Genetic and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Nineral Nutrient Nitrogen Promotes Stomatal Lineage Development in Arabidopsis

Stomata are indispensable regulators of global carbon and water cycles. Nineral Nutrient Nitrogen impacts numerous aspects of plant growth, development, and physiology. Nitrate is the most abundant N resource for plant growth. Nitrate is both a signaling molecule and an essential nutrient for plants, but its role, if any, in stomatal development is obscure. Here, our findings uncover a role for nitrate in the positive regulation of stomatal lineage development by nitrate remobilization by the nitrate sensor NRT1.1, the nitrate signaling core component NLP7, and the ethylene core component EIN3. Further, NLP7 physically interacts with EIN3, which in turn promotes EIN3 transcriptional activities by enhancing the EIN3 binding to the promoter of its target gene EPF2, encoding a signaling peptide of controlling stomatal formation. The resulting stomatal initiation is triggered. This study thus reveals a molecular link among nineral nutrient nitrogen, plant hormone, peptide signaling, and stomatal production, and identifies some of the cognate components.