title: Involvement of miR169 in the nitrogen-starvation responses in Arabidopsis.
abstract: Recent studies have revealed that microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate plant adaptive responses to nutrient deprivation. However, the functional significance of miRNAs in adaptive responses to nitrogen (N) limitation remains to be explored. The Arabidopsis miR169 was strongly down-regulated, whereas its targets, NFYA (Nuclear Factor Y, subunit A) family members, were strongly induced by nitrogen N starvation. Analysis of the expression of miR169 precursors showed that MIR169a was substantially down-regulated in both roots and shoots by N starvation. Accumulation of the NFYA family members was suppressed in transgenic Arabidopsis with constitutive expression of MIR169a. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing MIR169a accumulated less N and were more sensitive to N stress than the wild type. N sensitivity of 35S::MIR169a might be attributable to impaired uptake systems. These results provide evidence that miRNAs have functional roles in helping plants to cope with fluctuations in N availability in the soil.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant and Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China, and College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.|Institute of Crop Science, National Key Facilities for Crop Genetic Resources and Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant and Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China, and College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Center for Plant Cell Biology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology and Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
authors.forename: Jian-Kang
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant and Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China, and College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Fusuo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, National Key Facilities for Crop Genetic Resources and Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Xue
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000872:Anthocyanins / Q000032:analysis; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000032:analysis; D015536:Down-Regulation; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D000872:Anthocyanins; D035683:MicroRNAs; D018749:RNA, Plant; D002734:Chlorophyll; D009584:Nitrogen