Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2025

Generation of Composite Plants in Medicago truncatula used for Nodulation Assays
Published on: March 27, 2011
At the crossroads: strigolactones mediate changes in cytokinin synthesis and signalling in response to nitrogen
Petros P Sigalas1, Tom Bennett2, Peter Buchner1
1Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK.
Abstract:
Strigolactones (SLs) are key regulators of shoot growth and responses to environmental stimuli. Numerous studies have indicated that nitrogen (N) limitation induces SL biosynthesis, suggesting that SLs may play a pivotal role in coordinating systemic responses to N availability, but this idea has not been clearly demonstrated. Here, we generated triple knockout mutants in the SL synthesis gene TaDWARF17 (TaD17) in bread wheat and investigated their phenotypic and transcriptional responses under N limitation, aiming to elucidate the role of SLs in the adaptation to N limitation. Tad17 mutants display typical SL mutant phenotypes, and fail to adapt their shoot growth appropriately to N. Despite exhibiting an increased tillering phenotype, Tad17 mutants continued to respond to N limitation by reducing tiller number, suggesting that SLs are not the sole regulators of tillering in response to N availability. RNA-seq analysis of basal nodes revealed that the loss of D17 significantly altered the transcriptional response of N-responsive genes, including changes in the expression profiles of key N response master regulators. Crucially, our findings suggest that SLs are required for the transcriptional downregulation of cytokinin (CK) synthesis and signalling in response to N limitation. Collectively, our results suggest that SLs are essential for the appropriate morphological and transcriptional adaptation to N limitation in wheat, and that the repressive effect of SLs on shoot growth is partly mediated by their repression of CK synthesis.
More Related Videos
11:33Investigating Interactions Between Histone Modifying Enzymes and Transcription Factors in vivo by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
Published on: October 14, 2022
12:18A Strategy to Validate the Role of Callose-mediated Plasmodesmal Gating in the Tropic Response
Published on: April 17, 2016
Related Concept Videos
Cell Signaling in Plants
Short-distance Transport of Resources
Key Elements for Plant Nutrition
Plant Hormones
Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata
Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses