Phosphorylated AtNRT1.1 confers early flowering and high reproductive yield in Arabidopsis

Nitrate, the predominant form of nitrogen in the soil, functions as a nutrient and signal to modulate the reproductive growth of plants such as flowering and grain yield. The nitrate transceptor ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA NITRATE TRANSPORTER 1.1 (AtNRT1.1) has two modes of nitrate transport and signaling that are governed by Thr-101 (T101) phosphorylation. Here, we used WT, chl1-5, T101A, and T101D Arabidopsis plants to reveal that the phosphorylation state of AtNRT1.1 affects nitrate-regulated flowering and reproductive yield. The phosphomimetic T101D mutants displayed significant upregulation of genes that are known to promote flowering whereas genes that repress flowering were downregulated in comparison with the WT, which coincided with their early flowering phenotype. Furthermore, the expression of genes for nitrate transport and assimilation was greatly increased in the T101D plants relative to the WT, leading to the improvement of seed yield. In addition, the nonphosphorylatable T101A mutant showed no significant improvement in overall flowering time or seed number compared to the WT. Taken together, the phosphorylated AtNRT1.1 enhances both seed production and early flowering without affecting vegetative biomass by simultaneously regulating the expression of genes associated with nitrogen utilization and flowering pathways, suggesting a novel strategy for achieving "high-yield early maturation" through targeted modification.