Natural variation in Arabidopsis shoot branching plasticity in response to nitrate supply affects fitness

Genetic Foundation of Leaf Senescence: Insights from Natural and Cultivated Plant Diversity

Leaf senescence, the final stage of leaf development, is crucial for plant fitness as it enhances nutrient reutilization, supporting reproductive success and overall plant adaptation. Understanding its molecular and genetic regulation is essential to improve crop resilience and productivity, particularly in the face of global climate change. This review explores the significant contributions of natural genetic diversity to our understanding of leaf senescence, focusing on insights from model plants and major crops. We discuss the physiological and adaptive significance of senescence in plant development, environmental adaptation, and agricultural productivity. The review emphasizes the importance of natural genetic variation, including studies on natural accessions, landraces, cultivars, and artificial recombinant lines to unravel the genetic basis of senescence. Various approaches, from quantitative trait loci mapping to genome-wide association analysis and in planta functional analysis, have advanced our knowledge of senescence regulation. Current studies focusing on key regulatory genes and pathways underlying natural senescence, identified from natural or recombinant accession and cultivar populations, are highlighted. We also address the adaptive implications of abiotic and biotic stress factors triggering senescence and the genetic mechanisms underlying these responses. Finally, we discuss the challenges in translating these genetic insights into crop improvement. We propose future research directions, such as expanding studies on under-researched crops, investigating multiple stress combinations, and utilizing advanced technologies, including multiomics and gene editing, to harness natural genetic diversity for crop resilience.

Strigolactone signalling inhibits trehalose 6-phosphate signalling independently of BRC1 to suppress shoot branching

The phytohormone strigolactone (SL) inhibits shoot branching, whereas the signalling metabolite trehalose 6-phosphate (Tre6P) promotes branching. How Tre6P and SL signalling may interact and which molecular mechanisms might be involved remains largely unknown. Transcript profiling of Arabidopsis SL mutants revealed a cluster of differentially expressed genes highly enriched in the Tre6P pathway compared with wild-type (WT) plants or brc1 mutants. Tre6P-related genes were also differentially expressed in axillary buds of garden pea (Pisum sativum) SL mutants. Tre6P levels were elevated in the SL signalling mutant more axillary (max) growth 2 compared with other SL mutants or WT plants indicating a role of MAX2-dependent SL signalling in regulating Tre6P levels. A transgenic approach to increase Tre6P levels demonstrated that all SL mutant lines and brc1 flowered earlier, showing all of these mutants were responsive to Tre6P. Elevated Tre6P led to increased branching in WT plants but not in max2 and max4 mutants, indicating some dependency between the SL pathway and Tre6P regulation of shoot branching. By contrast, elevated Tre6P led to an enhanced branching phenotype in brc1 mutants indicating independence between BRC1 and Tre6P. A model is proposed whereby SL signalling represses branching via Tre6P and independently of the BRC1 pathway.

Identification of the mechanistic basis of nitrogen responsiveness in two contrasting Setaria italica accessions

Nitrogen (N) is a macronutrient limiting crop productivity with varied requirements across species and genotypes. Understanding the mechanistic basis of N responsiveness by comparing contrasting genotypes could inform the development and selection of varieties with lower N demands, or inform agronomic practices to sustain yields with lower N inputs. Given the established role of millets in ensuring climate-resilient food and nutrition security, we investigated the physiological and genetic basis of nitrogen responsiveness in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.). We had previously identified genotypic variants linked to N responsiveness, and here we dissect the mechanistic basis of the trait by examining the physiological and molecular behaviour of N responsive (NRp-SI58) and non-responsive (NNRp-SI114) accessions at high and low N. Under high N, NRp-SI58 allocates significantly more biomass to nodes, internodes and roots, more N to developing grains, and is more effective at remobilizing flag leaf N compared with NNRp-SI114. Post-anthesis flag leaf gene expression suggests that differences in N induce much higher transcript abundance in NNRp-SI114 than NRp-SI58, a large proportion of which is potentially regulated by APETALA2 (AP2) transcription factors. Overall, the study provides novel insights into the regulation and manipulation of N responsiveness in S. italica.

CLAVATA signaling in plant-environment interactions

Plants must rapidly and dynamically adapt to changes in their environment. Upon sensing environmental signals, plants convert them into cellular signals, which elicit physiological or developmental changes that allow them to respond to various abiotic and biotic cues. Because plants can be simultaneously exposed to multiple environmental cues, signal integration between plant cells, tissues, and organs is necessary to induce specific responses. Recently, CLAVATA3/EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION-related (CLE) peptides and their cognate CLAVATA-type receptors received increased attention for their roles in plant-environment interactions. CLE peptides are mobile signaling molecules, many of which are induced by a variety of biotic and abiotic stimuli. Secreted CLE peptides are perceived by receptor complexes on the surface of their target cells, which often include the leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase CLAVATA1. Receptor activation then results in cell-type and/or environment-specific responses. This review summarizes our current understanding of the diverse roles of environment-regulated CLE peptides in modulating plant responses to environmental cues. We highlight how CLE signals regulate plant physiology by fine-tuning plant-microbe interactions, nutrient homeostasis, and carbon allocation. Finally, we describe the role of CLAVATA receptors in the perception of environment-induced CLE signals and discuss how diverse CLE-CLAVATA signaling modules may integrate environmental signals with plant physiology and development.

S1 basic leucine zipper transcription factors shape plant architecture by controlling C/N partitioning to apical and lateral organs

Plants tightly control growth of their lateral organs, which led to the concept of apical dominance. However, outgrowth of the dormant lateral primordia is sensitive to the plant's nutritional status, resulting in an immense plasticity in plant architecture. While the impact of hormonal regulation on apical dominance is well characterized, the prime importance of sugar signaling to unleash lateral organ formation has just recently emerged. Here, we aimed to identify transcriptional regulators, which control the trade-off between growth of apical versus lateral organs. Making use of locally inducible gain-of-function as well as single and higher-order loss-of-function approaches of the sugar-responsive S1-basic-leucine-zipper (S1-bZIP) transcription factors, we disclosed their largely redundant function in establishing apical growth dominance. Consistently, comprehensive phenotypical and analytical studies of S1-bZIP mutants show a clear shift of sugar and organic nitrogen (N) allocation from apical to lateral organs, coinciding with strong lateral organ outgrowth. Tissue-specific transcriptomics reveal specific clade III SWEET sugar transporters, crucial for long-distance sugar transport to apical sinks and the glutaminase GLUTAMINE AMIDO-TRANSFERASE 1_2.1, involved in N homeostasis, as direct S1-bZIP targets, linking the architectural and metabolic mutant phenotypes to downstream gene regulation. Based on these results, we propose that S1-bZIPs control carbohydrate (C) partitioning from source leaves to apical organs and tune systemic N supply to restrict lateral organ formation by C/N depletion. Knowledge of the underlying mechanisms controlling plant C/N partitioning is of pivotal importance for breeding strategies to generate plants with desired architectural and nutritional characteristics.

Tapping into the plasticity of plant architecture for increased stress resilience

Plant architecture develops post-embryonically and emerges from a dialogue between the developmental signals and environmental cues. Length and branching of the vegetative and reproductive tissues were the focus of improvement of plant performance from the early days of plant breeding. Current breeding priorities are changing, as we need to prioritize plant productivity under increasingly challenging environmental conditions. While it has been widely recognized that plant architecture changes in response to the environment, its contribution to plant productivity in the changing climate remains to be fully explored. This review will summarize prior discoveries of genetic control of plant architecture traits and their effect on plant performance under environmental stress. We review new tools in phenotyping that will guide future discoveries of genes contributing to plant architecture, its plasticity, and its contributions to stress resilience. Subsequently, we provide a perspective into how integrating the study of new species, modern phenotyping techniques, and modeling can lead to discovering new genetic targets underlying the plasticity of plant architecture and stress resilience. Altogether, this review provides a new perspective on the plasticity of plant architecture and how it can be harnessed for increased performance under environmental stress.

Artificial selection reveals complex genetic architecture of shoot branching and its response to nitrate supply in Arabidopsis

Quantitative traits may be controlled by many loci, many alleles at each locus, and subject to genotype-by-environment interactions, making them difficult to map. One example of such a complex trait is shoot branching in the model plant Arabidopsis, and its plasticity in response to nitrate. Here, we use artificial selection under contrasting nitrate supplies to dissect the genetic architecture of this complex trait, where loci identified by association mapping failed to explain heritability estimates. We found a consistent response to selection for high branching, with correlated responses in other traits such as plasticity and flowering time. Genome-wide scans for selection and simulations suggest that at least tens of loci control this trait, with a distinct genetic architecture between low and high nitrate treatments. While signals of selection could be detected in the populations selected for high branching on low nitrate, there was very little overlap in the regions selected in three independent populations. Thus the regulatory network controlling shoot branching can be tuned in different ways to give similar phenotypes.

Variation in morpho-physiological and metabolic responses to low nitrogen stress across the sorghum association panel

BACKGROUND

Access to biologically available nitrogen is a key constraint on plant growth in both natural and agricultural settings. Variation in tolerance to nitrogen deficit stress and productivity in nitrogen limited conditions exists both within and between plant species. However, our understanding of changes in different phenotypes under long term low nitrogen stress and their impact on important agronomic traits, such as yield, is still limited.

RESULTS

Here we quantified variation in the metabolic, physiological, and morphological responses of a sorghum association panel assembled to represent global genetic diversity to long term, nitrogen deficit stress and the relationship of these responses to grain yield under both conditions. Grain yield exhibits substantial genotype by environment interaction while many other morphological and physiological traits exhibited consistent responses to nitrogen stress across the population. Large scale nontargeted metabolic profiling for a subset of lines in both conditions identified a range of metabolic responses to long term nitrogen deficit stress. Several metabolites were associated with yield under high and low nitrogen conditions.

CONCLUSION

Our results highlight that grain yield in sorghum, unlike many morpho-physiological traits, exhibits substantial variability of genotype specific responses to long term low severity nitrogen deficit stress. Metabolic response to long term nitrogen stress shown higher proportion of variability explained by genotype specific responses than did morpho-pysiological traits and several metabolites were correlated with yield. This suggest, that it might be possible to build predictive models using metabolite abundance to estimate which sorghum genotypes will exhibit greater or lesser decreases in yield in response to nitrogen deficit, however further research needs to be done to evaluate such model.

Active and adaptive plasticity in a changing climate

Better understanding of the mechanistic basis of plant plasticity will enhance efforts to breed crops resilient to predicted climate change. However, complexity in plasticity's conceptualisation and measurement may hinder fruitful crossover of concepts between disciplines that would enable such advances. We argue active adaptive plasticity is particularly important in shaping the fitness of wild plants, representing the first line of a plant's defence to environmental change. Here, we define how this concept may be applied to crop breeding, suggest appropriate approaches to measure it in crops, and propose a refocussing on active adaptive plasticity to enhance crop resilience. We also discuss how the same concept may have wider utility, such as in ex situ plant conservation and reintroductions.

Increased branching independent of strigolactone in cytokinin oxidase 2-overexpressing tomato is mediated by reduced auxin transport

Tomato production is influenced by shoot branching, which is controlled by different hormones. Here we produced tomato plants overexpressing the cytokinin-deactivating gene CYTOKININ OXYDASE 2 (CKX2). CKX2-overexpressing (CKX2-OE) plants showed an excessive growth of axillary shoots, the opposite phenotype expected for plants with reduced cytokinin content, as evidenced by LC-MS analysis and ARR5-GUS staining. The TCP transcription factor SlBRC1b was downregulated in the axillary buds of CKX2-OE and its excessive branching was dependent on a functional version of the GRAS-family gene LATERAL SUPPRESSOR (LS). Grafting experiments indicated that increased branching in CKX2-OE plants is unlikely to be mediated by root-derived signals. Crossing CKX2-OE plants with transgenic antisense plants for the strigolactone biosynthesis gene CAROTENOID CLEAVAGE DIOXYGENASE (CCD7-AS) produced an additive phenotype, indicating independent effects of cytokinin and strigolactones on increased branching. On the other hand, CKX2-OE plants showed reduced polar auxin transport and their bud outgrowth was reduced when combined with auxin mutants. Accordingly, CKX2-OE basal buds did not respond to auxin applied in the decapitated apex. Our results suggest that tomato shoot branching depends on a fine-tuning of different hormonal balances and that perturbations in the auxin status could compensate for the reduced cytokinin levels in CKX2-OE plants.

Root Pulling Force Across Drought in Maize Reveals Genotype by Environment Interactions and Candidate Genes

High-throughput, field-based characterization of root systems for hundreds of genotypes in thousands of plots is necessary for breeding and identifying loci underlying variation in root traits and their plasticity. We designed a large-scale sampling of root pulling force, the vertical force required to extract the root system from the soil, in a maize diversity panel under differing irrigation levels for two growing seasons. We then characterized the root system architecture of the extracted root crowns. We found consistent patterns of phenotypic plasticity for root pulling force for a subset of genotypes under differential irrigation, suggesting that root plasticity is predictable. Using genome-wide association analysis, we identified 54 SNPs as statistically significant for six independent root pulling force measurements across two irrigation levels and four developmental timepoints. For every significant GWAS SNP for any trait in any treatment and timepoint we conducted post hoc tests for genotype-by-environment interaction, using a mixed model ANOVA. We found that 8 of the 54 SNPs showed significant GxE. Candidate genes underlying variation in root pulling force included those involved in nutrient transport. Although they are often treated separately, variation in the ability of plant roots to sense and respond to variation in environmental resources including water and nutrients may be linked by the genes and pathways underlying this variation. While functional validation of the identified genes is needed, our results expand the current knowledge of root phenotypic plasticity at the whole plant and gene levels, and further elucidate the complex genetic architecture of maize root systems.

Evidence that class I glutamine amidotransferase, GAT1_2.1, acts as a glutaminase in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana

The glutamine amidotransferase gene GAT1_2.1 is a marker of N status in Arabidopsis root, linked to a shoot branching phenotype. The protein has an N-terminal glutamine amidotransferase domain and a C-terminal extension with no recognizable protein domain. A purified, recombinant version of the glutamine amidotransferase domain was catalytically active as a glutaminase, with apparent K_m value of 0.66 mM and V_max value of 2.6 μkatal per mg. This form complemented an E. coli glutaminase mutant, ΔYneH. Spiking of root metabolite extracts with either the N-terminal or full length form purified from transformed tobacco leaves led to reciprocal changes in glutamine and ammonia concentration. No product derived from amido-¹⁵N-labeled glutamine was identified. Visualization of GAT1_2.1-YPF transiently expressed in tobacco leaves confirmed its mitochondrial localization. gat1_2.1 exhibited reduced growth as compared with wild-type seedlings on media with glutamine as sole nitrogen source. Results of targeted metabolite profiling pointed to a possible activation of the GABA shunt in the mutant following glutamine treatments, with reduced levels of glutamic acid, 2-oxoglutarate and γ-aminobutyric acid and increased levels of succinic acid. GAT1_2.1 may act as a glutaminase, in concert with Glutamate Dehydrogenase 2, to hydrolyze glutamine and channel 2-oxoglutarate to the TCA cycle under high nitrogen conditions.

Plasticity of rosette size in response to nitrogen availability is controlled by an RCC1-family protein

Nitrogen (N) is fundamental to plant growth, development and yield. Genes underlying N utilization and assimilation are well-characterized, but mechanisms underpinning plasticity of different phenotypes in response to N remain elusive. Here, using Arabidopsis thaliana accessions, we dissected the genetic architecture of plasticity in early and late rosette diameter, flowering time and yield, in response to three levels of N in the soil. Furthermore, we found that the plasticity in levels of primary metabolites were related with the plasticities of the studied traits. Genome-wide association analysis identified three significant associations for phenotypic plasticity, one for early rosette diameter and two for flowering time. We confirmed that the gene At1g19880, hereafter named as PLASTICITY OF ROSETTE TO NITROGEN 1 (PROTON1), encoding for a regulator of chromatin condensation 1 (RCC1) family protein, conferred plasticity of rosette diameter in response to N. Treatment of PROTON1 T-DNA line with salt implied that the reduced plasticity of early rosette diameter was not a general growth response to stress. We further showed that plasticities of growth and flowering-related traits differed between environmental cues, indicating decoupled genetic programs regulating these traits. Our findings provide a prospective to identify genes that stabilize performance under fluctuating environments.

Population-specific causal disease effect sizes in functionally important regions impacted by selection

Many diseases exhibit population-specific causal effect sizes with trans-ethnic genetic correlations significantly less than 1, limiting trans-ethnic polygenic risk prediction. We develop a new method, S-LDXR, for stratifying squared trans-ethnic genetic correlation across genomic annotations, and apply S-LDXR to genome-wide summary statistics for 31 diseases and complex traits in East Asians (average N = 90K) and Europeans (average N = 267K) with an average trans-ethnic genetic correlation of 0.85. We determine that squared trans-ethnic genetic correlation is 0.82× (s.e. 0.01) depleted in the top quintile of background selection statistic, implying more population-specific causal effect sizes. Accordingly, causal effect sizes are more population-specific in functionally important regions, including conserved and regulatory regions. In regions surrounding specifically expressed genes, causal effect sizes are most population-specific for skin and immune genes, and least population-specific for brain genes. Our results could potentially be explained by stronger gene-environment interaction at loci impacted by selection, particularly positive selection.

Accession-specific flowering time variation in response to nitrate fluctuation in Arabidopsis thalian a

Flowering time, a key transition point from vegetative to reproductive growth, is regulated by an intrinsic complex of endogenous and exogenous signals including nutrient status. For hundreds of years, nitrogen has been well known to modulate flowering time, but the molecular genetic basis on how plants adapt to ever-changing nitrogen availability remains not fully explored. Here we explore how Arabidopsis natural variation in flowering time responds to nitrate fluctuation. Upon nitrate availability change, we detect accession- and photoperiod-specific flowering responses, which also feature a accession-specific dependency on growth traits. The flowering time variation correlates well with the expression of floral integrators, SOC1 and FT, in an accession-specific manner. We find that gene expression variation of key hub genes in the photoperiod-circadian-clock (GI), aging (SPLs) and autonomous (FLC) pathways associates with the expression change of these integrators, hence flowering time variation. Our results thus shed light on the molecular genetic mechanisms on regulation of accession- and photoperiod-specific flowering time variation in response to nitrate availability.

Multiparental Population in Crops: Methods of Development and Dissection of Genetic Traits

Multiparental populations are located midway between association mapping that relies on germplasm collections and classic linkage analysis, based upon biparental populations. They provide several key advantages such as the possibility to include a higher number of alleles and increased level of recombination with respect to biparental populations, and more equilibrated allelic frequencies than association mapping panels. Moreover, in these populations new allele's combinations arise from recombination that may reveal transgressive phenotypes and make them a useful pre-breeding material. Here we describe the strategies for working with multiparental populations, focusing on nested association mapping populations (NAM) and multiparent advanced generation intercross populations (MAGIC). We provide details from the selection of founders, population development, and characterization to the statistical methods for genetic mapping and quantitative trait detection.

Natural variation in autumn expression is the major adaptive determinant distinguishing Arabidopsis FLC haplotypes

In Arabidopsis thaliana, winter is registered during vernalization through the temperature-dependent repression and epigenetic silencing of floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). Natural Arabidopsis accessions show considerable variation in vernalization. However, which aspect of the FLC repression mechanism is most important for adaptation to different environments is unclear. By analysing FLC dynamics in natural variants and mutants throughout winter in three field sites, we find that autumnal FLC expression, rather than epigenetic silencing, is the major variable conferred by the distinct Arabidopsis FLChaplotypes. This variation influences flowering responses of Arabidopsis accessions resulting in an interplay between promotion and delay of flowering in different climates to balance survival and, through a post-vernalization effect, reproductive output. These data reveal how expression variation through non-coding cis variation at FLC has enabled Arabidopsis accessions to adapt to different climatic conditions and year-on-year fluctuations.

Cold acclimation has a differential effect on leaf vascular bundle structure and carbon export rates in natural Arabidopsis accessions originating from southern and northern Europe

Acclimation to low but non-freezing temperature represents an ecologically important process for Arabidopsis thaliana but also for many other plant species from temperate regions. Cold acclimation comprises and affects numerous molecular and physiological processes and the maintenance of sugar supply of sink tissue by photosynthetically active source tissue is essential for plant survival. Here, changes in vascular bundle (VB) structure at the leaf petiole were analysed together with sucrose exudation rates before and after cold acclimation. Six natural Arabidopsis accessions originating from southern and northern Europe were compared. Photosynthetic efficiency, that is, maximum and effective quantum yield of photosystem II, revealed a significant effect of environmental condition. Only for northern accessions was a highly significant negative correlation observed between leaf sucrose exudation rates, xylem, and petiole cross-sectional areas. Furthermore, only for northern accessions was a significant increase of VB and leaf petiole cross-sectional area observed during cold acclimation. In contrast, variance of cross-sectional areas of cold acclimated southern accessions was strongly reduced compared to control plants, while mean areas remained similar under both conditions. In summary, these findings suggest that natural Arabidopsis accessions from northern Europe significantly adjust sink strength and leaf VB structure to maintain plant growth and photosynthesis under low temperature.