Integration of A Nitrate-Related Signaling Pathway in Rhizobia-Induced Responses During Interactions with Non Legume Host Arabidopsis thaliana

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient and a key cellular messenger. Plants have evolved refined molecular systems to sense the cellular nitrogen status. Exemplified by the root nodule symbiosis between legumes and symbiotic rhizobia, where external nitrate availability inhibits the interaction. However, nitrate also functions as a metabolic messenger, resulting in nitrate signaling cascades which intensively cross-talk with other physiological pathways. NIN (NODULE INCEPTION)-LIKE PROTEINS (NLPs) are key players in nitrate signaling and regulate nitrate-dependent transcription. Nevertheless, the coordinated interplay between nitrate signaling pathways and rhizobacteria-induced responses remains to be elucidated. In our study, we investigate rhizobia-induced changes in the root system architecture of the non-legume host Arabidopsis in dependence of different nitrate conditions. We demonstrate that rhizobia induce lateral root growth, and increase root hair length and density in a nitrate-dependent manner. These processes are regulated by AtNLP4 and AtNLP5 as well as nitrate transceptor NRT1.1, as the corresponding mutants fail to respond to rhizobia. On a cellular level, NLP4 and NLP5 control a rhizobia-induced decrease in cell elongation rates, while additional cell divisions occurred independent of NLP4. In summary, our data suggest that root morphological responses to rhizobia, dependent on a nutritional signaling pathway that is evolutionary related to regulatory circuits described in legumes.