Nitrogen metabolism and its interaction with the Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in Guzmania monostachia (Bromeliaceae): a physiological and molecular approach

• Grant number: 16/09699-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: September 01, 2016
• End date: August 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Pant Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Helenice Mercier
• Grantee: Ana Zangirólame Gonçalves
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 11/50637-0 - Competence for Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) expression in epiphytic bromeliad: signaling, modulation of expression, transcriptional profile and interaction with the nitrogen metabolism, AP.TEM

Abstract

The Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) allows the assimilation of CO2 with a greater water use efficiency rather than the C3 and C4 metabolisms. In the epiphytic C3-CAM facultative bromeliad Guzmania monostachia (Bromeliaceae, Tillandsioideae), the C3 maximizes its growth under favorable environmental conditions, while CAM is manifested in stressful conditions. Since different nitrogen sources (i.e., inorganic and organic) are available in the nutrient-poor epiphytic environment, changes in the availability of nutrients and water can modulate physiological and molecular responses in G. monostachia in order to improve the nitrogen use efficiency and the expression of CAM. In this context, this project aims to investigate differences in the physiology and molecular biology related to nitrogen metabolism (absorption and assimilation) in different nitrogen sources (ammonium, nitrate or urea), and their role in photosynthetic modulation in G. monostachia in variable scenarios of nitrogen and water availability. Specifically, this study intends to answer the following questions: (1) Does G. monostachia have a preference for some source of nitrogen? Would it be organic or inorganic? (2) How do the transport and assimilation of different forms of nitrogen occur and where are they processed? (3) Is there a change in gene expression activating high-affinity transporter genes at low nitrogen concentrations? (4) Does nutritional preference of G. monostachia change over time by the combined presence of more than one form of nitrogen? (5) Do different nitrogen sources modulate CAM photosynthesis in this bromeliad species, showing an association between nitrogen and CAM expression under drought conditions? Does the expression of the specific CAM-PEPc gene be variable? (AU)

Scientific publications

(11)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GUZMAN, LAURA MELISSA; TRZCINSKI, M. KURTIS; BARBERIS, IGNACIO M.; CEREGHINO, REGIS; SRIVASTAVA, DIANE S.; GILBERT, BENJAMIN; PILLAR, VALERIO D.; DE OMENA, PAULA M.; MACDONALD, A. ANDREW M.; CORBARA, BRUNO; et al. Climate influences the response of community functional traits to local conditions in bromeliad invertebrate communities. ECOGRAPHY, v. 44, n. 3, p. 440-452, MAR 2021. (14/04603-4, 16/01209-9, 16/09699-5)

MERCIER, HELENICE; RODRIGUES, MARIA AURINEIDE; DA SILVA ANDRADE, SONIA CRISTINA; COUTINHO, LUIZ LEHMANN; KATAYAMA GOBARA, BRUNO NOBUYA; MATIZ, ALEJANDRA; MIOTO, PAULO TAMASO; GONCALVES, ANA ZANGIROLAME. Transcriptional foliar profile of the C-3-CAM bromeliad Guzmania monostachia. PLoS One, v. 14, n. 10, OCT 29 2019. (18/12667-3, 16/09699-5, 11/50637-0)

SRIVASTAVA, DIANE S.; MACDONALD, A. ANDREW M.; PILLAR, VALERIO D.; KRATINA, PAVEL; DEBASTIANI, VANDERLEI J.; GUZMAN, LAURA MELISSA; TRZCINSKI, MARK KURTIS; DEZERALD, OLIVIER; BARBERIS, IGNACIO M.; DE OMENA, PAULA M.; et al. Geographical variation in the trait-based assembly patterns of multitrophic invertebrate communities. FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, v. 37, n. 1, p. 14-pg., 2022-06-09. (16/09699-5, 18/12225-0, 19/08474-8, 14/04603-4)

KATAYAMA GOBARA, BRUNO NOBUYA; RODRIGUES ALVES, FREDERICO ROCHA; PIKART, FILIPE CHRISTIAN; GONCALVES, ANA ZANGIROLAME; ALVES CURSINO DOS SANTOS, DEBORAH YARA; DE ALBUQUERQUE MELO DE PINNA, GLADYS FLAVIA; MERCIER, HELENICE. How does a C-3 epiphytic tank bromeliad respond to drought?. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 192, n. 4, SI, p. 855-867, APR 2020. (13/22267-9, 18/12667-3, 16/09699-5, 11/50637-0)

MARINO, NICHOLAS A. C.; CEREGHINO, REGIS; GILBERT, BENJAMIN; PETERMANN, JANA S.; SRIVASTAVA, DIANE S.; DE OMENA, PAULA M.; BAUTISTA, FABIOLA OSPINA; GUZMAN, LAURA MELISSA; ROMERO, GUSTAVO Q.; TRZCINSKI, M. KURTIS; et al. Species niches, not traits, determine abundance and occupancy patterns: A multi-site synthesis. GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY, v. 29, n. 2, NOV 2019. (16/09699-5, 16/01209-9, 14/04603-4)

GONCALVES, ANA Z.; LATSANIO, SABRINA; DETMANN, KELLY C.; MARABESI, MAURO A.; NETO, ANTONIO A. C.; AIDAR, MARCOS P. M.; DAMATTA, FABIO M.; MERCIER, HELENICE. What does the RuBisCO activity tell us about a C-3-CAM plant?. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, v. 147, p. 172-180, FEB 2020. (16/09699-5, 18/12667-3, 11/50637-0)

GONCALVES, ANA Z.; SRIVASTAVA, DIANE S.; OLIVEIRA, PAULO S.; ROMERO, GUSTAVO Q.. Effects of predatory ants within and across ecosystems in bromeliad food webs. Journal of Animal Ecology, v. 86, n. 4, p. 790-799, JUL 2017. (11/10137-8, 16/09699-5)

PIKART, FILIPE C.; MARABESI, MAURO A.; MIOTO, PAULO T.; GONCALVES, ANA Z.; MATIZ, ALEJANDRA; ALVES, FREDERICO R. R.; MERCIER, HELENICE; AIDAR, MARCOS P. M.. The contribution of weak CAM to the photosynthetic metabolic activities of a bromeliad species under water deficit. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, v. 123, p. 297-303, FEB 2018. (11/50637-0, 16/04924-0, 16/09699-5, 13/15108-1)

RAYNER OLIVEIRA, PAULO MARCELO; RODRIGUES, MARIA AURINEIDE; GONCALVES, ANA ZANGIROLAME; KERBAUY, GILBERTO BARBANTE. Exposure of Catasetum fimbriatum aerial roots to light coordinates carbon partitioning between source and sink organs in an auxin dependent manner. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, v. 135, p. 341-347, FEB 2019. (16/09699-5)

GONCALVES, ANA ZANGIROLAME; RAYNER OLIVEIRA, PAULO MARCELO; COUTINHO NETO, ANTONIO AZEREDO; MERCIER, HELENICE. Thinking of the leaf as a whole plant: How does N metabolism occur in a plant with foliar nutrient uptake?. ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY, v. 178, OCT 2020. (16/09699-5, 18/12667-3, 11/50637-0)

KATAYAMA GOBARA, BRUNO NOBUYA; RODRIGUES ALVES, FREDERICO ROCHA; PIKART, FILIPE CHRISTIAN; GONCALVES, ANA ZANGIROLAME; ALVES CURSINO DOS SANTOS, DEBORAH YARA; DE ALBUQUERQUE MELO DE PINNA, GLADYS FLAVIA; MERCIER, HELENICE. How does a C-3 epiphytic tank bromeliad respond to drought?. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 192, n. 4, p. 13-pg., 2020-04-01. (11/50637-0, 16/09699-5, 13/22267-9, 18/12667-3)