Phosphate or nitrate imbalance induces stronger molecular responses than combined nutrient deprivation in roots and leaves of chickpea plants

The negative effects of phosphate (Pi) and/or nitrate (NO3-) fertilizers on the environment have raised an urgent need to develop crop varieties with higher Pi and/or nitrogen use efficiencies for cultivation in low-fertility soils. Achieving this goal depends upon research that focuses on the identification of genes involved in plant responses to Pi and/or NO3- starvation. Although plant responses to individual deficiency in either Pi (-Pi/+NO3-) or NO3- (+Pi/-NO3-) have been separately studied, our understanding of plant responses to combined Pi and NO3- deficiency (-Pi/-NO3-) is still very limited. Using RNA-sequencing approach, transcriptome changes in the roots and leaves of chickpea cultivated under -Pi/+NO3-, +Pi/-NO3- or -Pi/-NO3- conditions were investigated in a comparative manner. -Pi/-NO3- treatment displayed lesser effect on expression changes of genes related to Pi or NO3- transport, signalling networks, lipid remodelling, nitrogen and Pi scavenging/remobilization/recycling, carbon metabolism and hormone metabolism than -Pi/+NO3- or +Pi/-NO3- treatments. Therefore, the plant response to -Pi/-NO3- is not simply an additive result of plant responses to -Pi/+NO3- and +Pi/-NO3- treatments. Our results indicate that nutrient imbalance is a stronger stimulus for molecular reprogramming than an overall deficiency.

Automated summary

The study compared the transcriptome changes in chickpea roots and leaves under -Pi/+NO3-, +Pi/-NO3-, and -Pi/-NO3- conditions. The results showed that -Pi/-NO3- treatment had a lesser effect on gene expression changes related to Pi and NO3- transport, signalling networks, lipid remodelling, nitrogen and Pi scavenging/remobilization/recycling, carbon metabolism, and hormone metabolism compared to -Pi/+NO3- or +Pi/-NO3- treatments. Nutrient imbalance was found to be a stronger stimulus for molecular reprogramming than overall deficiency.