A deletion in the nitrate high affinity transporter NRT2.1 alters metabolomic and transcriptomic responses to Pseudomonas syringae

Abstract

A deletion in the high affinity nitrate trasporter NRT2.1 in Arabidopsis results in a reduced susceptibility to Pseudomonas syringae by two different mechanisms, the SA priming and an interference in the effector triggered susceptibility. In the present research we further characterized the metabolic and genetic profiles of the mutant nrt2 in the interaction with P. syringae. Despite the priming found in the SA-dependent pathway, the metabolic changes in nrt2 compared with wild-type plants are more remarkable prior infection. This is associated mainly to a pre-existing over representation of signals attributed to aromatic amino acids and phenylpropanoids in the nrt2. Genomic analysis confirms the implication of aromatic aminoacids and phenylpropanoids, but additionally, suggests a new role in ribosomal proteins as the major changes observed in nrt2 upon infection by the bacterium.