Phosphate or nitrate imbalance induces stronger molecular responses than combined nutrient deprivation in roots and leaves of chickpea plants.

The negative effects of phosphate (Pi) and/or nitrate (NO3- ) fertilizers on the environment have raised an urgent need to develop crop varieties with higher Pi and/or nitrogen use efficiencies for cultivation in low-fertility soils. Achieving this goal depends upon research that focuses on the identification of genes involved in plant responses to Pi and/or NO3- starvation. Although plant responses to individual deficiency in either Pi (-Pi/+NO3- ) or NO3- (+Pi/-NO3- ) have been separately studied, our understanding of plant responses to combined Pi and NO3- deficiency (-Pi/-NO3- ) is still very limited. Using RNA-sequencing approach, transcriptome changes in the roots and leaves of chickpea cultivated under -Pi/+NO3- , +Pi/-NO3- or -Pi/-NO3- conditions were investigated in a comparative manner. -Pi/-NO3- treatment displayed lesser effect on expression changes of genes related to Pi or NO3- transport, signaling networks, lipid remodelling, nitrogen and Pi scavenging/remobilization/recycling, carbon metabolism and hormone metabolism than -Pi/+NO3- or +Pi/-NO3- treatments. Therefore, the plant response to -Pi/-NO3- is not simply an additive result of plant responses to -Pi/+NO3- and +Pi/-NO3- treatments. Our results indicate that nutrient imbalance is a stronger stimulus for molecular reprogramming than an overall deficiency. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.