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Relationship of Nitrogen Deficiency-Induced Leaf Senescence with ROS Generation and ABA Concentration in Rice Flag Leaves

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Abstract

Nitrogen (N) deficiency is one of the critical environmental factors that induce leaf senescence, and its occurrence may cause the shorten leaf photosynthetic period and markedly lowered grain yield. However, the physiological metabolism underlying N deficiency-induced leaf senescence and its relationship with the abscisic acid (ABA) concentration and reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst in leaf tissues are not well understood. In this paper, the effect of N supply on several senescence-related physiological parameters and its relation to the temporal patterns of ABA concentration and ROS accumulation during leaf senescence were investigated using the premature senescence of flag leaf mutant rice (psf) and its wild type under three N treatments. The results showed that N deficiency hastened the initiation and progression of leaf senescence, and this occurrence was closely associated with the upregulated expression of 9-cis-epoxycarotenoiddioxygenase genes (NCEDs) and with the downregulated expression of two ABA 8′-hydroxylase isoform genes (ABA8ox2 and ABA8ox3) under LN treatment. Contrarily, HN supply delayed the initiation and progression of leaf senescence, concurrently with the suppressed ABA biosynthesis and relatively lower level of ABA concentration in leaf tissues. Exogenous ABA incubation enhanced ROS generation and MDA accumulation in a dose-dependent manner, but it decreased the activities of glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) in detached leaf. These results suggested that the participation of ABA in the regulation of ROS generation and N assimilating/remobilizing metabolism in rice leaves was strongly responsible for induction of leaf senescence by N deficiency.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are deeply indebted to National Key Research and Development Plan of China (No 2016YFD0300502) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31571602 and No. 31871566) for its financial support to this research project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Crop Sciences, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, Zhejiang, China

    Shamsu Ado Zakari, Muhammad-Asad-Ullah Asad, Zhanyu Han, Qian Zhao & Fangmin Cheng

  2. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production, Nanjing, China

    Fangmin Cheng

  3. Department of Crop Production, Audu Bako College of Agriculture Dambatta, Kano, Nigeria

    Shamsu Ado Zakari

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  1. Shamsu Ado Zakari
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  2. Muhammad-Asad-Ullah Asad
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  5. Fangmin Cheng
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Correspondence to Fangmin Cheng.

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Zakari, S.A., Asad, MAU., Han, Z. et al. Relationship of Nitrogen Deficiency-Induced Leaf Senescence with ROS Generation and ABA Concentration in Rice Flag Leaves. J Plant Growth Regul 39, 1503–1517 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-020-10128-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-020-10128-x

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