Genome-wide survey and expression analysis of NIN-like Protein (NLP) genes reveals its potential roles in the response to nitrate signaling in tomato.

BACKGROUND: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most important horticultural crops, with a marked preference for nitrate as an inorganic nitrogen source. The molecular mechanisms of nitrate uptake and assimilation are poorly understood in tomato. NIN-like proteins (NLPs) are conserved, plant-specific transcription factors that play crucial roles in nitrate signaling. RESULTS: In this study, genome-wide analysis identified six NLP members in tomato genome. These members were clustered into three clades in a phylogenetic tree. Comparative genomic analysis showed that SlNLP genes exhibited collinear relationships to NLPs in Arabidopsis, canola, maize and rice, and that the expansion of the SlNLP family mainly resulted from segmental duplications in the tomato genome. Tissue-specific expression analysis showed that one of the close homologs of AtNLP6/7, SlNLP3, was strongly expressed in roots during both the seedling and flowering stages, that SlNLP4 and SlNLP6 exhibited preferential expression in stems and leaves and that SlNLP6 was expressed at high levels in fruits. Furthermore, the nitrate uptake in tomato roots and the expression patterns of SlNLP genes were measured under nitrogen deficiency and nitrate resupply conditions. Four SlNLPs, SlNLP1, SlNLP2, SlNLP4 and SlNLP6, were upregulated after nitrogen starvation. And SlNLP1 and SlNLP5 were induced rapidly and temporally by nitrate. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide significant insights into the potential diverse functions of SlNLPs to regulate nitrate uptake.