Work

Nitrogen storage regulation by PII protein: lessons learned from taxonomic outliers

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: The paper 'Interaction of N-acetyl-l-glutamate kinase with the PII signal transducer in the non-photosynthetic alga Polytomella parva: Co-evolution towards a hetero-oligomeric enzyme' by Selim et al. highlights how the study of a true taxonomic oddity, the heterotrophic unicellular alga P. parva, has been instrumental in uncovering the large potential for adaptive variation in the signaling complex of PII with the enzyme N-acetylglutamate kinase (NAGK). This complex modifies the regulatory properties of NAGK, allowing nitrogen stockpiling as arginine. In P. parva, a stable PII-NAGK complex is formed which lacks regulation by canonical PII effectors but which exhibits novel adaptive responses to nitrogen abundance mediated by glutamine, a neo-effector of PII proteins of photosynthetic eukaryotes.

Source: FEBS Journal

DOI: 10.1111/febs.15189

Authors: Vicente Rubio, Clara Marco‐Marín, José Luis Llácer

Institutions: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centre for Biomedical Network Research on Rare Diseases, Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia

Language: English

Topic: Plant nutrient uptake and metabolism

Subfield: Plant Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación

Award: G248860409