Abstract
The Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) of grain cereals depends on nitrate (NO3−) uptake from the soil, translocation to the aerial parts, nitrogen (N) assimilation and remobilization to the grains. Brachypodium distachyon has been proposed as a model species to identify the molecular players and mechanisms that affects these processes, for the improvement of temperate C3 cereals. We report on the developmental, physiological and grain-characteristic responses of the Bd21-3 accession of Brachypodium to variations in NO3− availability. As previously described in wheat and barley, we show that vegetative growth, shoot/root ratio, tiller formation, spike development, tissue NO3− and N contents, grain number per plant, grain yield and grain N content are sensitive to pre- and/or post-anthesis NO3− supply. We subsequently described constitutive and NO3−-inducible components of both High and Low Affinity Transport Systems (HATS and LATS) for root NO3− uptake, and BdNRT2/3 candidate genes potentially involved in the HATS. Taken together, our data validate Brachypodium Bd21-3 as a model to decipher cereal N nutrition. Apparent specificities such as high grain N content, strong post-anthesis NO3− uptake and efficient constitutive HATS, further identify Brachypodium as a direct source of knowledge for crop improvement.
Highlights
Brachypodium distachyon has been proposed as a model species to identify the molecular players and mechanisms that affects these processes, for the improvement of temperate C3 cereals
We investigated the expression of four co-orthologs (BdNRT2A to BdNRT2D) of the major NRT2 genes identified in Arabidopsis and barley (AtNRT2.1 and HvNRT2.1, respectively)
A high Nitrogen Harvest Index (NHI), similar to what has been described in major cereals, was observed
Summary
Brachypodium distachyon has been proposed as a model species to identify the molecular players and mechanisms that affects these processes, for the improvement of temperate C3 cereals. Bd21-3 as a model to decipher cereal N nutrition Apparent specificities such as high grain N content, strong post-anthesis NO3− uptake and efficient constitutive HATS, further identify Brachypodium as a direct source of knowledge for crop improvement. Mechanisms directly affecting the plant Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) have been largely described at the physiological level in crop species (including wheat, barley, rice and corn) and in the model species, Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis)[6,7,8,9]. Brachypodium distachyon (Brachypodium) has been proposed as a good model to enhance this knowledge in C3 temperate cereals[13] This non-domesticated monocot species offers convenient characteristics for academic research (simple diploid sequenced genome, short life cycle, simple growth requirement, large mutant collections, efficient genetic transformation), and is phylogenetically closely related to wheat and barley, enabling an efficient translational approach. It is dependent on processes such as www.nature.com/scientificreports/
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