绿色革命半矮秆水稻品种的大规模推广，极大提升了全球粮食产量，但其伴随的副作用日益凸显——植株对氮肥的敏感性显著降低，必须依赖过量氮肥投入才能充分发挥高产潜力。这种“高投入、低效率”的模式不仅推高了生产成本，更引发了土壤酸化、水体富营养化和温室气体排放等严峻环境问题。如何破解绿色革命品种“氮低效”的困局，是当今农业可持续发展面临的核心挑战之一。

北京时间8月11日，Nature Communications在线发表了团队题为“Natural variation in BRN1 enhances nitrogen sensitivity to improve rice nitrogen use efficiency”（doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-76279-9）的研究论文。该研究鉴定到一个关键氮信号转录调控因子BRN1，其优异等位BRN1^H能减弱高氮下积累的独脚金内酯信号抑制因子D53对其的抑制作用，显著增强水稻氮素敏感性，显著提升了氮肥利用效率，为实现“高效环保”的绿色农业提供了关键的基因资源和理论支撑。

研究团队利用来自世界71个国家或地区具有广泛遗传背景的179份水稻微核心种质材料，通过分析其在低氮和高氮条件下生物量氮响应变化 (图1A, B)，发现不同品种对氮素的敏感性差异显著，通过全基因组关联分析，团队锁定了调控氮敏感性的关键基因BRN1。深入机制解析发现，随着施氮量的增加，独脚金内酯信号通路的核心抑制因子D53蛋白大量积累，并与BRN1互作，抑制BRN1对硝酸盐信号核心转录因子NLP3的转录激活能力，进而下调氮吸收、转运及同化相关基因的表达，最终导致水稻氮敏感性下降。团队在水稻微核心种质中鉴定出BRN1的优异自然变异——BRN1^H。该等位基因编码的蛋白具有更高的蛋白稳定性，能够在高氮诱导D53积累的情况下，有效抵御D53介导的抑制作用，维持高水平的氮响应能力(图1C)。田间试验数据显示，将BRN1^H导入现代水稻品种秀水134后，在低氮和高氮条件下，产量分别显著提高17.4%和22.9%。

基于此，研究团队构建了全新的D53-BRN1-NLP3分子调控模块，系统阐明了水稻从感知氮营养状态到调节生长发育的分子路径(图1C)。群体遗传分析表明，BRN1^H在籼稻品种中富集，而在粳稻品种中较为稀缺，这为针对不同亚种开展精准设计育种提供了巨大的应用潜力。 

图1 D53-BRN1-NLP3模块调控水稻氮敏感性

综上，该研究不仅揭示了绿色革命品种氮敏感性下降的分子基础，也为推动由“氮不敏感”绿色革命品种到“氮高效”品种的新绿色革命育种提供新范式。

本研究得到了国家自然科学基金、生物育种国家科技重大专项、广东省基础与应用基础研究重大项目、广东省“珠江人才计划”创新创业团队项目等资助。

团队相关文章：

1. Sun H*, Chen Y, Hu Y, Wang H, Zhu W, Liu Y, Ren N, Hu B, and Chu C* (2026) Natural variation in BRN1 enhances nitrogen sensitivity to improve rice nitrogen use efficiency. Nature Communications. Doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-76279-9.

2. Wang X^#, Liu Y^#, Li W^#, Ma X, Wang W, Jiang Z, Wang Y, Li L*, Hu B*, Chu C* (2025) OsNRT1.1B-OsCNGC14/16-Ca2+-OsNLP3 Pathway: Phosphorylation-Mediated Maintenance of Nitrogen Homeostasis. Advanced Science. e07919.

Highlighted by Shuangshuang Wang and Guohua Xu (2025) Nitrate signaling: dual pathway of calcium-mediated phosphorylation and ubiquitination-dependent degradation in rice. Modern Agriculture. 3: 70030.

3. Ma X^#, Wang W^#, Zhang J^#, Jiang Z^#, Xu C^#, Zhu W, Shi B, Yang W, Su H, Wang X, Chen D, Wang Y, Wang J, Wang J, Liu X, Wang X, Huang X, Xie W, Cai Y, Xu K, Xin P, Liu L, Lü P, Wang Y, Chu J, Gong X,^* Chu C,^* and Hu B^* (2025) NRT1.1B acts as an abscisic acid receptor in integrating compound environmental cues for plants. Cell 188: 5231-5248.

Spotlighted by Pengcheng Wang and Jian-Kang Zhu (2026) Breaking the barrier: NRT1.1B bridges ABA signaling across membranes. Trends in Plant Science. 31(5): 511-513.

Spotlighted by Soichi Kojima and Makoto Matsuoka (2026) To grow or not to grow: NRT1.1B as a dual receptor for ABA and nitrate. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology. 68(1):17-19.  

Spotlighted by Zhizhong Gong and Shuhua Yang (2026) NRT1.1B: A dual receptor integrating ABA and nitrate signals for plantadaptation to compound stresses. Science China Life Science. 69(2):705-706.

Highlighted by Takuya Yoshida and Alisdair R Fernie (2025) Nitrate transporter come ABA receptor: the beguiling role of NRT1.1B in rice. Journal of Plant Physiology. 312: 154579.

Spotlighted by Han-Qing Wang and Sheng Luan (2025) Beyond Nitrate: NRT1.1B as an ABA Receptor. Molecular Plant. 18(10): 1619-1620.

Spotlighted by Meng-Jia Wang and Yi-Fang Tsay (2025) NRT1.1 is a versatile coordinator of nutrient and hormone signaling in plants. Developmental Cell. 60(21): 2847-2849. 

4. Wang X#, Feng C#, Tian L#, Hou C, Tian W, Hu B, Zhang Q, Ren Z, Niu Q, Song J, Kong D, Liu L, He Y, Ma L, Chu C*, Luan S*, Li L* (2021) A transceptor-channel complex couples nitrate sensing to calcium signaling in Arabidopsis. Molecular Plant 14(5): 774-786. [高被引论文]

Spotlighted by Cheng-Wu Liu* and Shutang Tan (2021) Nitrate Signaling: A Translator between Nitrate Perception and Calcium Signaling. Molecular Plant 14(5): 718-719.

5. Liu Y^#, Wang H^#, Jiang Z, Wang W, Xu R, Wang Q, Zhang Z, Li A, Liang Y, Ou S, Liu X, Cao S, Tong H, Wang Y, Zhou F, Liao H, Hu B*, and Chu C* (2021) Genomic basis of geographical adaptation to soil nitrogen in rice. Nature 590: 600-605.  [热点论文][高被引论文]

Highlighted by Wei Li (2021) Adaptation to Nitrogen. Nature Genetics 53(2): 127.

Spotlighted by Bing Wang and Jiayang Li (2021) Rice Geographic Adaption to Poor Soil: Novel Insight in Sustainable Agriculture. Molecular Plant 14: 369-371.

Featured by Alisdair Fernie (2021) Using landrace transcription factor alleles to increase yield in modern rice under low input agriculture. Journal of Plant Physiology 258-259: 153362.

Commented by Xianran Li and Jianming Yu (2021) Retrofitting elites with ancestral alleles for sustainable agriculture. Science China Life Sciences 64(6): 1029-1030.

Mini-reviewed by Fanmiao Wang, Hideki Yashida and Makoto Matsuoka (2021) Making the “Green Revolution” Truly Green: improving crop nitrogen use efficiency. Plant and Cell Physiology 62(6): 942-947.

热点评述: 宣伟, 徐国华. 植物适应土壤氮素环境的基因选择: 以水稻为例. 植物学报 56(1)(2021), 1-5.

Selected by F1000Prime by Jian Feng Ma (https://doi.org/10.3410/f.739320659.793582692, Very good), Jiming Jiang (https://doi.org/10.3410/f.739320659.793583580, Exceptional).

6. Zhang J^#, Liu Y-X^#, Zhang N^#, Hu B^#, Jin T^#, Xu H, Qin Y, Yan P, Zhang X, Guo X, Hui J, Cao S, Wang X, Wang C, Wang H, Qu B, Fan G, Yuan L, Garrido-Oter R, Chu C*, and Bai Y*(2019) NRT1.1B is associated with root microbiota composition and nitrogen use in field-grown rice. Nature Biotechnology 37: 676-684. [热点论文][高被引论文][封面故事].

Featured by Xiaolin Wang and Ertao Wang (2019) NRT1.1B Connects Root Microbiota and Nitrogen Use in Rice. Chinese Bulletin of Botany 54(3), 285-287.

7. Hu B^#*, Jiang Z^#, Wang W^#, Qiu Y^#, Zhang Z, Liu Y, Gao X, Liu L, Qian Y, Huang X, Yu F, Li A, Kang S, Wang Y, Xie J, Cao S, Zhang L, Wang Y, Xie Q, Kopriva S, and Chu C* (2019) Nitrate-NRT1.1B-SPX4 cascade integrates nitrogen and phosphorus signaling networks in plants. Nature Plants 5: 401-413.  [热点论文][高被引论文]

Featured by César Poza-Carrión and Javier Paz-Ares  (2019) When nitrate and phosphate sensors meet. Nature Plants 5, 339–340.

Selected in F1000Prime by Prof. Jian Feng Ma. Doi: 10.3410/f.735399180.793560575, and Prof. Shuhua Yang on 29 May 2019; doi: 10.3410/f.735399180.793560581. (Very good)

8. Hu B, Wang W, Ou S, Tang J, Li H, Che R, Zhang Z, Chai X, Wang H, Wang Y, Liang C, Liu L, Piao Z, Deng Q, Deng K, Xu C, Liang Y, Zhang L, Li L, Chu C*(2015) Variation in NRT1.1B contributes to nitrate-use divergence between rice subspecies. Nature Genetics 47(7): 834-838.  [高被引论文]

Featured by Dai-Yin Chao and Hong-Xuan Lin (2015) Nitrogen-use efficiency: Transport solution in rice variations. Nature Plants 1: 15096.

Highlighted by Chen ZC and Ma JF (2015)Improving nitrogen use efficiency in rice through enhancing root nitrate uptake mediated by a nitrate transporter, NRT1.1B. Journal of Genetics and Genomics 42(9): 463-465.

Highlighted by Duan D and Zhang H (2015) A single SNP in NRT1.1B has a major impact on nitrogen use efficiency in rice. Science China Life Sciences 58(8): 827-828.

Selected for F1000 Prime. doi: 10.3410/f.725540326.793508312.

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