Browsing by Author "Dwivedi, Aditi"

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A cytokinin-auxin antagonistic module participates in nitrogen-triggered tiller outgrowth in rice
(Oxford University Press, 2026) Chatterjee, Sourav; Dwivedi, Aditi; Sarkar, Ananda K; Ranjan, Aashish
Tillering is a key trait that shapes rice (Oryza sativa L.) shoot architecture and directly influences yield. While tiller bud formation is largely genetically determined, bud outgrowth into functional tillers is highly responsive to environmental cues. However, integration of environmental signals with genetic regulators to determine tiller bud fate remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of nitrogen on early stages of tiller bud outgrowth. Comprehensive phenotyping and temporal transcriptomic analyses demonstrated that both nitrate and ammonium promote bud outgrowth and elicit overlapping transcriptional responses, with nitrate acting more slowly. Gene regulatory network analysis identified phytohormone signaling as a key interface for nitrogen- triggered tiller outgrowth. Pharmacological and molecular experiments demonstrated the involvement of cytokinin–auxin antagonism in nitrogen-mediated tillering. Cytokinin promoted bud activation by repressing the critical bud dormancy regulators rice TEOSINTE BRANCHED 1 (OsTB1) and a homolog of PIN-FORMED 1 (OsPIN1a) through the Cytokinin Response Factors OsERF53/54. In contrast, auxin maintained dormancy by inducing OsTB1 and OsPIN1a expression through Auxin Response Factors OsARF11/16. Consistently, OsTB1 overexpression lines showed reduced responsiveness to nitrogen and hormone treatments, placing OsTB1 downstream of these convergent inputs. Sequence and gene expression differences in OsERF53/54, along with phenotypic variations across contrasting rice accessions, further substantiated the crucial roles of OsERF53/54 in nitrogen-mediated tillering. Together, we identify a key regulatory role of the cytokinin-auxin antagonistic module for integrating nitrogen signals to determine tiller bud fate. Adequate nitrogen promotes cytokinin signaling while attenuating auxin signaling and transport in tiller buds, thereby releasing dormancy and initiating bud outgrowth.
Global transcriptome and co-expression analysis reveals robust host defence pathway reprogramming and identifies key regulators of early phases of Cicer-Ascochyta interactions
(American Phytopathological Society, 2022) Singh, Ritu; Dwivedi, Aditi; Singh, Yeshveer; Kumar, Kamal; Ranjan, Aashish; Verma, Praveen K.
Ascochyta blight (AB) caused by a filamentous fungus Ascochyta rabiei is a major threat to global chickpea production. The mechanisms underlying chickpea response to A. rabiei remain elusive. Here, we investigated the comparative transcriptional dynamics of AB-resistant and susceptible chickpea genotypes upon A. rabiei infection to understand the early host defence response. Our findings revealed that AB-resistant plants underwent rapid and extensive transcriptional reprogramming compared to susceptible host. At early stage (24-hpi), mainly cell wall remodeling and secondary metabolite pathways were highly activated, while DEGs related with signaling components viz. protein kinases, transcription factors, and hormonal pathways show remarkable upsurge at 72-hpi, especially in resistant genotype. Notably, our data suggests imperative role of JA, ET, and ABA signaling in providing immunity against A. rabiei. Furthermore, gene co-expression networks and modules corroborated the importance of cell wall remodeling, signal transduction, and phytohormone pathways. The hub genes such as MYB14, PRE6, and MADS-SOC1 discovered in these modules might be the master regulators governing chickpea immunity. Overall, we not only provide novel insights for comprehensive understanding of immune signaling components mediating AB resistance/susceptibility at early Cicer-Ascochyta interactions, but also offer a valuable resource for developing AB-resistant chickpea.
High temperature restricts cell division and leaf size by coordination of PIF4 and TCP4 transcription factors
(Oxford University Press, 2022) Saini, Kumud; Dwivedi, Aditi; Ranjan, Aashish
High ambient temperature suppresses Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) rosette leaf area and elongates the stem and petiole. While the mechanism underlying the temperature-induced elongation response has been extensively studied, the genetic basis of temperature regulation of leaf size is largely unknown. Here, we show that warm temperature inhibits cell proliferation in Arabidopsis leaves, resulting in fewer cells compared to the control condition. Cellular phenotyping and genetic and biochemical analyses established the key roles of PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR4 (PIF4) and TEOSINTE BRANCHED1/CYCLOIDEA/PCF4 (TCP4) transcription factors in the suppression of Arabidopsis leaf area under high temperature by a reduction in cell number. We show that temperature-mediated suppression of cell proliferation requires PIF4, which interacts with TCP4 and regulates the expression of the cell cycle inhibitor KIP-RELATED PROTEIN1 (KRP1) to control leaf size under high temperature. Warm temperature induces binding of both PIF4 and TCP4 to the KRP1 promoter. PIF4 binding to KRP1 under high temperature is TCP4 dependent as TCP4 regulates PIF4 transcript levels under high temperature. We propose a model where a warm temperature-mediated accumulation of PIF4 in leaf cells promotes its binding to the KRP1 promoter in a TCP4-dependent way to regulate cell production and leaf size. Our finding of high-temperature-mediated transcriptional upregulation of KRP1 integrates a developmental signal with an environmental signal that converges on a basal cell regulatory process.
Integration of metabolite and transcriptome profiles of cultivated and wild rice to unveil gene regulatory networks and key genes determining rice source and sink strength
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2025) Singh, Anuradha; Mathan, Jyotirmaya; Dwivedi, Aditi; Rani, Ruchi; Ranjan, Aashish
Targeting source and sink strength for crop yield increase requires a comprehensive genetic and metabolic understanding of desirable source and sink features. We performed comprehensive metabolite and transcriptomic comparisons of the photosynthetic flag leaves and milky-stage developing grains of two cultivated rice varieties (Oryza sativa L. ssp. Indica cv. IR64 and Oryza sativa L. ssp. Japonica cv. Nipponbare) and two wild rice accessions (Oryza rufipogon and Oryza australiensis). The selected wild rice accessions had stronger source strength as evidenced by a higher photosynthesis rate and more abundance of primary metabolites in the photosynthetic leaves than the cultivated varieties. In contrast, cultivated varieties had efficient sink as grains were bigger and accumulated more sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids than the selected wild rice. Transcriptomic analyses identified 9,309 genes for efficient source in wild rice, enriched for biological pathways related to photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, and sucrose transport. 7,062 genes, enriched for starch biosynthesis and lipid metabolism, were associated with the efficient sink strength in the cultivated varieties. Gene co-expression networks showed 267 hub genes for source strength in wild rice that included important genes for photosynthetic reactions and sucrose metabolism. 196 hub genes for sink strength in cultivated rice included genes involved in sucrose, amino acid, and fatty acid metabolism. Gene co-expression modules further identified the candidate transcription regulators, such as zinc finger proteins and NAC for source strength and MYB55/80 and MADS64 for sink strength. Moreover, our analyses suggested a complex interplay of phytohormones regulating rice source and sink strength.
Phosphorylation of PIF3 by MPK6 is required for coordinated regulation of miRNA biogenesis and hypocotyl elongation in Arabidopsis
(Elsevier B.V., 2023) Sharma, Deepika; Singh, Dhanraj; Singh, Kirti; Dwivedi, Aditi; Ranjan, Aashish; Sinha, Alok Krishna
Light is one of the most important environmental factors that affect overall growth and development in plants. PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORs (PIFs) are negative regulators of photomorphogenesis. PIFs mediate light responses by interacting with downstream molecular partners and are essential regulators for hypocotyl elongation in Arabidopsis. Light induce activation of phytochromes (phys), promotes rapid phosphorylation, ubiquitination and degradation of PIFs. However the kinase responsible for the phosphorylation of PIFs and the signaling mechanism governing the adaptive changes leading to hypocotyl elongation to differential light intensities is not well understood. Here, we report interaction and phosphorylation of PIF3 by a mitogen-activated protein kinase 6 (MPK6) both in vitro and in vivo. Phosphorylation was significantly abolished when all the PIF3 putative phosphorylation sites were mutated to alanine. Further, we found that PIF3 directly binds to the bHLH binding domain in the promoter of RL responsive miRNA, miR163. Interestingly, phosphorylation status of PIF3 substantially affects the binding of PIF3 and mutated proteins to miR163 promoter. Further, overexpression of PIF3 affects the expression of red light (RL) responsive miRNAs and downstream genes involved in hypocotyl elongation and seedling development. These results suggest that MPK6-PIF3 module functions upstream of RL-responsive miRNAs and PIF3-regulated genes involved in photomorphogenesis, thus interconnecting these pathways together.
Revisiting development and physiology of wild rice relatives for crop improvement and climate resilience
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2025) Mathan, Jyotirmaya; Dwivedi, Aditi; Ranjan, Aashish
Increasing rice yield and productivity under changing climatic conditions is imperative for sustainable food security, given rice is a major staple crop around the world. Natural variation in crop plants, including wild relatives, offers remarkable genetic variability to explore the desirable developmental and physiologic traits for crop improvement. Wild relatives of rice, with distinct developmental and physiologic features compared to cultivated varieties, are the potential genetic and genomic resource for rice yield increases under changing climate. A thorough genetic basis of rice developmental and architectural changes during domestication is now established with the identification and characterization of domestication genes. Photosynthetically efficient wild rice accessions, with desirable developmental, physiologic, and metabolic traits, have been identified in recent years that could be instrumental for rice improvement. While several abiotic and biotic stress-tolerant wild relatives of rice along with the associated genetic loci have been identified over the years, a comprehensive insight into the desirable developmental and physiologic attributes of the wild rice is limited. Moreover, the usage of wild rice is not streamlined in rice-improvement programs due to genetic and genomic constraints. In this review, we summarize the desirable developmental and physiologic features of wild rice species that can be exploited for combining yield increases with climate resilience in rice-improvement programs.