Physiological Responses of Cigar Tobacco Crop to Nitrogen Deficiency and Genome-Wide Characterization of the NtNPF Family Genes

Abstract

Tobacco prefers nitrate as a nitrogen (N) source. However, little is known about the molecular components responsible for nitrate uptake and the physiological responses of cigar tobacco to N deficiency. In this study, a total of 117 nitrate transporter 1 (NRT1) and peptide transporter (PTR) family (NPF) genes were comprehensively identified and systematically characterized in the whole tobacco genome. The NtNPF members showed significant genetic diversity within and across subfamilies but showed conservation between subfamilies. The NtNPF genes are dispersed unevenly across the chromosomes. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that eight subfamilies of NtNPF genes are tightly grouped with their orthologues in Arabidopsis. The promoter regions of the NtNPF genes had extensive cis-regulatory elements. Twelve core NtNPF genes, which were strongly induced by N limitation, were identified based on the RNA-seq data. Furthermore, N deprivation severely impaired plant growth of two cigar tobaccos, and CX26 may be more sensitive to N deficiency than CX14. Moreover, 12 hub genes respond differently to N deficiency between the two cultivars, indicating the vital roles in regulating N uptake and transport in cigar tobacco. The findings here contribute towards a better knowledge of the NtNPF genes and lay the foundation for further functional analysis of cigar tobacco.

Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of NPF Genes in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

“…The distribution of CsNPFs in different subfamilies is as follows: NPF1 (4), NPF2 (8), NPF3 (2), NPF4 (8), NPF5 (17), NPF6 (6), NPF7 (6), and NPF8 (3). Among them, NPF1 is more closely related to the NPF2 subfamily on one branch, NPF4 is more closely related to NPF6, and NPF7 is more closely related to NPF8, which is consistent with the results of previous research [ 8 , 10 , 11 , 38 , 39 ]. To distinguish the subfamilies of NPF genes, we renamed all CsNPF genes according to the international nomenclature, based on their homology with AtNPF genes ( Table S1 ) [ 40 ].…”

Single‐cell transcriptome analyses reveal cellular and molecular responses to low nitrogen in burley tobacco leaves

“…In this context, there is an urgent need to have a detailed understanding of the response mechanism in tobacco leaves under low-N stress. Currently, diverse omics techniques have been increasingly used to unravel molecular mechanisms of tobacco adaptation to low N stress (Guo et al, 2022b;Wei et al, 2018;Yang et al, 2022). However, conventional omics mainly provide insights In this study, we first captured all major cell types of tobacco leaves and constructed a high-resolution transcriptome atlas (Figure 1B).…”

“…The cultivation of high N-deficiency tolerant genotypes is a primary approach for the maintenance of crop production and the reduction of N fertilizer (Chen et al, 2003;Govindasamy et al, 2023). Thus, it is imperative for breeders to identify the genes responsible for enhancing the N-deficiency tolerance in tobacco.…”