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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Cereal Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #409095
Research Project: Harnessing Multi-omics for Augmenting Seed Quality and Stress Tolerance in Barley

Location: Cereal Crops Research

Title: Overexpression of SLIM1 transcription factor accelerates vegetative development in Arabidopsis thaliana

Author
item APODIAKOU, ANASTASIA - Max Planck Institute Of Molecular Plant Physiology
item ALSEEKH, SALEH - Max Planck Institute Of Molecular Plant Physiology
item HOEFGEN, RAINER - Max Planck Institute Of Molecular Plant Physiology
item Whitcomb, Sarah

Submitted to: The Plant Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2024
Publication Date: 3/19/2024
Citation: Apodiakou, A., Alseekh, S., Hoefgen, R., Whitcomb, S.J. 2024. Overexpression of SLIM1 transcription factor accelerates vegetative development in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Journal. Volume 15-2024. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1327152.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1327152

Interpretive Summary: Early maturity and total leaf area are two traits that may become increasingly important to farmers as the climate changes. Here we identify a gene, SLIM1, that when expressed at high levels in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana results in plants that have approximately 2-fold greater leaf area and reach maturity 15% earlier. Crops with greater leaf area will tend to capture more light energy, have better weed suppression without the use of herbicides, and will be more water efficient due to less evaporation from soil. Earlier maturing crops may help farmers maintain yield in a less predictable climate by avoiding biotic and/or abiotic stress periods that tend to intensify later in the growing season.

Technical Abstract: The transcription factor Sulfur Limitation1 (SLIM1) belongs to the plant-specific Ethylene Insenstive3-Like (EIL) transcription factor family and is known to coordinate gene expression in response to sulfur deficiency (-S) and to regulate storage protein composition during seed development under -S. Roles of SLIM1 in nutrient-sufficient conditions have not been characterized. We generated constitutive SLIM1 overexpression lines in Arabidopsis thaliana and identified several distinct phenotypes in nutrient-sufficient conditions. OxSLIM1 plants not only have larger rosette area, potentially due to increased cell numbers per leaf, but also bolt earlier than Col-0 and slim1KO plants indicating faster development. Photosynthesis-associated genes (PAG) were downregulated, while senescence-associated genes (SAG) were upregulated in OxSLIM1. This suggested that OxSLIM1 plants transition to developmental senescence earlier than Col-0 and slim1KOs. Remobilization of N-containing compounds from source to sink tissue is a hallmark of developmental senescence, and total NO3 content in OxSLIM1 rosettes is lower than in controls, reaching levels late in development known to trigger nitrate starvation responses. Differential gene expression analysis relative to Col-0 at three timepoints on a set of slim1KO and two OxSLIM1 lines allowed us to identify 1731 genes regulated directly or indirectly by SLIM1 in vivo.