Study of nitrate and nitrite transport in higher plants

Nitrogen is one of the major environmental parameters limiting plant growth. The objectives of our research are to improve the uptake of soil nitrogen and its distribution within the plant The thesis project is divided into two parts.
Firstly, we aim to identify the molecular basis of nitrite transport in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Two genes encoding membrane proteins are potentially involved in this process, AtCLCe and AtNITR, and a chloroplastic regulatory protein ATPIII. During the functional analysis, several genotypes affected in the expression of these genes (overexpressor, mutants, double mutants) will be analyzed at physiological and metabolic levels.
On the other hand, we have already shown in Arabidopsis the role of the NRT2 gene family in the uptake and distribution of nitrate in the plant. To determine their roles in crop species, we propose to explore the function of two members of this family in the model species Brachypodium distachyon. This part of the thesis will be conducted in close collaboration with a Japanese team from the Riken Institute in Yokohama (see attached form).

PhD subject IJPB 2011 from research group Arabidopsis response to nitrogen availability