NSR1/MYR2 is a negative regulator of ASN1 expression and its possible involvement in regulation of nitrogen reutilization in Arabidopsis

•Overexpression of NSR1/MYR2 delays starvation- and dark-induced senescence in source leaves.•NSR1/MYR2 is specifically expressed in phloem throughout a plant.•NSR1/MYR2 has a transcriptional repression activity.•NSR1/MYR2 and ASN1 are reciprocally expressed during day-night cycle.•NSR1/MYR2 negatively regulates ASN1 expression.

Nitrogen (N) is a major macronutrient that is essential for plant growth. It is important for us to understand the key genes that are involved in the regulation of N utilization. In this study, we focused on a GARP-type transcription factor known as NSR1/MYR2, which has been reported to be induced under N-deficient conditions. Our results demonstrated that NSR1/MYR2 has a transcriptional repression activity and is specifically expressed in vascular tissues, especially in phloem throughout the plant under daily light-dark cycle regulation. The overexpression of NSR1/MYR2 delays nutrient starvation- and dark-triggered senescence in the mature leaves of excised whole aerial parts of Arabidopsis plants. Furthermore, the expression of asparagine synthetase 1 (ASN1), which plays an important role in N remobilization and reallocation, i.e. N reutilization, in Arabidopsis, is negatively regulated by NSR1/MYR2, since the expressions of NSR1/MYR2 and ASN1 were reciprocally regulated during the light-dark cycle and ASN1 expression was down-regulated in overexpressors of NSR1/MYR2 and up-regulated in T-DNA insertion mutants of NSR1/MYR2. Therefore, the present results suggest that NSR1/MYR2 plays a role in N reutilization as a negative regulator through controlling ASN1 expression.