| It is now well-known that plants can uptake not only inorganic nitrogen but also organic nitrogen compounds, mainly amino acids. However, soil proteins are the main pool of amino acids. According to our earlier papers, plants can get access to this source of nitrogen using root-secreted proteases, but the level of proteolytic activity of such root-secreted proteases is species-specific. Our aim was to compare the use of protein as nitrogen source by two vegetable crops having high (Allium porrum) or low (Lactuca sativa) level of activity of root-secreted proteases. Seedlings were cultivated on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS), MS medium without inorganic nitrogen, MS medium without inorganic nitrogen, but with casein in concentration of 0.01%, 0.1% or 1%.... |
