Abstract
Nitrogen is an important macronutrient required for plant growth, and is a limiting factor for crop productivity. Improving the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is therefore crucial. At present, the NUE mechanism is unclear and information on the genes associated with NUE in soybeans is lacking. cystathionine beta synthase (CBS) domain-containing proteins (CDCPs) may be implicated in abiotic stress tolerance in plants. We identified and classified a CBS domain–containing protein superfamily in soybean. A candidate gene for NUE, GmCBS21, was identified. GmCBS21 gene characteristics, the temporal expression pattern of the GmCBS21 gene, and the phenotype of GmCBS21 overexpression in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana under low nitrogen stress were analyzed. The phenotypes suggested that the transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings performed better under the nitrogen-deficient condition. GmCBS21-overexpressing transgenic plants exhibit higher low nitrogen stress tolerance than WT plants, and this suggests its role in low nitrogen stress tolerance in plants. We conclude that GmCBS21 may serve as an excellent candidate for breeding crops with enhanced NUE and better yield.
Highlights
Nitrogen (N) is one of the main nutrient elements for plant growth and development and plays a very important role in plant productivity and crop yield [1]
Subcellular localization prediction indicated that 24 genes were localized in the plasma membrane, 21 genes were localized in the chloroplast, 19 genes were localized in the cytoplasmic, four genes were localized in the nuclear, two genes was localized in the mitochondrial, and one gene was localized in the endoplasmic reticulum
To determine the cellular localization of the GmCBS21 protein, we introduced the pJG053-35s: GmCBS21-Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and pJG053-GFP constructs into tobacco leaves cells using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation
Summary
Nitrogen (N) is one of the main nutrient elements for plant growth and development and plays a very important role in plant productivity and crop yield [1]. An appropriate increase in the amount of nitrogenous fertilizer is one of the measures necessary to obtain a high crop yield. Excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer reduces crop nitrogen uptake and utilization efficiency, and results in reduced crop production efficiency, a waste of resources, environmental pollution and other issues [2,3]. To increase crop yield as a major goal, studies on how to reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer and increase crop nitrogen utilization efficiency are very important for the sustainable development of agriculture. The search to identify genes that improve the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of crop plants is ongoing. A number of soybean genes were differentially expressed between the two varieties under
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