Abstract
Simple SummaryNitrogen (N) limitation is the key factor for wheat production worldwide. Therefore, the development of genotypes with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is a prerequisite for sustainable and productive agriculture. Exploring the molecular mechanisms of low N stress tolerance is significant for breeding wheat cultivars with high NUE. To clarify the underlying molecular mechanisms of enhanced resilience to low N in high-NUE wheat, we performed an RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis. In the current research, two wheat near-isogenic lines (NILs) differing dramatically in NUE were used to measure gene expression differences under different N treatments. There was a dramatic difference between two wheat NILs in response to N deficiency at the transcriptional level, and the classification of identified candidate genes may provide new valuable insights into the resilience mechanism of wheat.The development of crop cultivars with high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) under low-N fertilizer inputs is imperative for sustainable agriculture. However, there has been little research on the molecular mechanisms underlying enhanced resilience to low N in high-NUE plants. The comparison of the transcriptional responses of genotypes contrasting for NUE will facilitate an understanding of the key molecular mechanism of wheat resilience to low-N stress. In the current study, the RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technique was employed to investigate the genotypic difference in response to N deficiency between two wheat NILs (1Y, high-NUE, and 1W, low-NUE). In our research, high- and low-NUE wheat NILs showed different patterns of gene expression under N-deficient conditions, and these N-responsive genes were classified into two major classes, including “frontloaded genes” and “relatively upregulated genes”. In total, 103 and 45 genes were identified as frontloaded genes in high-NUE and low-NUE wheat, respectively. In summary, our study might provide potential directions for further understanding the molecular mechanism of high-NUE genotypes adapting to low-N stress.
Highlights
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the important major cereal crops all over the world and plays a crucial role in agricultural productivity [1]
One set of wheat near-isogenic lines (NILs) was used in the study, and 1Y and 1W were considered as high-nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and low-NUE, respectively [25]
These results indicated that N deficiency restrained the growth of wheat despite the NUE performance
Summary
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the important major cereal crops all over the world and plays a crucial role in agricultural productivity [1]. The current increase in production cost is largely due to the excessive use of N fertilizer in agriculture. Further yield increases through an additional N fertilizer supply are very limited. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is very low in wheat, as only less than half of the N fertilizer applied could be used by crops [5], and the remaining N causes serious environmental pollution and resource waste [6,7]. Excessive fertilizer application has become a major problem in crop production [8], and there is an urgent need to reduce the rate of N application without compromising crop yields. An appropriate reduction in nutrient supply does not necessarily result in a dramatic decrease in yield and may stimulate more efficient use of this application [9]
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