StCDF1 transcription factor: "The jack of all trades" and its nitrogen signalling regulation in potato [RNA-seq]

Due to the sessile nature of plants, they are under increased risk of environmental threats,aggravated by climate-change induces abiotic stress. However, plants have adapted toachieve growth development and reproduction by modulating their molecular stressresponse. Transcription factors (TFs) encoded belonging to DNA-BINDING WITH ONEFINGER (DOF) as CYCLING DOF FACTOR (CDFs) have been implicated in diverseprocesses, including nitrogen response. In potato,StCDF1TF plays a central role as a clockoutputthat regulatestuberizationand we previously demonstrated that it is also involved indrought response together with its antisense lncRNAthroughstomata regulation.Using arecently developed high-throughput DNA-affinity purification sequencing technology(DAP-Seq) we were able to identify the molecular targets of StCDF1. We further combinedDAP-Seq & RNA-Seq data from overexpressed and knockdownStCDF1transgenic plants,to specify its downstream candidate targets. We found that in addition to its canonical roleas a repressor, StCDF1 can also act as an activator of target genes involved in a range ofbiological processes, including the regulation of nitrogen metabolism. Finally, wedemonstrated that plants overexpressingStCDF1are more sensitive to lownitrogenconditions compared to the knockoutStCDF1 Overall design: 2 replicates for wild-type, StCDF1 overexpressor and RNAi