Roles of a CCR4-NOT complex component GmNOT4-1 in regulating soybean nodulation

Jiangtao Zheng; Lili Sun; Dongmei Wang; Lin He; Weijun Du; Shujin Guo; Lixiang Wang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1172354

Roles of a CCR4-NOT complex component GmNOT4-1 in regulating soybean nodulation

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jun 5:14:1172354. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1172354. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jiangtao Zheng¹, Lili Sun¹, Dongmei Wang¹, Lin He¹, Weijun Du¹, Shujin Guo¹, Lixiang Wang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Agronomy, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Adaptation Improvement, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, China.

Abstract

Legume-rhizobial symbiotic nitrogen fixation is the most efficient nitrogen assimilation system in the ecosystem. In the special interaction between organ-root nodules, legumes supply rhizobial carbohydrates for their proliferation, while rhizobials provide host plants with absorbable nitrogen. Nodule initiation and formation require a complex molecular dialogue between legumes and rhizobia, which involves the accurate regulation of a series of legume genes. The CCR4-NOT complex is a conserved multi-subunit complex with functions regulating gene expression in many cellular processes. However, the functions of the CCR4-NOT complex in rhizobia-host interactions remain unclear. In this study, we identified seven members of the NOT4 family in soybean and further classified them into three subgroups. Bioinformatic analysis showed that NOT4s shared relatively conserved motifs and gene structures in each subgroup, while there were significant differences between NOT4s in the different subgroups. Expression profile analysis indicated that NOT4s may be involved in nodulation in soybean, as most of them were induced by Rhizobium infection and highly expressed in nodules. We further selected GmNOT4-1 to clarify the biological function of these genes in soybean nodulation. Interestingly, we found that either GmNOT4-1 overexpression or down-regulation of GmNOT4-1 by RNAi or CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing would suppress the number of nodules in soybean. Intriguingly, alterations in the expression of GmNOT4-1 repressed the expression of genes in the Nod factor signaling pathway. This research provides new insight into the function of the CCR4-NOT family in legumes and reveals GmNOT4-1 to be a potent gene for regulating symbiotic nodulation.

Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; Ccr4-not complex; legume symbiotic nitrogen fixation; nod factor signalling; root nodule (symbiotic).

Grants and funding

This work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (Grant No. 202300410056), the Science and Technology Innovation Young Talent Team of Shanxi Province (202204051001020), the Basic Research Program of Shanxi Province (20210302123365, 202103021224146), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32241046), the National Key Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2021YFD1600605-10), and the National Laboratory of Minor Crops Germplasm Innovation and Molecular Breeding (In preparation) (Grant Nos. 202105D121010-23 and 202204010910001-33).