Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is a major determinant of maize (Zea mays L.) productivity and sustainability, yet the regulatory changes associated with modern breeding remain incompletely understood. Here, we used breeding-era transcriptomic data from 137 elite Chinese maize inbred lines to identify transcriptional regulators associated with maize NUE. Breeding-era expression shifts in NUE effector genes were modest but tissue-specific, pointing to pathway-level transcriptional rewiring during modern breeding. Focusing on the first leaf above the uppermost ear at silking, we identified 69 breeding-era-responsive genes, including 10 transcription factors, and prioritized ZmSPL19 through Pearson correlation analysis with curated NUE-related genes. ZmSPL19 expression declined during modern breeding and showed a nitrate-repressed expression, with lower transcript abundance under nitrogen-sufficient conditions and rapid downregulation upon nitrate resupply. Loss of ZmSPL19 function promoted primary root elongation, biomass accumulation, leaf nitrogen content, soil–plant analysis development (SPAD), photosynthetic rate, kernel number, and grain yield under nitrogen-sufficient conditions. These results identify ZmSPL19 as a breeding-associated negative regulator of growth and yield formation under nitrogen-sufficient conditions and support the value of a breeding-informed strategy for discovering regulators with potential relevance to maize NUE improvement.
Bai et al. (2026) studied this question.