Nitrogen assimilation regulation by NLP proteins

The production of genotypes with an increased Nitrogen (N) use efficiency is a priority for developing sustainable agriculture. We propose molecular physiology and functional genomic approaches in order to increase knowledge on the regulation of plant adaptive responses to N availability. We have recently shown the important role of AtNLP7 a transcription factor from the AtNLP (NLP = NIN like protein) family. AtNLP7 is involved in the induction of gene expression by nitrate. Despite this major breakthrough and the knowledge of the role of AtNLP7 at the whole plant level, the molecular mechanisms have still to be discovered and the function of the other members of this family have to be revealed. These questions will be answered by the analysis of the target genes of the AtNLP7 transcription factor and the identification of interacting proteins. Functional genomic analysis of two other NLP proteins will include the studies of expression pattern and localisation and the production and analysis of genotypes with modified expression of these proteins.

PhD subject IJPB 2010 from research group Plant response to nitrogen availability: transport, signaling and natural variation