Light-regulated expression of the nitrate-reductase and nitrite-reductase genes in tomato and in the phytochrome-deficient aurea mutant of tomato.

The phytochrome-deficient aurea mutant of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum (L.) Mill) was used to investigate if phytochrome plays a role in the regulation of nitrate-reductase (NR, EC 1.6.6.1) and nitrite-reductase (NiR, EC 1.7.7.1) gene expression. We show that the expression of the tomato NR and NiR genes is stimulated by light and that this light response is mediated by the photoreceptor phytochrome. The red-light response of the NR and NiR genes was reduced in etiolated aurea seedlings when compared to isogenic wild-type cotyledons. The relative levels of NR mRNA and NiR transcripts and their diurnal fluctuations were identical in mature white-light-grown leaves of the wild-type and of the aurea mutant. The transcript levels for cab and RbcS (genes for the chlorophyll-a/b-binding protein of PSII and the small subunit of the enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, respectively) in aurea leaves grown in white light were indistinguishable from the respective transcript levels in the leaves of the wildtype grown under the same conditions. Despite a severe reduction in the chlorophyll content, the rate of net CO2 uptake by leaves of the aurea mutant was only slightly reduced when compared to the rate of net photosynthesis of wild-type leaves. This difference in the photosynthetic performances of wild-type and aurea mutant plants disappeared during aging of the plants. The increase in zeaxanthin and the concomitant decrease in violaxanthin in leaves of the aurea mutant compared with the same pigment levels in leaves of the wild-type indicate that the activity of the xanthophyll cycle is increased in aurea leaves as a consequence of the reduced CO2-fixation capacity of the mutant leaves.