Two different modes of early development and nitrogen assimilation in gymnosperm seedlings

Abstract

Light-independent chloroplast development and expression of genes encoding chloroplast proteins occur in many but not all species of gymnosperms. Early development in maritime pine (Pines pinaster) seedlings was strongly light-independent, whereas Ginkgo biloba seedlings exhibited a typical angiosperm-like morphogenesis with differentiated patterns in light and dark. In pine, chloroplast polypeptides were undetectable in the seed embryo and accumulated in cotyledons of both light-and dark-grown plants in good correlation with light-independent chlorophyll synthesis. In contrast, chlorophyll and chloroplast proteins were only detected in light-grown ginkgo. Pine cytosolic glutamine synthetase (GS) and ferredoxin glutamate synthase (Fd-GOGAT) were present at low levels in the seeds and accumulated at comparable amounts in light-and dark-grown seedlings. Fd-GOGAT was also barely detectable in the seeds of ginkgo and only accumulated in green plants with mature chloroplasts. In G. biloba seeds and etiolated plants only cytosolic GS was identified, while in light-grown seedlings this molecular form was present at low abundance and choroplastic GS was the predominant isoenzyme. The above results have been confirmed by immunolocalization of GS protein in pine and ginkgo plantlets. In pine, GS was present in the peripheral cytoplasm of mesophyll cells and also in the phloem region of the vascular bundle. Immunocytochemical analysis showed that the labelling of mesophyll and phloem cells was only cytoplasmic. In developing ginkgo, GS antigens were present in the chloroplasts of mesophyll parenchyma cells of leaflets and green cotyledons. In contrast, a weak labelling of GS was observed in the parenchyma and phloem cells of non-green cotyledons enclosed in the seed coat. Taking all this into account, our data indicate the existence of two different modes of GS and GOGAT regulation in gymnosperms in close correlation with the differential response of plants to light. Furthermore, the results suggest that glutamine and glutamate biosynthesis is confined to the chloroplast of mesophyll cells in species with light-dependent chloroplast, development whereas compartmentation would be required in species with light-independent plastid development.