The nitrogen responsive transcriptome in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) reveals significant gene regulatory motifs

Nitrogen (N) is the most important nutrient for the growth of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Foliar gene expression in potato plants with and without N supplementation at 180 kg N ha−1 was compared at mid-season. Genes with consistent differences in foliar expression due to N supplementation over three cultivars and two developmental time points were examined. In total, thirty genes were found to be over-expressed and nine genes were found to be under-expressed with supplemented N. Functional relationships between over-expressed genes were found. The main metabolic pathway represented among differentially expressed genes was amino acid metabolism. The 1000 bp upstream flanking regions of the differentially expressed genes were analysed and nine overrepresented motifs were found using three motif discovery algorithms (Seeder, Weeder and MEME). These results point to coordinated gene regulation at the transcriptional level controlling steady state potato responses to N sufficiency.