Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Autophagy (self-eating), a conserved pathway in eukaryotes, which is designed to handle cytoplasmic material in bulk and plays an important role in the remobilization of nutrient, such as nitrogen (N) under suboptimal nutrient conditions. Here, we identified a core component of an autophagy gene in rice (Oryza sativa), OsATG8a, with increased expression levels under N starvation conditions. Overexpression of OsATG8a significantly enhanced the level of autophagy and the number of effective tillers in the transgenic rice. In addition, the transgenic lines accumulated more N in grains than in the dry remains and the yield was significantly increased under normal N conditions. Further N allocation studies revealed that the nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE) and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) significantly increased. Otherwise, under suboptimal N conditions, overexpression of OsATG8a did not seem to have any effect on yield and NUE, but NUpE was still improved significantly. Based on our findings, we consider OsATG8a to be a great candidate gene to increase NUE and yield.
Source: Frontiers in Plant Science
Authors: Jinlei Yu, Xiaoxi Zhen, Xin Li, Nan Li, Fan Xu
Institution: Shenyang Agricultural University
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,950
Award: G5149157905
OpenAlex ID: W2944139757