Systemic movement of long non-coding RNA ELENA1 attenuates leaf senescence under nitrogen deficiency

Nitrogen is an essential macronutrient that is absorbed by roots and stored in leaves, mainly as ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase1,2. During nitrogen deficiency (?N), plants activate leaf senescence for source-to-sink nitrogen remobilization for adaptative growth3,4,5,6. However, how ?N signals perceived by roots are propagated to shoots remains underexplored. We found that ELF18-INDUCED LONG NONCODING RNA 1 (ELENA1) is ?N inducible and attenuates ?N-induced leaf senescence in Arabidopsis. Analysis of plants expressing the ELENA1 promoter ?-glucuronidase fusion gene showed that ELENA1 is transcribed specifically in roots under ?N. Reciprocal grafting of the wild type and elena1 demonstrated that ELENA1 functions systemically. ELENA1 dissociates the MEDIATOR SUBUNIT 19a–ORESARA1 transcriptional complex, thereby calibrating senescence progression. Our observations establish the systemic regulation of leaf senescence by a root-derived long non-coding RNA under ?N in Arabidopsis.