Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonize up to 90% of all land plants and facilitate the acquisition of mineral nutrients by their hosts. Inorganic orthophosphate (Pi) and nitrogen (N) are the major nutrients transferred from the fungi to plants. While plant Pi transporters involved in nutrient transfer at the plant-fungal interface have been well studied, the plant N transporters participating in this process are largely unknown except for some ammonium transporters (AMT) specifically assigned to arbuscule-colonized cortical cells. In plants, many nitrate transporter 1/peptide transporter family (NPF) members are involved in the translocation of nitrogenous compounds including nitrate, amino acids, peptides and plant hormones. Whether NPF members respond to AMF colonization, however, is not yet known. Here, we investigated the transcriptional regulation of 82 rice (Oryza sativa) NPF genes in response to colonization by the AMF Rhizophagus irregularis in roots of plants grown under five different nutrition regimes. Expression of the four OsNPF genes NPF2.2/PTR2, NPF1.3, NPF6.4 and NPF4.12 was strongly induced in mycorrhizal roots and depended on the composition of the fertilizer solution, nominating them as interesting candidates for nutrient signaling and exchange processes at the plant-fungal interface.
Keywords: Fertilization; NPF gene expression; Nitrate transporter 1/peptide transporter family; Nitrogen; Oryza sativa; Rhizophagus irregularis.