PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alamin Alfatih
AU  - Jie Wu
AU  - Zi-Sheng Zhang
AU  - Jing-Qiu Xia
AU  - Sami Ullah Jan
AU  - Lin-Hui Yu
AU  - Cheng-Bin Xiang
TI  - Rice <em>NIN-LIKE PROTEIN 1</em> Rapidly Responds to Nitrogen Deficiency and Improves Yield and Nitrogen Use Efficiency
AID  - 10.1101/2020.02.22.961193
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.02.22.961193
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/02/23/2020.02.22.961193.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/02/23/2020.02.22.961193.full
AB  - Nitrogen (N) is indispensable for crop growth and yield, but excessive agricultural application of nitrogenous fertilizers has generated severe environmental problems. A desirable and economical solution to cope with these issues is to improve crop nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Plant NUE has been a focal point of intensive research worldwide, yet much more has to be learned about its genetic determinants and regulation. Here, we show that rice NIN-LIKE PROTEIN 1 (OsNLP1) plays a fundamental role in N utilization. OsNLP1 protein localizes in nucleus and its transcript level is rapidly induced by N starvation. Overexpression of OsNLP1 improves plant growth, grain yield and NUE under different N conditions while knockout of OsNLP1 impairs grain yield and NUE under N limiting conditions. OsNLP1 regulates nitrate and ammonium utilization by cooperatively orchestrating multiple N uptake and assimilation genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and yeast-one-hybrid assays show that OsNLP1 can directly bind to the promoter of these genes to activate their expression. Therefore, our results demonstrate that OsNLP1 is a key regulator of N utilization and represents a potential target for improving NUE and yield in rice.One-sentence summary OsNLP1 rapidly responds to N availability, enhances N uptake and assimilation, and holds great potential in promoting high yield in rice.