Abstract
Nitrogen (N) is needed for plant growth and development and is the major limiting nutrient due to its higher demand in agricultural production globally. The use of N fertilizers has increased considerably in recent years to achieve higher cereal yields. High N inputs coupled with declining N use efficiency (NUE) result in the degradation of the environment. Plants have developed multidimensional strategies in response to changes in N availability in soil. These strategies include N stress-induced responses such as changes in gene expression patterns. Several N stress-induced genes and other regulatory factors, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), have been identified in different plant species, opening a new avenue of research in plant biology. This review presents a general overview of miRNA-mediated regulation of N response and NUE. Further, the in-silico target predictions and the predicted miRNA-gene network for nutrient metabolism/homeostasis in wheat provide novel insights. The information on N-regulated miRNAs and the differentially expressed target transcripts are necessary resources for genetic improvement of NUE by genome editing.
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Acknowledgements
Authors are thankful to the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (Project-CRSCIARISIL20144047279) and SERB DST (Project: ECR/2017/002982) for funding. SD acknowledges ICAR- Junior research fellowship received during the course of the study.
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Das, S., Sathee, L. miRNA mediated regulation of nitrogen response and nitrogen use efficiency of plants: the case of wheat. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 29, 1371–1394 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-023-01336-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-023-01336-2