Strigolactones And Auxin Cooperate To Regulate Maize Root Development and Response to Nitrate

In maize, nitrate regulates root development thanks to the coordinated action of many players. In this study, the involvement of SLs and auxin as putative components of the nitrate regulation of lateral root was investigated. To this aim, the endogenous SL content of maize root in response to nitrate was assessed by LC-MS/MS and measurements of lateral root density in the presence of analogues or inhibitors of auxin and strigolactones were performed. Furthermore, an untargeted RNA-seq based approach was used to better characterize the participation of auxin and strigolactones to the transcriptional signature of maize root response to nitrate. Our results suggested that N deprivation induces zealactone and carlactonoic acid biosynthesis in root, to a higher extent if compared to P-deprived roots. Moreover, data on lateral root density led to hypothesise that the induction of LR development early occurring upon nitrate supply involves the inhibition of SL biosynthesis, but that the downstream target of SL shutdown, beside auxin, includes also additional unknown players. Furthermore, RNA-seq results provided a set of putative markers for the auxin- or SL-dependent action of nitrate, meanwhile allowing to identify also novel components of the molecular regulation of maize root response to nitrate. Globally the existence of at least four different pathways was hypothesised, one dependent on auxin, a second one mediated by SLs, a third deriving from the SL-auxin interplay and one last attributable to nitrate itself through further downstream signals. Further work will be necessary to better assess the reliability of the model proposed.