Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 4, 2025

Measuring Gene Expression in Bombarded Barley Aleurone Layers with Increased Throughput
Published on: March 30, 2018
Barley transcription factor HvNLP2 mediates nitrate signaling and affects nitrogen use efficiency
Yangyang Gao1, Shuxuan Quan1, Bo Lyu1
1State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong, China.
Abstract:
Plants have evolved complex mechanisms to adapt to the changing nitrogen levels in the environment. In Arabidopsis, more than a dozen nitrate signaling regulatory genes have been characterized, including the NODULE INCEPTION-LIKE PROTEIN (AtNLP) genes, which play essential roles in nitrate signaling. However, whether NLP genes in the Triticeae crops are involved in nitrate regulation and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) remains unknown. Here, we isolated a barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) mutant, hvnlp2-1, from a TILLING (Targeting Local Lesions IN Genomes) population and constructed two RNAi lines, hvnlp2-2 and hvnlp2-3, to study the function of HvNLP2. The expression of the nitrate-responsive genes was substantially inhibited after nitrate treatment in the hvnlp2 mutants, indicating that HvNLP2 controls nitrate signaling. Nitrate content was significantly higher in the hvnlp2 mutants, which may result from the decreased assimilation of nitrogen caused by reduced nitrate reductase activity and expression of nitrate assimilatory genes. HvNLP2 is localized to the nucleus in the presence of nitrate. Further investigation showed that HvNLP2 binds to and activates the nitrate-responsive cis-elements. Moreover, hvnlp2 exhibited reduced biomass, seed yield, and NUE. Therefore, HvNLP2 controls nitrate signaling and plays an important role in NUE.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Inorganic Nitrogen Assimilation
Key Elements for Plant Nutrition
Nitric Oxide Signaling Pathway
Overview of Nitrogen Metabolism
The largest pool of nitrogen available in the terrestrial ecosystem is gaseous nitrogen (N2) from the air, but this...
Overview of Metabolism
Plant Metabolism
Sunlight, the primary source of energy in plants, is first absorbed by the chlorophyll pigments present in their leaves. Plants then use this energy to carry out photosynthesis, where water is oxidized into oxygen and carbon dioxide...
Gene Regulation During Sporulation

