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We acknowledge Gergely Molnar for critical reading of the manuscript, Alexander Johnson for language editing and Yulija Salanenka for technical assistance. Work in the Benkova laboratory was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF01_I1774S) to KO, RA and EB. Work in the Benkova laboratory was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF01_I1774S) to KO, RA and EB and by the DOC Fellowship Programme of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (25008) to C.A. Work in the Wabnik laboratory was supported by the Programa de Atraccion de Talento 2017 (Comunidad de Madrid, 2017-T1/BIO-5654 to K.W.), Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D from the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion of Spain (grant SEV-2016-0672 (2017-2021) to K.W. via the CBGP) and Programa Estatal de Generacion del Conocimiento y Fortalecimiento Cientifico y Tecnologico del Sistema de I+D+I 2019 (PGC2018-093387-A-I00) from MICIU (to K.W.). M.M. was supported by a postdoctoral contract associated to SEV-2016-0672. We acknowledge the Bioimaging Facility in IST-Austria and the Advanced Microscopy Facility of the Vienna BioCenter Core Facilities, member of the Vienna BioCenter Austria, for use of the OMX v4 3D SIM microscope. AJ was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): I03630 to J.F.
Modulation of plant root growth by nitrogen source-defined regulation of polar auxin transport
Publicated to:Embo Journal. 40 (3): e106862- - 2021-02-01 40(3), DOI: 10.15252/embj.2020106862
Authors: Otvos, Krisztina; Marconi, Marco; Vega, Andrea; O'Brien, Jose; Johnson, Alexander; Abualia, Rashed; Antonielli, Livio; Montesinos, Juan Carlos; Zhang, Yuzhou; Tan, Shutang; Cuesta, Candela; Artner, Christina; Bouguyon, Eleonore; Gojon, Alain; Friml, Jiri; Gutierrez, Rodrigo A.; Wabnik, Krzysztof; Benkova, Eva;
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Abstract
Availability of the essential macronutrient nitrogen in soil plays a critical role in plant growth, development, and impacts agricultural productivity. Plants have evolved different strategies for sensing and responding to heterogeneous nitrogen distribution. Modulation of root system architecture, including primary root growth and branching, is among the most essential plant adaptions to ensure adequate nitrogen acquisition. However, the immediate molecular pathways coordinating the adjustment of root growth in response to distinct nitrogen sources, such as nitrate or ammonium, are poorly understood. Here, we show that growth as manifested by cell division and elongation is synchronized by coordinated auxin flux between two adjacent outer tissue layers of the root. This coordination is achieved by nitrate-dependent dephosphorylation of the PIN2 auxin efflux carrier at a previously uncharacterized phosphorylation site, leading to subsequent PIN2 lateralization and thereby regulating auxin flow between adjacent tissues. A dynamic computer model based on our experimental data successfully recapitulates experimental observations. Our study provides mechanistic insights broadening our understanding of root growth mechanisms in dynamic environments.
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Quality index
Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel
The work has been published in the journal Embo Journal due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position 18/297, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.
From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.76. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)
This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:
- Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 4 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
- Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 15.1 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)
Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-24, the following number of citations:
- WoS: 34
- Scopus: 70
- Google Scholar: 14
Impact and social visibility
Leadership analysis of institutional authors
This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Austria; Chile; France.
the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been WABNIK, KRZYSZTOF.