This book focuses on the very latest developments in our understanding of how plants use light energy and fixed carbon to assimilate nitrate and ammonium into the organic compounds required for growth. From the partitioning of organic nitrogen within the photosynthetic apparatus, through the primary processes of reduction of nitrate and nitrite and the assimilation of ammonium and its cycling in photorespiration, the complex interactions inherent in the crosstalk between carbon and nitrogen assimilation are considered and exciting new developments such as nitric oxide production evaluated. Attention is paid throughout to the close coordination of photosynthetic and respiratory processes in nitrogen assimilation. Emerging concepts of the interdependence of chloroplasts and mitochondria are described, and essential communication, transport and signalling processes are highlighted.
Editorial. Preface. Color Plates. 1. Photosynthetic Nitrogen Assimilation: Inter-Pathway Control and Signaling; C.H. Foyer, G. Noctor. 2. Photsynthesis and Nitrogen-Use Efficiency; P.A. Kumar, et al. 3. Molecular Control of Nitrate Reductases and Other Enzymes Involved in Nitrate Assimilation; W.H. Campbell. 4. Soluble and Plasma Membrane-Bound Enzymes Involved in Nitrate and Nitrite Metabolism; C. Meyer, C. Stohr. 5. What Limits Nitrate Reduction in Leaves?; W.M. Kaiser, et al. 6. The Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Genetic Manipulation of Primary Ammonia Assimilation; B. Hirel, P.J. Lea. 7. Regulation of Ammonium Assimilation in Cyanobacteria; F.J. Florencio, J.C. Reyes. 8. Photorespiratory Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling: Evidence from Studies of Mutant and Transgenic Plants; A.J. Keys, R.C. Leegood. 9. The Regulation of Plant Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase by Reversible Phosphorylation; J. Vidal, et al. 10. Mitochondrial Functions in the Light and Significance to Carbon-Nitrogen Interactions; P. Gardestrom, et al. 11. Alternative Oxidase: Integrating Carbon Metabolism and Electron Transport in Plant Respiration; G.C. Vanlerberghe, S.H. Ordog. 12. Nitric Oxide Synthesis by Plants and its Potential Impact on Nitrogen and Respiratory Metabolism; A.H. Millar, et al. 13. Nitrogen and Signaling; A. Krapp, et al. 14. Regulation of Carbon and Nitrogen Assimilation Through Gene Expression; T. Sugiyama, H. Sakakibara. 15. Intracellular and Intercellular Transport of Nitrogen and Carbon; G. Lohaus, K. Fischer. 16. Optimizing Carbon-Nitrogen Budgets: perspectives for Crop Improvement; J.A. Raven, et al. Index.
All chapters are excellent reviews of recent literature with conclusions for both the dvelopments of sicence, and praxis. [...] this is a basic book for plant physiological, biochemica, and genetic laboratories and libraries. (Photosynthetica, 41:3 (2003)