Involvement of plant signaling network and cell metabolic homeostasis in nitrogen deficiency-induced early leaf senescence

Muhammad Asad Ullah Asad; Xianyue Guan; Lujian Zhou; Zhao Qian; Zhang Yan; Fangmin Cheng

doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2023.111855

Involvement of plant signaling network and cell metabolic homeostasis in nitrogen deficiency-induced early leaf senescence

Plant Sci. 2023 Nov:336:111855. doi: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2023.111855. Epub 2023 Sep 5.

Authors

Muhammad Asad Ullah Asad¹, Xianyue Guan¹, Lujian Zhou¹, Zhao Qian², Zhang Yan¹, Fangmin Cheng³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
² Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, China.
³ Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre for Modern Crop Production, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: chengfm@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 37678563
DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2023.111855

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) is a basic building block that plays an essential role in the maintenance of normal plant growth and its metabolic functions through complex regulatory networks. Such the N metabolic network comprises a series of transcription factors (TFs), with the coordinated actions of phytohormone and sugar signaling to sustain cell homeostasis. The fluctuating N concentration in plant tissues alters the sensitivity of several signaling pathways to stressful environments and regulates the senescent-associated changes in cellular structure and metabolic process. Here, we review recent advances in the interaction between N assimilation and carbon metabolism in response to N deficiency and its regulation to the nutrient remobilization from source to sink during leaf senescence. The regulatory networks of N and sugar signaling for N deficiency-induced leaf senescence is further discussed to explain the effects of N deficiency on chloroplast disassembly, reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst, asparagine metabolism, sugar transport, autophagy process, Ca²⁺ signaling, circadian clock response, brassinazole-resistant 1 (BZRI), and other stress cell signaling. A comprehensive understanding for the metabolic mechanism and regulatory network underlying N deficiency-induced leaf senescence may provide a theoretical guide to optimize the source-sink relationship during grain filling for the achievement of high yield by a selection of crop cultivars with the properly prolonged lifespan of functional leaves and/or by appropriate agronomic managements.

Keywords: Autophagy; Leaf senescence; Nitrogen metabolism; Regulatory network; Sugar signaling.

Publication types

Review