Investigation of the Apparent Induction of Nitrate Uptake in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Using NO3--Selective Microelectrodes (Modulation of Coarse Regulation of NO3- Uptake by Exogenous Application of Downstream Metabolites in the NO3- Assimilatory Pathway)

The influence of a 12-h pretreatment with either NO3-, NH4+, glutamine, or glutamate (300 [mu]M) on the apparent induction of NO3- uptake was investigated. Net fluxes of NO3- into roots of intact, 7-d-old barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv Prato) seedlings in solution culture were estimated from ion activity gradients measured with NO3--selective microelectrodes in the unstirred layer of solution immediately external to the root surface. Control plants, pretreated with nitrogen-free nutrient solution, exhibited a sigmoidal increase in net NO3- uptake, reaching a maximum rate between 8 and 9 h after first exposure to NO3-. Plants pretreated with NH4+ or Glu exhibited a delay of several hours in the initiation of the induction process after they had been exposed to NO3-. In Gln-pretreated plants, however, responses ranged from no delay of the induction process to delays comparable to those observed following NH4+ or Glu pretreatments. Only treatment with NO3-resulted in the induction of NO3- uptake, whereas pretreatments with NH4+, Gln, or Glu tended to delay induction of NO3- uptake upon subsequent exposure to NO3-.