role in the nutrient relationship between plants and pathogens. Some studies report that the nitrogen-mobilizing plant metabolism that occurs during abiotic and biotic stress could be a 'slash-and-burn' defence strategy. In order to study nitrogen recycling and mobilization in host plants during pathogen attack and invasion, the Colletotrichum lindemuthianum/Phaseolus vulgaris interaction was used as a model. C. lindemuthianum is a hemibiotroph that causes anthracnose disease on P. vulgaris. Non-pathogenic mutants and the pathogenic wild-type strain were used to compare their effects on plant metabolism. The deleterious effects of infection were monitored by measuring changes in chlorophyll, protein, and amino acid concentrations. It was shown that amino acid composition changed depending on the plant-fungus interaction and that glutamine accumulated mainly in the leaves infected by the pathogenic strain. Glutamine accumulation correlated with the accumulation of cytosolic glutamine synthetase (GS1 alpha) mRNA. The most striking result was that the GS1 alpha gene was induced in all the fungus-infected leaves, independent of the strain used for inoculation, and that GS1 alpha expression paralleled the PAL3 and CHS defence gene expression. It is concluded that a role of GS1 alpha in plant defence has to be considered.

Glutamate (Glu) metabolism and amino acid translocation were investigated in the young and old leaves of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Xanthi) using [15N]ammonium and [2-15N]Glu tracers. Regardless of leaf age, [15N]ammonium assimilation occurred via glutamine synthetase (GS; EC 6.1.1.3) and Glu synthase (ferredoxin [Fd]-GOGAT; EC 1.4.7.1; NADH-GOGAT; EC 1.4.1.14), both in the light and darkness, and it did not depend on Glu dehydrogenase (GDH; EC 1.4.1.2). The [15N]ammonium and ammonium accumulation patterns support the role of GDH in the deamination of [2-15N]Glu to provide 2-oxoglutarate and [15N]ammonium. In the dark, excess [15N]ammonium was incorporated into asparagine that served as an additional detoxification molecule. The constant Glu levels in the phloem sap suggested that Glu was continuously synthesized and supplied into the phloem regardless of leaf age. Further study using transgenic tobacco lines, harboring the promoter of the GLU1 gene (encoding Arabidopsis [Arabidopsis thaliana] Fd-GOGAT) fused to a GUS reporter gene, revealed that the expression of Fd-GOGAT remained higher in young leaves compared to old leaves, and higher in the veins compared to the mesophyll. Confocal laser-scanning microscopy localized the Fd-GOGAT protein to the phloem companion cells-sieve element complex in the leaf veins. The results are consistent with a role of Fd-GOGAT in supplying Glu for the synthesis and transport of amino acids. Taken together, the data provide evidence that the GS-GOGAT pathway and GDH play distinct roles in the source-sink nitrogen cycle of tobacco leaves.

To investigate the role of stress in nitrogen management in plants, the effect of pathogen attack, elicitors, and phytohormone application on the expression of the two senescence-related markers GS1 (cytosolic glutamine synthetase EC 6.3.1.2) and GDH (glutamate dehydrogenase, EC 1.4.1.2) involved in nitrogen mobilization in senescing leaves of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants, was studied. The expression of genes involved in primary nitrogen assimilation such as GS2 (chloroplastic glutamine synthetase) and Nia (nitrate reductase, EC 1.6.1.1) was also analysed. The Glubas gene, coding a beta-1,3-glucanase, was used as a plant-defence gene control. As during natural senescence, the expression of GS2 and Nia was repressed under almost all stress conditions. By contrast, GS1 and GDH mRNA accumulation was increased. However, GS1 and GDH showed differential patterns of expression depending on the stress applied. The expression of GS1 appeared more selective than GDH. Results indicate that the GDH and GS1 genes involved in leaf senescence are also a component of the plant defence response during plant-pathogen interaction. The links between natural plant senescence and stress-induced senescence are discussed, as well as the potential role of GS1 and GDH in a metabolic safeguard process.

In soybean (Glycine max L.) ammonium provided externally or as the result of symbiotic nitrogen fixation stimulates the transcription of GS15, a gene encoding cytosolic glutamine synthetase. Strong constitutive positive expression (SCPE), silencer-like and organ-specific elements, located respectively in the distal, the central and the proximal region of the promoter are required to control the ammonium responsiveness of the gene expression [Tercé-Laforgue et al. (1999) Plant Mol. Biol. 39: 551]. It was hypothesized that the correct spatial conformation of the promoter permitted the cooperative action of these three cis-acting elements. Further investigations were therefore required to ascertain this hypothesis. A nodule nuclear protein, binding to a 66 bp AT-rich DNA fragment containing a 13 bp AT-rich repeated sequence (AT-1) and located just downstream of the SCPE element, was identified using a gel retardation assay. A cDNA clone likely to code for this protein was isolated using the yeast one-hybrid system. It encodes a novel DNA binding protein (AT-1SNBP) similar to HMG A proteins but exhibiting a higher molecular weight. AT-1SNBP appears to be encoded by a single gene that is expressed in roots, root nodules and leaves of soybean. Since two other 13 bp AT-rich repeated sequences (AT-2 and AT-3) were localized in the organ-specific element, we have quantified the binding affinity of AT-1SNBP to these sequences. We demonstrate that AT-1SNBP binds differentially to DNA fragments containing AT-1, AT-2 and AT-3 and that its binding affinity depends on the presence of adjacent sequences. This result suggests that AT-1SNBP may be an architectural protein involved in maintaining the spatial conformation of the GS15 promoter, thus facilitating the interaction between the distal and proximal regulatory elements.