Abstract
Main conclusion
This is a first comprehensive study to analyze the 12 PHT1 family phosphate transporter genes in 20 foxtail millet genotypes for the improvement of millets and other crops for phosphate use efficiency.
Abstract
Phosphorus (P), absorbed from soil solutions as inorganic phosphate (Pi), is a limiting nutrient for plant growth and yield. Twenty genotypes of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) with contrasting degree of growth and Pi uptake responses under low Pi (LP) and high Pi (HP) supply were chosen based on a previous study. To gain molecular insights, expression dynamics of 12 PHosphate Transporter 1 (PHT1) family (SiPHT1;1 to 1;12) genes were analyzed in these 20 genotypes and compared with their Pi and total P (TP) contents. SiPHT1;1, 1;2, 1;3 and 1;8 genes were expressed in shoot tissues of three (ISe 1209, ISe 1305 and Co-6) of the LP best performing genotypes (LPBG); however, they were expressed in only one of the LP worst performing genotype (LPWG) (ISe 748). More importantly, this is correlating with higher shoot Pi and TP contents of the LPBG compared to LPWG. Apart from this condition, expression of SiPHT1 genes and their Pi and TP contents do not correlate directly for many genotypes in other conditions; genotypes with low Pi and TP contents induced more SiPHT1 genes and vice versa. Promoter analysis revealed that genotype ISe 1888 with a high level of SiPHT1;8 expression possesses two additional root box motifs compared to other genotypes. The PHT1 family genes seem to play a key role for LP stress tolerance in foxtail millet and further studies will help to improve the P-use efficiency in foxtail millet and other cereals.
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Abbreviations
- BG:
-
Best performing genotypes
- H(L)PBG:
-
High (low)-phosphate best performing genotypes
- H(L)PWG:
-
High (low)-phosphate worst performing genotypes
- PHT1:
-
PHosphate Transporter 1
- Pi:
-
Inorganic phosphate
- PUE:
-
P-use efficiency
- TF:
-
Transcription factors
- WG:
-
Worst performing genotypes
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad, India and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India for providing foxtail millet seeds.
Funding
The research works in our lab are funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India under grant [BT/PR21321/GET/119/76/2016]. The funders had no role in study design, experiment, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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SAC, TM and GVR conceived and designed the experiments. TM, GVR, TPAK and SAC performed the experiments and analyzed the data. TM and SAC wrote the manuscript. SAC and SI contributed reagents and materials. SAC and SI assisted, edited and contributed in critically revising and improving the manuscript for publication.
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Communicated by Dorothea Bartels.
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Roch, G.V., Maharajan, T., Krishna, T.P.A. et al. Expression of PHT1 family transporter genes contributes for low phosphate stress tolerance in foxtail millet (Setaria italica) genotypes. Planta 252, 98 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-020-03503-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-020-03503-1