Natural variation of Arabidopsis thaliana root architecture in response to nitrate availability

Abstract

Root system architecture (RSA) plays a crucial role in nutrient and water uptake in plants. RSA can be modulated to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of crops, decreasing the need for fertilization. In this study, we analyzed 12 root parameters in 48 Arabidopsis accessions grown in media with low or high nitrogen (N). Low N repressed six root traits and enhanced six others. A principal component analysis showed that six components contributed to 90.08% of N availability. The primary component contributed to 35.64% of the variation and was associated with LR characteristics. The 48 Arabidopsis accessions were divided into five response groups. Stw-0 had the highest biomass production and a high N concentration in both roots and shoots, independent of growth conditions. H55 had numerous LRs at low N. Our results provide N-responsive parameters suitable for mapping of quantitative trait loci related with root morphology.

Keywords:

• Arabidopsis thaliana
• nitrate
• nitrogen use efficiency (NUE)
• root system architecture (RSA)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Basic Research Project of MOST in China (973 Project) (2015CB755700), the National High-Tech (863) Program of China (No. 2012AA02A703), the Natural Science Foundation of China (31071458) and the China Transgenic Program (2013AA08005-003).