The 73rd session of "Chen Bangjie Forum" was successfully held on April 3, 2025 at School of Life Sciences. Prof. Bai Mingyi, from Shandong University, gave an academic lecture entitled "Decoding the regulatory mechanisms of water-nitrogen coupling utilization in wheat". The seminar was hosted by Prof. Zhong Bojian, with active participation from faculties and students.

In this seminar, Prof. Bai introduced the new findings from his lab. As a core crop for national food security, wheat production heavily relies on high nitrogen fertilizer input, while frequent drought stress caused by global climate change severely constrains crop productivity. Based on this context, Prof. Bai's team proposed two key scientific questions: (1) How does low nitrogen enhance plant drought tolerance? (2) How does nitrogen improve plant growth recovery capability after rewatering? Prof. Bai found that low nitrogen suppresses stomatal opening through the long-distance CEP1-CEPR2-BIK1 signal pathway to enhance drought resistance. They also revealed that high nitrogen strengthens post-drought rewatering recovery in wheat via the TaSnRK2.10-TaNLP7 module. Prof. Bai summarized the molecular mechanism of plant water-nitrogen coupling as "drought resistance and water conservation, and efficient recovery", revealing the dynamic regulatory mechanisms for efficient water-fertilizer utilization in crops.

At the end of the seminar, participants raised questions about related research, and Prof. Bai addressed these questions in detail. The faculties and students benefited a lot.