Transcriptomic changes in maize roots triggered by urease inhibitor NBPT

In the soil the stability of urea is affected by the presence of urease, a ubiquitous enzyme released in the rhizosphere by microbial population and by decomposition of organic matter. To reduce the impact on farmer economies and environmental pollution, a common agronomical practice consists of applying urease inhibitors which delays the hydrolysis of urea and, in turn, ammonia is slowly release in the soil. General aim of the present work was the description of changes in maize root transcriptome occurring in response to treatment with the urease inhibitor NBPT. 5-d-old maize plants were treated for 8 hours with nutrient solution containing nitrogen in form of urea (0.5 mM) and 0.897 µM NBPT (N(n-butyl)thiophosphoric-triamide), urease inhibitor. Three different biological replicates were used for each sample repeating the experiment three times. All samples were obtained pooling roots of six plants.