Thellungiella halophila ST103 enhances salt tolerance in Gossypium hirsutum

Background:Cotton(Gossypium hirsutum),the major textile fiber crop ofthe world,is negatively affected by salinity.It leads to the induction of adverse effects on growth and development of cott on.The overall yield of cotton faces major drawback once they are grown in saline soil.To improve cotton salt tolerance,tunsgenic approach offers a fast and effective way but it relies on the availability of salt tolerance genes.Results:In this study,we have reported the evaluation of ThST103,a homologue of Arabidopsis ozone-induced protein(AtOZI1)in Thellungiellahalophila,in enhancing salt tolerance in cotton.Overexpression ofThST103 enabled cotton plants to germinate and grow better than the wild types under salt stress.The transgenic lines showed enhanced survival rate in the saline environment and experienced less oxidative damage compared with the wild types.In the field,the transgenic cotton lines produced higher yield than the wild type in saline soil.Transcriptomic comparison analyses of ThST103 overexpression lines versus the wild type revealed upregulated genes enriched in salt stress tolerance and ion homeostasis.Conclusions:Our results dem on strate that ThST103 has the capability to improve salt tolerance in cotton.It can be used in cotton breeding for salt tolerance cultivars.

Thellungiella halophila ST5 improves salt tolerance in cotton

Background: Salinity is a major abiotic stress to global agriculture which hampers crop growth and development, and eventually reduces yield. Transgenic technology is an e ective and e cient approach to improve crop salt tolerance but depending on the availability of e ective genes. We previously isolated Salt Tolerance5(ThST5) from the halophyte Thellungiella halophila, an ortholog of Arabidopsis SPT4-2 which encodes a transcription elongation factor. However, SPT4-2-confered salt tolerance has not been evaluated in crops yet. Here we report the evaluation of Th ST5-conferred salt tolerance in cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.).Results: The ThST5 overexpression transgenic cotton plants displayed enhanced tolerance to salt stress during seed germination and seedling stage compared with wild type. Particularly, the transgenic plants showed improved salinity tolerance as well as yield under saline field conditions. Comparative transcriptomic analysis showed that ThST5 improved salt tolerance of transgenic cotton mainly by maintaining ion homeostasis. In addition, ThST5 also orchestrated the expression of genes encoding antioxidants and salt-responsive transcription factors.Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that ThST5 is a promising candidate to improve salt tolerance in cotton.

Evaluation of Thellungiella halophila ST7 for improving salt tolerance in cotton

Background: Gossypium hirsutum(upland cotton) is one of the principal fiber crops in the world. Cotton yield is highly affected by abiotic stresses, among which salt stress is considered as a major problem around the globe. Transgenic approach is efficient to improve cotton salt tolerance but depending on the availability of salt tolerance genes.Results: In this study we evaluated salt tolerance candidate gene ST7 from Thellungiella halophila, encoding a homolog of Arabidopsis aluminum-induced protein, in cotton. Our results showed that ThST7 overexpression in cotton improved germination under NaCl stress as well as seedling growth. Our field trials also showed that ThST7 transgenic cotton lines produced higher yield under salt stress conditions. The improved salt tolerance of the transgenic cotton lines was partially contributed by enhanced antioxidation as shown by diaminobenzidine(DAB) and nitrotetrazolium blue chloride(NBT) staining. Moreover, transcriptomic analysis of ThST7 overexpression lines showed a significant upregulation of the genes involved in ion homeostasis and antioxidation, consistent with the salt tolerance phenotype of the transgenic cotton.Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that ThST7 has the ability to improve salt tolerance in cotton. The ThST7 transgenic cotton may be used in cotton breeding for salt tolerance cultivars.