The Primary Nitrate Response: a Multifaceted Signalling Pathway

Nitrate (NO3(-)) application strongly affects gene expression in plants. This regulation is thought to be crucial for their adaptation in response to a changing nutritional environment. Depending on the conditions preceding or concomitant with nitrate provision, the treatment can affect up to a 10th of genome expression in Arabidopsis thaliana. The early events occurring after NO3(-) provision are often called the Primary Nitrate Response (PNR). Despite this simple definition, PNR is a complex process that is difficult to properly delineate. Here we report the different concepts related to PNR, review the different molecular components known to control it, and show, using meta-analysis, that this concept/pathway is not monolithic. We especially bring our attention to the genome-wide effects of LBD37 and LBD38 overexpression, NLP7, and CHL1/NRT1.1 mutations.