COMMENTARIES

Genomic Basis of Rice Adaptation to Soil Nitrogen Status

Expand
  • State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China

Received date: 2020-12-25

  Accepted date: 2020-12-29

  Online published: 2021-01-06

Abstract

Crop productivity relies heavily on inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilization, while excess application of N fertilizers results in detrimental effects on ecosystem and plant developmental process. Thus, the improvement of crop N use efficiency (NUE) is critical for the development of sustainable agriculture. Thus far, significant advances in understanding the regulation of NUE have been achieved in rice (Oryza sativa), one of the most important food crops. Several key transporter and regulatory genes involved in N uptake, translocation, and metabolism have been cloned and characterized in rice. However, the genetic mechanisms underlying the geographic adaptation of rice to the change of local soil N status remain elusive. Recently, a team led by Prof. Chengcai Chu, in Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, evaluated the responses to N supplies of rice germplasm resources collected from different eco-geographical regions worldwide. By performing genome-wide association study on rice tillering response to N (TRN), OsTCP19 is identified as a repressor of TRN, and a 29 bp InDel polymorphism in its promoter determines TRN variations among the rice varieties. OsTCP19 regulates TRN by inhibiting the transcription of DLT, a tiller-promoting gene, whilst the transcription of OsTCP19 itself is controlled by a N responsive suppressor LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES DOMAIN (LBD) protein. Notably, OsTCP19 haplotypes were selected among rice germplasms and correlated with local soil N content. This study not only reveals the genetic basis of geographic adaptation of cultivated rice to the changes of soil N environment, but also provides novel genetic candidates for effective breeding of higher NUE rice cultivars.

Cite this article

Wei Xuan, Guohua Xu . Genomic Basis of Rice Adaptation to Soil Nitrogen Status[J]. Chinese Bulletin of Botany, 2021 , 56(1) : 1 -5 . DOI: 10.11983/CBB20208

References

[1] Fan XR, Tang Z, Tan YW, Zhang Y, Luo BB, Yang M, Lian XM, Shen QR, Miller AJ, Xu GH (2016). Overexpression of a pH-sensitive nitrate transporter in rice increases crop yields. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113, 7118-7123.
[2] Gao ZY, Wang YF, Chen G, Zhang AP, Yang SL, Shang LG, Wang DY, Ruan BP, Liu CL, Jiang HZ, Dong GJ, Zhu L, Hu J, Zhang GH, Zeng DL, Guo LB, Xu GH, Teng S, Harberd NP, Qian Q (2019). The indica nitrate reductase gene OsNR2 allele enhances rice yield potential and nitrogen use efficiency. Nat Commun 10, 5207.
[3] Guo JH, Liu XJ, Zhang Y, Shen JL, Han WX, Zhang WF, Christie P, Goulding KWT, Vitousek PM, Zhang FS (2010). Significant acidification in major Chinese crop-lands. Science 327, 1008-1010.
[4] Hu B, Wang W, Ou SJ, Tang JY, Li H, Che RH, Zhang ZH, Chai XY, Wang HR, Wang YQ, Liang CZ, Liu LC, Piao ZZ, Deng QY, Deng K, Xu C, Liang Y, Zhang LH, Li LG, Chu CC (2015). Variation in NRT1.1B contributes to nitrate-use divergence between rice subspecies. Nat Genet 47, 834-838.
[5] Li S, Tian YH, Wu K, Ye YF, Yu JP, Zhang JQ, Liu Q, Hu MY, Li H, Tong YP, Harberd NP, Fu XD (2018). Modulating plant growth-metabolism coordination for sustainable agriculture. Nature 560, 595-600.
[6] Liu YQ, Wang HR, Jiang ZM, Wang W, Xu RN, Wang QH, Zhang ZH, Li AF, Liang Y, Ou SJ, Liu XJ, Cao SY, Tong HN, Wang YH, Zhou F, Liao H, Hu B, Chu CC (2021). Genomic basis of geographical adaptation to soil nitrogen in rice. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-03091-w.
[7] Stevens CJ (2019). Nitrogen in the environment. Science 363, 578-580.
[8] Sun HY, Qian Q, Wu K, Luo JJ, Wang SS, Zhang CW, Ma YF, Liu Q, Huang XZ, Yuan QB, Han RX, Zhao M, Dong GJ, Guo LB, Zhu XD, Gou ZH, Wang W, Wu YJ, Lin HX, Fu XD (2014). Heterotrimeric G protein regulate nitrogen-use efficiency in rice. Nat Genet 46, 652-656.
[9] Tang WJ, Ye J, Yao XM, Zhao PZ, Xuan W, Tian YL, Zhang YY, Xu S, An HZ, Chen GM, Yu J, Wu W, Ge YW, Liu XL, Li J, Zhang HZ, Zhao YQ, Yang B, Jiang XZ, Peng C, Zhou C, Terzaghi W, Wang CM, Wan JM (2019). Genome-wide associated study identifies NAC42- activated nitrate transporter conferring high nitrogen use efficiency in rice. Nat Commun 10, 5279.
[10] Wang Q, Nian JQ, Xie XZ, Yu H, Zhang J, Bai JT, Dong GJ, Hu J, Bai B, Chen LC, Xie QJ, Feng J, Yang XL, Peng JL, Chen F, Qian Q, Li JY, Zuo J (2018). Genetic variations in ARE1 mediate grain yield by modulating nitrogen utilization in rice. Nat Commun 9, 735.
[11] Wang SS, Chen AQ, Xie K, Yang XF, Luo ZZ, Chen JD, Zeng DC, Ren YH, Yang CF, Wang LX, Feng HM, López-Arredondo DL, Herrera-Estrella LR, Xu GH (2020). Functional analysis of the OsNPF4.5 nitrate transporter reveals a conserved mycorrhizal pathway of nitrogen acquisition in plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 117, 16649-16659.
[12] Wu K, Wang SS, Song WZ, Zhang JQ, Wang Y, Liu Q, Yu JP, Ye YF, Li S, Chen JF, Zhao Y, Wang J, Wu XK, Wang MY, Zhang YJ, Liu BM, Wu YJ, Harberd NP, Fu XD (2020). Enhanced sustainable green revolution yield via nitrogen-responsive chromatin modulation in rice. Science 367, eaaz2046.
[13] Xu GH, Fan XR, Miller AJ (2012). Plant nitrogen assimilation and use efficiency. Ann Rev Plant Biol 63, 153-182.
[14] Zhang JY, Liu YX, Zhang N, Hu B, Jin T, Xu HR, Qin Y, Yan PX, Zhang XN, Guo XX, Hui J, Cao SY, Wang X, Wang C, Wang H, Qu BY, Fan GY, Yuan LX, Garrido-Oter R, Chu CC, Bai Y (2019). NRT1.1B is associated with root microbiota composition and nitrogen use in field-grown rice. Nat Biotechnol 37, 676-684.
[15] Zhang S, Zhang Y, Li K, Yan M, Zhang JF, Yu M, Tang S, Wang LY, Qu HY, Luo L, Xuan W, Xu GH (2020). Nitrogen mediates flowering time and nitrogen use efficiency via floral regulators in rice. Curr Biol 31, 1-13.
Outlines

/