Abstract
Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient that strongly influences plant growth and development, and its availability can affect plant susceptibility to fungal pathogens. Poplar is a tree species widely distributed around the world. It is severely threatened by Melampsora larici-populina Kleb., a biotrophic pathogen which is the most destructive foliar pathogen of poplar trees and leads to significant biomass losses. Research on the interaction between Populus and M. larici-populina remains limited. We assessed the impact of N deficiency on foliar disease development caused by rust and to elucidate underlying physiological and molecular mechanisms in poplar, thereby providing insights into the relationship between plant nutrition and disease susceptibility. We performed an analysis of host physiological traits and plant-pathogen interaction transcriptomics in poplar trees under N deficiency and rust infection. Notably, N-deficient poplar trees showed reduced rust disease development, whereas N-sufficient poplar trees infected with rust accumulated higher levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO). Both N deficiency and rust infection increased secondary metabolite accumulation in poplar leaves. Furthermore, dual RNA-seq analysis of the poplar-rust interaction identified numerous differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in poplar trees. The positive correlation in gene expression between N-deficient and rust-infected poplar suggests that similar response pathways are activated under both conditions. In contrast, an adequate N supply increased susceptibility to the pathogen. Under N-sufficient conditions, rust infection preferentially activated biotic stress-response genes while suppressing growth. N-deficient poplar conditions accumulated more antioxidant compounds, enhancing resistance by creating a less favorable environment for pathogen development. Consistently, genes in M. larici-populina associated with pathogen invasion and proliferation were down-regulated in N-deficient poplar leaves. Integrated physiological and transcriptomic analyses indicate that defenses induced by N deficiency can effectively suppress rust development and slow disease progression. These findings provide new insights into the poplar-rust interactions and offer a basis for optimizing nutrient management to improve poplar resistance.
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Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
Nitrogen-deficient poplar showed reduced rust disease development.
PopulusNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“N-deficient poplar trees showed reduced rust disease development”
Claim · model-written summary
Rust-infected nitrogen-sufficient poplar accumulated higher ROS and NO.
- Treatment
- ruste0
- Interactor
- ruste0pathogen
- Outcome
- reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO)e0
- Direction
- highere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“N-sufficient poplar trees infected with rust accumulated higher levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO)”
Claim · model-written summary
Nitrogen deficiency increased secondary metabolite accumulation in poplar leaves.
- Organ / stage
- leavese0
- Treatment
- N deficiencye0
- Outcome
- secondary metabolite accumulatione0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Both N deficiency and rust infection increased secondary metabolite accumulation in poplar leaves”
Claim · model-written summary
Rust infection increased secondary metabolite accumulation in poplar leaves.
- Organ / stage
- leavese0
- Treatment
- rust infectione0
- Interactor
- ruste0pathogen
- Outcome
- secondary metabolite accumulatione0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Both N deficiency and rust infection increased secondary metabolite accumulation in poplar leaves”
Claim · model-written summary
Dual RNA-seq identified numerous differentially expressed genes in poplar.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“dual RNA-seq analysis of the poplar-rust interaction identified numerous differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in poplar trees”
Claim · model-written summary
Gene expression responses to nitrogen deficiency and rust infection were positively correlated.
- Treatment
- N-deficient and rust-infectede0
- Interactor
- ruste0pathogen
- Outcome
- gene expressione0
- Direction
- positivee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The positive correlation in gene expression between N-deficient and rust-infected poplar”
Claim · model-written summary
Adequate nitrogen supply increased poplar susceptibility to the pathogen.
- Taxon
- Populus cathayanaPopulus cathayanat0
- Treatment
- an adequate N supplye0
- Interactor
- pathogene0pathogen
- Outcome
- susceptibility to the pathogene0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“an adequate N supply increased susceptibility to the pathogen”
t0“Populus cathayana”
Claim · model-written summary
Rust infection under sufficient nitrogen preferentially activated biotic stress response genes.
Verbatim
e0“Under N-sufficient conditions, rust infection preferentially activated biotic stress-response genes”
Claim · model-written summary
Rust infection under sufficient nitrogen suppressed growth.
- Taxon
- Populus cathayanaPopulus cathayanat0
- Treatment
- rust infectione0
- Interactor
- ruste0pathogen
- Outcome
- growthe0
- Direction
- suppressinge0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“Under N-sufficient conditions, rust infection preferentially activated biotic stress-response genes while suppressing growth”
t0“Populus cathayana”
Claim · model-written summary
Nitrogen-deficient poplar accumulated more antioxidant compounds.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“N-deficient poplar conditions accumulated more antioxidant compounds”
Claim · model-written summary
Pathogen invasion and proliferation genes were down-regulated in nitrogen-deficient poplar leaves.
- Treatment
- N-deficiente0
- Interactor
- M. larici-populinae0pathogen
- Outcome
- genes in M. larici-populina associated with pathogen invasion and proliferatione0
- Direction
- down-regulatede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“genes in M. larici-populina associated with pathogen invasion and proliferation were down-regulated in N-deficient poplar leaves”
The same questions in other papers
nitrogen · quality: phytochemicals · Populus (poplar)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
This paper is about lacking the nutrient, so it counts the other way round here.
- negative
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.