The Arabidopsis Receptor-like Kinase CAP1 Promotes Shoot Growth under Ammonium Stress.

Abstract

Simple SummaryUnderstanding the underlying mechanisms of NH4+ toxicity is essential for improving nitrogen use efficiency. Although numerous genes and factors have been identified to function in modulating the response to NH4+ stress, NH4+ toxicity remains poorly characterized. Our work reported here demonstrated a new role for CAP1 in shoot growth in response to NH4+ stress. The enhanced sensitivity of the cap1-1 mutant to NH4+ stress is linked with the role of CAP1 in regulation cell wall loosening and ROS accumulation.High levels of ammonium (NH4+) in soils inhibit plant growth and nitrogen utilization efficiency. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms of NH4+ toxicity is essential for alleviating the growth inhibition caused by high NH4+. Our previous work showed that [Ca2+]cyt-associated protein kinase 1 (CAP1) regulates root hair growth in response to NH4+ in Arabidopsis thaliana, and the cap1-1 mutant produces short root hairs under NH4+ stress conditions. However, it is unclear whether CAP1 functions in other physiological processes in response to NH4+. In the present study, we found that CAP1 also plays a role in attenuating NH4+ toxicity to promote shoot growth. The cap1-1 mutant produced smaller shoots with smaller epidermal cells compared with the wild type in response to NH4+ stress. Disruption of CAP1 enhanced the NH4+-mediated inhibition of the expression of cell enlargement-related genes. The cap1-1 mutant showed elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels under NH4+ stress, as well as increased expression of respiratory burst oxidase homologue genes and decreased expression of catalase genes compared with the wild type. Our data reveal that CAP1 attenuates NH4+-induced shoot growth inhibition by promoting cell wall extensibility and ROS homeostasis, thereby highlighting the role of CAP1 in the NH4+ signal transduction pathway.