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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412036
Research Project: Championing Improvement of Sorghum and Other Agriculturally Important Species through Data Stewardship and Functional Dissection of Complex Traits

Location: Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research

Title: Decoding Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Maize and Sorghum: Insights from Comparative Gene Regulatory Networks for Sustainable Agriculture

Author
item BRAYNEN, JANEEN - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
item ZHANG, LIFANG - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
item KUMARI, SUNITA - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
item OLSON, ANDREW - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
item KUMAR, VIVEK - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
item REGULSKI, MICHAEL - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
item LISERON-MONFILS, CHRISTOPHE - National Research Council - Canada
item GAUDINIER, ALLISON - University Of California Berkeley
item FRANK, MARY - Corteva Agriscience
item Ware, Doreen
item SHEN, BO - Corteva Agriscience
item KOCHAIN, LEON - University Of Saskatchewan
item BRADY, SIOBHAN - University Of California, Davis

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/29/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The dual role of nitrogen in plant growth is essential yet potentially harmful in excess, posing challenges for agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. Understanding plant adaptation to varying nitrogen levels is crucial for developing crops with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). This study aimed to: 1) identify conserved regulatory architectures between dicots and monocots using Yeast One-Hybrid (Y1H) Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs), and 2) characterize subnetworks within these GRNs related to nitrogen limitation and recovery in maize and sorghum. We constructed a maize-specific GRN, comprising 1625 Protein-DNA Interactions (PDIs) with 70 promoters and 301 transcription factors (TFs), and compared it to an existing Arabidopsis GRN. Our analysis revealed that 18% of the conserved interactions in the Arabidopsis GRN were matched by 11% in maize, indicating weaker conservation among transporter genes but significant conservation in the nitrate assimilation pathway (38 PDIs in Arabidopsis, 65 PDIs in maize). The bZIP family of transcription factors emerged as key regulators in maize, especially bZIP18/bZIP30, which demonstrated substantial outdegree interactions and feed-forward loops. Under hydroponic conditions with varying ammonium nitrate concentrations, maize and sorghum plants were grown and their leaf and root tissues sampled for RNA-seq analysis. Both species exhibited variable proportions of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across different time points and tissues. In maize, DEGs peaked at 38% in leaves after 3 hours and 27% in roots during the 24.5-hour recovery phase. Sorghum displayed 35% of genes differentially expressed in leaves at 3 hours and 27% in roots at 24.5 hours. Among various transcription factors, maize and sorghum showed divergent expression patterns, particularly within the bZIP family and NIN-LIKE PROTEIN (NLP) transcription factors known for nitrogen regulation. This study illuminates complex genomic regulatory frameworks underpinning plant adaptability to fluctuating nitrogen levels, providing valuable insights for selecting genotypes with enhanced NUE, contributing to sustainable agricultural practices. This project was funded by the USDA-ARS award number 8062-21000-044-000D.