Nitrogen Deficiency-Induced Decrease in Cytokinins Content Promotes Rice Seminal Root Growth by Promoting Root Meristem Cell Proliferation and Cell Elongation

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedlings grown under nitrogen (N) deficiency conditions show a foraging response characterized by increased root length. However, the mechanism underlying this developmental plasticity is still poorly understood. In this study, the mechanism by which N deficiency influences rice seminal root growth was investigated. The results demonstrated that compared with the control (1 mM N) treatment, N deficiency treatments strongly promoted seminal root growth. However, the N deficiency-induced growth was negated by the application of zeatin, which is a type of cytokinin (CK). Moreover, the promotion of rice seminal root growth was correlated with a decrease in CK content, which was due to the N deficiency-mediated inhibition of CK biosynthesis through the down-regulation of CK biosynthesis genes and an enhancement of CK degradation through the up-regulation of CK degradation genes. In addition, the N deficiency-induced decrease in CK content not only enhanced the root meristem cell proliferation rate by increasing the meristem cell number via the down-regulation of OsIAA3 and up-regulation of root-expressed OsPLTs, but also promoted root cell elongation by up-regulating cell elongation-related genes, including root-specific OsXTHs and OsEXPs. Taken together, our data suggest that an N deficiency-induced decrease in CK content promotes the seminal root growth of rice seedlings by promoting root meristem cell proliferation and cell elongation.