Natural Variation as a Tool to Investigate Nutrient Use Efficiency in Plants

Abstract

A huge natural variation exists between individuals within a given plant species. Most of the responses of growth-related traits to different environmental scenarios are genotype dependent. Hence, natural variation in plants provides an interesting and valuable source of genetic diversity to study plant responses to environmental factors. The identification of genes that underlie phenotypic variation has an enormous practical implication by providing a means to improve crop yield and quality. The approach based on natural variation aims to use naturally occurring differences to improve our knowledge about complex physiological responses of plants to their environment, including nutrition efficiency. An overview of different approaches currently used in plant research aimed at dissecting complex quantitative traits is presented here, with a special focus on those related to Nutrient Use Efficiency, to explain strategies based on QTL mapping in segregating populations and association mapping in wild populations. Some case studies regarding each of the investigative strategies described are detailed.

Impact of the Genetic–Environment Interaction on the Dynamic of Nitrogen Pools in Arabidopsis

“…Results point out the existence of a huge potential to elucidate complex traits such as NUE. Using a natural variation approach, several studies have been conducted in different species in order to individuate the most performing genotypes in response to nutrients availability [21]. Since Arabidopsis accessions have been found in a wide range of habitats differing notably in soil richness, this species constitutes a very suitable model for studying genetic variability of plant adaptation to nutrient availability [22].…”

Examining Phosphorus Use Efficiency Across Different Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) Genotypes

“…Nutrient use e ciency can be de ned as the plant's ability to absorb and utilize soil nutrients more e ciently, and consequently, produce adequate yield or biomass (Baligar and Fageria 2015). Mechanisms of NUE such as root morphology adaptation, induction of transporters, improved nutrient assimilation, translocation from roots to shoots, storage, recycling, and remobilization have been documented in the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), rice (Oryza sativa L.), maize (Zea mays L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and coffee (Coffea arabica L.) (Horst et al 1993;Walker et al 1996;Jia et al 2008;Kellermeier et al 2013;Chietera and Chardon 2014;Yu et al 2014;Moura et al 2019). These studies, along with screening experiments to identify genotypes capable of producing good yield with less fertilizer inputs, allow for a better comprehension of the complex functioning of plant NUE and for the potential improvement of new nutrient use e cient cultivars (Reich et al 2014).…”