Getting more bark for your buck: nitrogen economy of deciduous forest trees.

Abstract

Seasonal nitrogen (N) remobilization is an extensive process in perennial plants requiring communication between N sinks and storage tissues (sources). These plants coordinate changes between expanding buds/shoots and bark to guarantee N storage resources during the dormant season and N utilization during the growth phase. Based on seasonal nitrogen cycling in Populus, Li et al. (2020) have proposed a novel model using knockdown of bark storage proteins (BSPs) transgenic plants, where auxin production leads to N mobilization from BSPs to expanding buds. This represents a significant step forward in understanding the role of BSP during seasonal plant growth and how N remobilization in trees is regulated.