Relationship between Phosphorous, Nitrogen and Green-revolution variety growth - AfS, ENWW

Modern green-revolution crop varieties have low nitrogen use efficiency, and therefore require large amounts of fertiliser to maintain a high yield. In the long term this is unsustainable; it is expensive, energy intensive, uses finite resources, and excessive fertiliser application is environmentally damaging. Understanding how plants use nutrients, and how this relates to growth, will be necessary to improve crop nutrient use efficiency. Two important, but often limiting, nutrients for plant growth are nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P). This project will utilise a genetics approach to investigate the relationship be-tween N, P, and green-revolution variety growth. By investigating phosphate homeostasis in the Arabidopsis model for green-revolution crops, the gai mutant which is insensitive to gibberellic acid (GA), the role of GA in cross-talk between N and P homeostasis will be established. In addition, N homeostasis will be investigated in mutants impaired in Pi homeostasis to further elucidate the importance of Pi, and Pi signalling pathways, in regulating N metabolism. Finally, a mutant screen of mutagenized gai plants is already under-way within the group. Screening these mutants for altered Pi content may identify gai plants with improved Pi use efficiency, and additionally if excess mutants are identified with improved N use efficiency, some of these may be characterised further. This will lead to an improved understanding of the relationship between N, P and growth, contributing towards the improvement of green-revolution crop varieties.

This research proposal addresses the following BBSRC priority areas:
Global Food Security
Sustainably Enhancing Agricultural Production