Arabidopsis thaliana Raw sequence reads

High temperature already affects crop yield in many areas and in many plant species. Although molecular genetics have revealed few candidate genes for creating heat resistant plants, it still awaits a long time. However, farmers have accumulated anecdotal yet useful experiences during their practice. Reinvestigations of these experiences will provide new strategies to improve plant resilience. According to Chinese farmers' experience, they used to supply nitrogen fertilizer in rice paddy during summer for enhancing rice survival rates. Here, we first confirmed that nitrate (NO3-) supply greatly improved Arabidopsis thermotolerance. We further found that heat stress triggered the NIN-Like Protein 7 (NLP7) nuclear localization. NLP7 further bound to a series of heat-responsive genes, including HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR A3 (HSFA3) and up-regulated their expressions. The molecular mechanisms reported in this study elegantly explain the traditional practices of farmers and shed new light on finding efficient ways to improve crop yields during climate change.