OsCBL1 affects rice seedling growth by modulating nitrate and phosphate responses

To sustain high crop yield, a comprehensive understanding of the processes by which plants sense and acquire nutrients is of great importance. For the efficiency of crop fertilizer, it is essential to exploring the the signaling networks that coordinate the usage of nitrogen and phosphorus, the most demanding two mineral nutrients in plants. Here, we found that a protein OsCBL1 (Calcineurin B-like protein 1) is involved in the regulation of nitrogen and phosphorus signaling in rice. The nitrogen element, existing as ammonium or nitrate in the environment, affects nitrate signaling in vivo and root growth. Compared with the wild type, knockdown of OsCBL1 inhibit the growth of rice to the same extent, when nitrogen is deficient or nitrogen is present in the form of ammonium-nitrate mixture. The growth inhibition by OsCBL1-knockdown is more pronounced when nitrogen is present as ammonium. The phosphorus starvation-responsive genes is also regulated by the compound of nitrogen present in vitro and OsCBL1, while the phosphorus content is not affected. These results suggest that OsCBL1 may be involved in the response of rice to nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition in the environment, as well as the regulation of rice growth by environmental nutrition.