Maize maintains growth in response to decreased nitrate supply through a highly dynamic and developmental stage‐specific transcriptional response

Plett, Darren; Baumann, Ute; Schreiber, Andreas W.; Holtham, Luke R.; Kalashyan, Elena; Toubia, John; Nau, John J.; Beatty, Mary; Rafalski, Antoni; Dhugga, Kanwarpal S.; Tester, Mark; Garnett, Trevor; Kaiser, Brent N.

doi:10.1111/pbi.12388

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Interestingly, the age range of the plants analyzed in those experiments was similar to that of the plants used in our meta-analysis. Taken together, these results suggest that developmental stage might be an important factor that affects the transcriptional response to sulfate availability, which has been reported for the case of nitrate in maize ( Plett et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Integrative Transcriptomic Analysis Uncovers Novel Gene Modules That Underlie the Sulfate Response in Arabidopsis thaliana

et al. 2018

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Sulfur is an essential nutrient for plant growth and development. Sulfur is a constituent of proteins, the plasma membrane and cell walls, among other important cellular components. To obtain new insights into the gene regulatory networks underlying the sulfate response, we performed an integrative meta-analysis of transcriptomic data from five different sulfate experiments available in public databases. This bioinformatic approach allowed us to identify a robust set of genes whose expression depends only on sulfate availability, indicating that those genes play an important role in the sulfate response. In relation to sulfate metabolism, the biological function of approximately 45% of these genes is currently unknown. Moreover, we found several consistent Gene Ontology terms related to biological processes that have not been extensively studied in the context of the sulfate response; these processes include cell wall organization, carbohydrate metabolism, nitrogen compound transport, and the regulation of proteolysis. Gene co-expression network analyses revealed relationships between the sulfate-responsive genes that were distributed among seven function-specific co-expression modules. The most connected genes in the sulfate co-expression network belong to a module related to the carbon response, suggesting that this biological function plays an important role in the control of the sulfate response. Temporal analyses of the network suggest that sulfate starvation generates a biphasic response, which involves that major changes in gene expression occur during both the early and late responses. Network analyses predicted that the sulfate response is regulated by a limited number of transcription factors, including MYBs, bZIPs, and NF-YAs. In conclusion, our analysis identified new candidate genes and provided new hypotheses to advance our understanding of the transcriptional regulation of sulfate metabolism in plants.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Integrative Transcriptomic Analysis Uncovers Novel Gene Modules That Underlie the Sulfate Response in Arabidopsis thaliana

et al. 2018

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“…The pathway for nitrate assimilation in crops has been well documented [21]. Briefly, after uptake by roots, NO 3 − is first reduced by nitrate reductase (NR) to NO 2 − [22] and further reduced by nitrite reductase (NiR) to NH 4 + [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polyaspartic Acid Improves Maize (Zea mays L.) Seedling Nitrogen Assimilation Mainly by Enhancing Nitrate Reductase Activity

Wang

Tang

et al. 2018

Agronomy

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Improvement of nitrogen use efficiency is of great importance in maize (Zea mays L.) production. In the present study, an eco-friendly growth substance, polyaspartic acid (PASP), was applied to maize seedlings grown with different nitrate (NO3−) doses by foliar spraying, aimed at evaluating its effects on maize nitrogen assimilation at both the physiological and molecular level. The results showed that PASP promoted biomass and nitrogen accumulation in maize seedlings, especially under low NO3− doses. Among different NO3− conditions, the most noticeable increase in plant biomass by PASP addition was observed in seedlings grown with 1 mmol L−1 NO3−, which was a little less than the optimum concentration (2 mmol L−1) for plant growth. Furthermore, the total nitrogen accumulation increased greatly with additions of PASP to plants grown under suboptimal NO3− conditions. The promotion of nitrogen assimilation was mostly due to the increase of nitrate reductase (NR) activities. The NR activities in seedlings grown under low NO3− doses (0.5 and 1.0 mmol L−1) were extremely increased by PASP, while the activities of glutamine synthetase (GS), aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT), and alanine aminotransferase (AlaAT) were slightly changed. Moreover, the regulation of PASP on NR activity was most probably due to the promotion of the protein accumulation rather than gene expression. Accumulation of NR protein was similarly affected as NR activity, which was markedly increased by PASP treatment. In conclusion, the present study provides insights into the promotion by PASP of nitrogen assimilation and identifies candidate regulatory enzymatic mechanisms, which warrant further investigation with the use of PASP in promoting nitrogen utilization in crops.

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“…7 ). Other stress conditions might include: salinity [ 23 , 24 , 36 , 42 , 58 ], exogenous abscisic acid [ 104 , 105 ], oxygen deficiency [ 45 , 46 , 87 , 106 – 108 ], exposure to heavy metals [ 21 , 22 , 25 , 38 , 41 , 65 ], macronutrient excess or deficiency [ 33 , 43 , 44 , 109 – 111 ], silicon fertilization [ 5 , 112 , 113 ], or even light stress when lightproof plastic pots are replaced by glass beakers. Especially regarding poplars and also the closely related willows ( Salix ), scientific data on root structural and anatomical changes (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydroponic cultivation conditions allowing the reproducible investigation of poplar root suberization and water transport

Grünhofer

Guo

et al. 2021

Plant Methods

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Background With increasing joint research cooperation on national and international levels, there is a high need for harmonized and reproducible cultivation conditions and experimental protocols in order to ensure the best comparability and reliability of acquired data. As a result, not only comparisons of findings of different laboratories working with the same species but also of entirely different species would be facilitated. As Populus is becoming an increasingly important genus in modern science and agroforestry, the integration of findings with previously gained knowledge of other crop species is of high significance. Results To ease and ensure the comparability of investigations of root suberization and water transport, on a high degree of methodological reproducibility, we set up a hydroponics-based experimental pipeline. This includes plant cultivation, root histochemistry, analytical investigation, and root water transport measurement. A 5-week-long hydroponic cultivation period including an optional final week of stress application resulted in a highly consistent poplar root development. The poplar roots were of conical geometry and exhibited a typical Casparian band development with subsequent continuously increasing suberization of the endodermis. Poplar root suberin was composed of the most frequently described suberin substance classes, but also high amounts of benzoic acid derivatives could be identified. Root transport physiology experiments revealed that poplar roots in this developmental stage have a two- to tenfold higher hydrostatic than osmotic hydraulic conductivity. Lastly, the hydroponic cultivation allowed the application of gradually defined osmotic stress conditions illustrating the precise adjustability of hydroponic experiments as well as the previously reported sensitivity of poplar plants to water deficits. Conclusions By maintaining a high degree of harmonization, we were able to compare our results to previously published data on root suberization and water transport of barley and other crop species. Regarding hydroponic poplar cultivation, we enabled high reliability, reproducibility, and comparability for future experiments. In contrast to abiotic stress conditions applied during axenic tissue culture cultivation, this experimental pipeline offers great advantages including the growth of roots in the dark, easy access to root systems before, during, and after stress conditions, and the more accurate definition of the developmental stages of the roots.

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Maize maintains growth in response to decreased nitrate supply through a highly dynamic and developmental stage‐specific transcriptional response

Cited by 19 publications

References 55 publications

Integrative Transcriptomic Analysis Uncovers Novel Gene Modules That Underlie the Sulfate Response in Arabidopsis thaliana

Integrative Transcriptomic Analysis Uncovers Novel Gene Modules That Underlie the Sulfate Response in Arabidopsis thaliana

Polyaspartic Acid Improves Maize (Zea mays L.) Seedling Nitrogen Assimilation Mainly by Enhancing Nitrate Reductase Activity

Hydroponic cultivation conditions allowing the reproducible investigation of poplar root suberization and water transport

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