Nitrogen-dependent regulation of photosynthetic gene expression

Nitrogen-limited Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is chlorotic and very deficient in chlorophyll a/b light-harvesting complexes (LHC). Rates of synthesis of photosynthetic proteins, but especially the LHC apoproteins, are reduced 10- to 40-fold. Moderately high levels of chloroplast transcripts accumulate in nitrogen-limited cells, and there is a correlation between chloroplast DNA levels and chloroplast mRNA abundance. In contrast, nuclear transcripts encoding LHCII and ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunits are markedly reduced. Thus, nitrogen availability affects chloroplast protein synthesis by inhibition of translation and, to a lesser extent, chloroplast DNA amplification. Regulation of nuclear-encoded photosynthetic proteins by nitrogen is achieved through mechanisms affecting transcription and/or mRNA stability.