Abstract
BackgroundDevelopment of crop cultivars with high low nitrogen (LN) tolerance or nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is imperative for sustainable agriculture development. Tibetan wild barley is rich in genetic diversity and may provide elite genes for LN tolerance improvement. Little has been known about transcriptional responses of the wild barley to chronic LN stress.ResultsIn this study, transcriptomic profiling of two Tibetan wild barley genotypes, LN- tolerant XZ149 and LN-sensitive XZ56 has been conducted using RNA-Seq to reveal the genotypic difference in response to chronic LN stress. A total of 520 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the two genotypes at 12 d after LN stress, and these DEGs could be mainly mapped to 49 metabolism pathways. Chronic LN stress lead to genotype-dependent responses, and the responsive pattern in favor of root growth and stress tolerance may be the possible mechanisms of the higher chronic LN tolerance in XZ149.ConclusionThere was a distinct difference in transcriptional profiling between the two wild barley genotypes in response to chronic LN stress. The identified new candidate genes related to LN tolerance may cast a light on the development of cultivars with LN tolerance.
Highlights
Development of crop cultivars with high low nitrogen (LN) tolerance or nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is imperative for sustainable agriculture development
Effect of LN stress on growth performances of two wild barley genotypes XZ149 and XZ56 used in this study exhibited a distinct difference in plant growth at 12 d under LN stress (Fig. 1)
Considering the fine tuning between NRT2.1 expression and ethylene biosynthesis under LN level [46], it may be suggested that the up-regulation of MLOC_34709 in Conclusion The current study identified the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in barley roots, which respond to chronic (12 days) LN stress
Summary
Development of crop cultivars with high low nitrogen (LN) tolerance or nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is imperative for sustainable agriculture development. Tibetan wild barley is rich in genetic diversity and may provide elite genes for LN tolerance improvement. As an essential component of key macromolecules, nitrogen (N) is quantitatively the most important mineral nutrient for plants [1]. The main problem is the fact that crop plants only use less than half of the applied N [3], with the remaining N causing severe environmental pollution. There is an impending need to realize high productivity while decreasing the rate of N application. This necessitates a comprehensive understanding of molecular mechanisms
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