Cotton(Gossypium spp.) yield is reduced by stress. In this study, high temperature(HT) suppressed the expression of the jasmonic acid(JA) biosynthesis gene allene oxide cyclase 2(GhAOC2), reducing JA content and causi...Cotton(Gossypium spp.) yield is reduced by stress. In this study, high temperature(HT) suppressed the expression of the jasmonic acid(JA) biosynthesis gene allene oxide cyclase 2(GhAOC2), reducing JA content and causing male sterility in the cotton HT-sensitive line H05. Anther sterility was reversed by exogenous application of methyl jasmonate(MeJA) to early buds. To elucidate the role of GhAOC2 in JA biosynthesis and identify its putative contribution to the anther response to HT, we created gene knockout cotton plants using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Ghaoc2 mutant lines showed male-sterile flowers with reduced JA content in the anthers at the tetrad stage(TS), tapetum degradation stage(TDS), and anther dehiscence stage(ADS). Exogenous application of MeJA to early mutant buds(containing TS or TDS anthers) rescued the sterile pollen and indehiscent anther phenotypes, while ROS signals were reduced in ADS anthers. We propose that HT downregulates the expression of GhAOC2 in anthers, reducing JA biosynthesis and causing excessive ROS accumulation in anthers, leading to male sterility. These findings suggest exogenous JA application as a strategy for increasing male fertility in cotton under HT.展开更多
The severity of Verticillium wilt on cotton caused by defoliating strains of Verticillium dahliae has gradually increased and threatens production worldwide. Identification of the molecular components of leaf defoliat...The severity of Verticillium wilt on cotton caused by defoliating strains of Verticillium dahliae has gradually increased and threatens production worldwide. Identification of the molecular components of leaf defoliation may increase cotton tolerance to V. dahliae. Ethylene, a major player in plant physiological processes, is often associated with senescence and defoliation of plants. We investigated the cotton–V.dahliae interaction with a focus on the role of ethylene in defoliation and defense against V. dahliae.Cotton plants inoculated with V. dahliae isolate V991, a defoliating strain, accumulated more ethylene and showed increased disease symptoms than those inoculated with a non-defoliating strain. In cotton with a transiently silenced ethylene synthesis gene(GhACOs) and signaling gene(GhEINs) during cotton–V. dahliae interaction, ethylene produced was derived from cotton and more ethylene increased cotton susceptibility and defoliation rate. Overexpression of AtCTR1, a negative regulator in ethylene signaling, in cotton reduced sensitivity to ethylene and increased plant resistance to V. dahliae.Collectively, the results indicated precise regulation of ethylene synthesis or signaling pathways improve cotton resistant to Verticillium wilt.展开更多
MicroRNAs(miRNAs)play essential roles in plant defense responses,although such roles have not been identified in cotton in response to the plant pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae.In this study,the functions of mi...MicroRNAs(miRNAs)play essential roles in plant defense responses,although such roles have not been identified in cotton in response to the plant pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae.In this study,the functions of miR398b and its target genes in cotton-V.dahliae interaction were investigated.The transcript levels of miR398b were down-regulated by V.dahliae infection and miR398b overexpression in cotton made the plants more susceptible to V.dahliae.The results suggest that miR398b negatively regulates cotton resistance to V.dahliae.This may occur by miR398b repression of some CC-NBS-LRR genes via translational inhibition,interfering with defense responses and leading to cotton susceptibility to V.dahliae.Alternatively,miR398b may guide the cleavage of the mRNAs of GhCSD1,GhCSD2 and GhCCS,each of which functions in reactive oxygen species(ROS)regulation and homeostasis,thereby causing excessive ROS accumulation in miR398b-overexpressing plants in response to V.dahliae infection.This study suggests conserved and novel roles of miR398b in the cotton–V.dahliae interaction.These discoveries may be coupled with new strategies in cotton breeding programs to improve resistance to V.dahliae.展开更多
High-temperature(HT)stress causes male sterility in crops,thus decreasing yields.To explore the possible contribution of histone modifications to male fertility under HT conditions,we defined the histone methylation l...High-temperature(HT)stress causes male sterility in crops,thus decreasing yields.To explore the possible contribution of histone modifications to male fertility under HT conditions,we defined the histone methylation landscape for the marks histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation(H3K27me3)and histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation(H3K4me3)by chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing(ChIP-seq)in two differing upland cotton(Gossypium hirsutum)varieties.We observed a global disruption in H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 modifications,especially H3K27me3,in cotton anthers subjected to HT.HT affected the bivalent H3K4me3–H3K27me3 modification more than either monovalent modification.We determined that removal of H3K27me3 at the promoters of jasmonate-related genes increased their expression,maintaining male fertility under HT in the HT-tolerant variety at the anther dehiscence stage.Modulating jasmonate homeostasis or signaling resulted in an anther indehiscence phenotype under HT.Chemical suppression of H3K27me3 deposition increased jasmonic acid contents and maintained male fertility under HT.In summary,our study provides new insights into the regulation of male fertility by histone modifications under HT and suggests a potential strategy for improving cotton HT tolerance.展开更多
Verticillium wilt is one of the most critical cotton diseases,which is widely distributed in cotton-producing countries.However,the conventional method of verticillium wilt investigation is still manual,which has the ...Verticillium wilt is one of the most critical cotton diseases,which is widely distributed in cotton-producing countries.However,the conventional method of verticillium wilt investigation is still manual,which has the disadvantages of subjectivity and low efficiency.In this research,an intelligent vision-based system was proposed to dynamically observe cotton verticillium wilt with high accuracy and high throughput.Firstly,a 3-coordinate motion platform was designed with the movement range 6,100 mm×950 mm×500 mm,and a specific control unit was adopted to achieve accurate movement and automatic imaging.Secondly,the verticillium wilt recognition was established based on 6 deep learning models,in which the VarifocalNet(VFNet)model had the best performance with a mean average precision(mAP)of 0.932.Meanwhile,deformable convolution,deformable region of interest pooling,and soft non-maximum suppression optimization methods were adopted to improve VFNet,and the mAP of the VFNet-Improved model improved by 1.8%.The precision–recall curves showed that VFNet-Improved was superior to VFNet for each category and had a better improvement effect on the ill leaf category than fine leaf.The regression results showed that the system measurement based on VFNet-Improved achieved high consistency with manual measurements.Finally,the user software was designed based on VFNet-Improved,and the dynamic observation results proved that this system was able to accurately investigate cotton verticillium wilt and quantify the prevalence rate of different resistant varieties.In conclusion,this study has demonstrated a novel intelligent system for the dynamic observation of cotton verticillium wilt on the seedbed,which provides a feasible and effective tool for cotton breeding and disease resistance research.展开更多
Dear Editor,With the development of CRISPR-Cas technology,an RNAguided CRISPR activation system has been developed in plants,in which a dead Cas9(dCas9)nuclease is fused to transcriptional activators to regulate the t...Dear Editor,With the development of CRISPR-Cas technology,an RNAguided CRISPR activation system has been developed in plants,in which a dead Cas9(dCas9)nuclease is fused to transcriptional activators to regulate the transcription of endogenous genes(Li et al.,2017;Liu et al.,2017;Manghwar et al.,2020;Ming et al.,2020;Pan et al.,2021).Precise upregulation of gene transcription is emerging as a promising approach for functional genomics research,molecular breeding,and germplasm innovation.However,there have been no reports on the use of the CRISPR-dCas9 transcriptional activation system in cotton.展开更多
Development of pathogen-resistant crops, such as fungus-resistant cotton, has significantly reduced chemical application and improved crop yield and quality. However, the mechanism of resistance to cotton pathogens su...Development of pathogen-resistant crops, such as fungus-resistant cotton, has significantly reduced chemical application and improved crop yield and quality. However, the mechanism of resistance to cotton pathogens such as Verticillium dahliae is still poorly understood. In this study, we characterized a cotton gene (HDTF1) that was isolated following transcriptome profiling during the resistance response of cotton to V. dahliae. HDTFI putatively encodes a homeodomain transcription factor, and its expression was found to be down-regulated in cotton upon inoculation with V. dahliae and Botrytis cinerea. To characterise the involvement of HDTF1 in the response to these pathogens, we used virusinduced gene silencing (VlGS) to generate HDTFl-silenced cotton. VIGS reduction in HDTF1 expression significantly enhanced cotton plant resistance to both pathogens. HDTF1 silencing resulted in activation of jasmonic acid (JA)-mediated signaling and JA accumulation. However, the silenced plants were not altered in the accumulation of salicylic acid (SA) or the expression of marker genes associated with SA signaling. These results suggest that HDTF1 is a negative regulator of the JA pathway, and resistance to V. dahliae and B. cinerea can be engineered by activation of JA signaling.展开更多
The double-recessive genic male-sterile(ms)line ms5 ms6 has been used to develop cotton(Gossypium hirsutum)hybrids for many years,but its molecular-genetic basis has remained unclear.Here,we identified the Ms5 and Ms6...The double-recessive genic male-sterile(ms)line ms5 ms6 has been used to develop cotton(Gossypium hirsutum)hybrids for many years,but its molecular-genetic basis has remained unclear.Here,we identified the Ms5 and Ms6 loci through map-based cloning and confirmed their function in male sterility through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.Ms5 and Ms6 are highly expressed in stages 7–9 anthers and encode the cytochrome P450 mono-oxygenases CYP703A2-A and CYP703A2-D.The ms5 mutant carries a single-nucleotide C-to-T nonsense mutation leading to premature chain termination at amino acid 312(GhCYP703A2-A^(312aa)),and ms6 carries three nonsynonymous substitutions(D98E,E168K,and G198R)and a synonymous mutation(L11L).Enzyme assays showed that GhCYP703A2 proteins hydroxylate fatty acids,and the ms5(GhCYP703A2-A^(312aa))and ms6(GhCYP703A2-D^(D98E,E168K,G198R))mutant proteins have decreased enzyme activities.Biochemical and lipidomic analyses showed that in ms5 ms6 plants,C12–C18 free fatty acid and phospholipid levels are significantly elevated in stages 7–9 anthers,while stages 8–10 anthers lack sporopollenin fluorescence around the pollen,causing microspore degradation and male sterility.Overall,our characterization uncovered functions of GhCYP703A2 in sporopollenin formation and fertility,providing guidance for creating male-sterile lines to facilitate hybrid cotton production and therefore exploit heterosis for improvement of cotton.展开更多
基金funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32072024)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2021ZKPY019)the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD0100403, 2016YFD0101402)。
文摘Cotton(Gossypium spp.) yield is reduced by stress. In this study, high temperature(HT) suppressed the expression of the jasmonic acid(JA) biosynthesis gene allene oxide cyclase 2(GhAOC2), reducing JA content and causing male sterility in the cotton HT-sensitive line H05. Anther sterility was reversed by exogenous application of methyl jasmonate(MeJA) to early buds. To elucidate the role of GhAOC2 in JA biosynthesis and identify its putative contribution to the anther response to HT, we created gene knockout cotton plants using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Ghaoc2 mutant lines showed male-sterile flowers with reduced JA content in the anthers at the tetrad stage(TS), tapetum degradation stage(TDS), and anther dehiscence stage(ADS). Exogenous application of MeJA to early mutant buds(containing TS or TDS anthers) rescued the sterile pollen and indehiscent anther phenotypes, while ROS signals were reduced in ADS anthers. We propose that HT downregulates the expression of GhAOC2 in anthers, reducing JA biosynthesis and causing excessive ROS accumulation in anthers, leading to male sterility. These findings suggest exogenous JA application as a strategy for increasing male fertility in cotton under HT.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Project of China (2018YFD0100403)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1703231)。
文摘The severity of Verticillium wilt on cotton caused by defoliating strains of Verticillium dahliae has gradually increased and threatens production worldwide. Identification of the molecular components of leaf defoliation may increase cotton tolerance to V. dahliae. Ethylene, a major player in plant physiological processes, is often associated with senescence and defoliation of plants. We investigated the cotton–V.dahliae interaction with a focus on the role of ethylene in defoliation and defense against V. dahliae.Cotton plants inoculated with V. dahliae isolate V991, a defoliating strain, accumulated more ethylene and showed increased disease symptoms than those inoculated with a non-defoliating strain. In cotton with a transiently silenced ethylene synthesis gene(GhACOs) and signaling gene(GhEINs) during cotton–V. dahliae interaction, ethylene produced was derived from cotton and more ethylene increased cotton susceptibility and defoliation rate. Overexpression of AtCTR1, a negative regulator in ethylene signaling, in cotton reduced sensitivity to ethylene and increased plant resistance to V. dahliae.Collectively, the results indicated precise regulation of ethylene synthesis or signaling pathways improve cotton resistant to Verticillium wilt.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2018YFD0100403)the project from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(KY201702009).
文摘MicroRNAs(miRNAs)play essential roles in plant defense responses,although such roles have not been identified in cotton in response to the plant pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae.In this study,the functions of miR398b and its target genes in cotton-V.dahliae interaction were investigated.The transcript levels of miR398b were down-regulated by V.dahliae infection and miR398b overexpression in cotton made the plants more susceptible to V.dahliae.The results suggest that miR398b negatively regulates cotton resistance to V.dahliae.This may occur by miR398b repression of some CC-NBS-LRR genes via translational inhibition,interfering with defense responses and leading to cotton susceptibility to V.dahliae.Alternatively,miR398b may guide the cleavage of the mRNAs of GhCSD1,GhCSD2 and GhCCS,each of which functions in reactive oxygen species(ROS)regulation and homeostasis,thereby causing excessive ROS accumulation in miR398b-overexpressing plants in response to V.dahliae infection.This study suggests conserved and novel roles of miR398b in the cotton–V.dahliae interaction.These discoveries may be coupled with new strategies in cotton breeding programs to improve resistance to V.dahliae.
基金supported by the Major Project of Hubei Hongshan Laboratory(2022hszd004)the National Cotton Production System,Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China(CARS-15-04)+1 种基金the National Key R&D Program of China(2022YFF1003502)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32072024).
文摘High-temperature(HT)stress causes male sterility in crops,thus decreasing yields.To explore the possible contribution of histone modifications to male fertility under HT conditions,we defined the histone methylation landscape for the marks histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation(H3K27me3)and histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation(H3K4me3)by chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing(ChIP-seq)in two differing upland cotton(Gossypium hirsutum)varieties.We observed a global disruption in H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 modifications,especially H3K27me3,in cotton anthers subjected to HT.HT affected the bivalent H3K4me3–H3K27me3 modification more than either monovalent modification.We determined that removal of H3K27me3 at the promoters of jasmonate-related genes increased their expression,maintaining male fertility under HT in the HT-tolerant variety at the anther dehiscence stage.Modulating jasmonate homeostasis or signaling resulted in an anther indehiscence phenotype under HT.Chemical suppression of H3K27me3 deposition increased jasmonic acid contents and maintained male fertility under HT.In summary,our study provides new insights into the regulation of male fertility by histone modifications under HT and suggests a potential strategy for improving cotton HT tolerance.
基金supported by grants from the Major Project of Hubei Hongshan Laboratory(2022hszd004)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32270431 and U21A20205)+1 种基金the Key Research and Development Plan of Hubei Province(2022BBA0045 and 2020000071)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2662022YJ018 and 2662019QD053).
文摘Verticillium wilt is one of the most critical cotton diseases,which is widely distributed in cotton-producing countries.However,the conventional method of verticillium wilt investigation is still manual,which has the disadvantages of subjectivity and low efficiency.In this research,an intelligent vision-based system was proposed to dynamically observe cotton verticillium wilt with high accuracy and high throughput.Firstly,a 3-coordinate motion platform was designed with the movement range 6,100 mm×950 mm×500 mm,and a specific control unit was adopted to achieve accurate movement and automatic imaging.Secondly,the verticillium wilt recognition was established based on 6 deep learning models,in which the VarifocalNet(VFNet)model had the best performance with a mean average precision(mAP)of 0.932.Meanwhile,deformable convolution,deformable region of interest pooling,and soft non-maximum suppression optimization methods were adopted to improve VFNet,and the mAP of the VFNet-Improved model improved by 1.8%.The precision–recall curves showed that VFNet-Improved was superior to VFNet for each category and had a better improvement effect on the ill leaf category than fine leaf.The regression results showed that the system measurement based on VFNet-Improved achieved high consistency with manual measurements.Finally,the user software was designed based on VFNet-Improved,and the dynamic observation results proved that this system was able to accurately investigate cotton verticillium wilt and quantify the prevalence rate of different resistant varieties.In conclusion,this study has demonstrated a novel intelligent system for the dynamic observation of cotton verticillium wilt on the seedbed,which provides a feasible and effective tool for cotton breeding and disease resistance research.
基金funded by the Hainan Provincial Joint Project of Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City(2021JJLH0042)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2022M723457)+3 种基金the Hainan Yazhou Bay Seed Lab(B21HJUS03,B21HJ8103,and B21HJ0209)the Hubei Hongshan Laboratory(2021hszd013)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31971983)Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2021ZKPY003)to S.J.
文摘Dear Editor,With the development of CRISPR-Cas technology,an RNAguided CRISPR activation system has been developed in plants,in which a dead Cas9(dCas9)nuclease is fused to transcriptional activators to regulate the transcription of endogenous genes(Li et al.,2017;Liu et al.,2017;Manghwar et al.,2020;Ming et al.,2020;Pan et al.,2021).Precise upregulation of gene transcription is emerging as a promising approach for functional genomics research,molecular breeding,and germplasm innovation.However,there have been no reports on the use of the CRISPR-dCas9 transcriptional activation system in cotton.
基金financially supported by the International Science&Technology Cooperation Program of China(No.2015DFA30860)a grant from Ministry of Agriculture of China(No.2014ZX0800503B)
文摘Development of pathogen-resistant crops, such as fungus-resistant cotton, has significantly reduced chemical application and improved crop yield and quality. However, the mechanism of resistance to cotton pathogens such as Verticillium dahliae is still poorly understood. In this study, we characterized a cotton gene (HDTF1) that was isolated following transcriptome profiling during the resistance response of cotton to V. dahliae. HDTFI putatively encodes a homeodomain transcription factor, and its expression was found to be down-regulated in cotton upon inoculation with V. dahliae and Botrytis cinerea. To characterise the involvement of HDTF1 in the response to these pathogens, we used virusinduced gene silencing (VlGS) to generate HDTFl-silenced cotton. VIGS reduction in HDTF1 expression significantly enhanced cotton plant resistance to both pathogens. HDTF1 silencing resulted in activation of jasmonic acid (JA)-mediated signaling and JA accumulation. However, the silenced plants were not altered in the accumulation of salicylic acid (SA) or the expression of marker genes associated with SA signaling. These results suggest that HDTF1 is a negative regulator of the JA pathway, and resistance to V. dahliae and B. cinerea can be engineered by activation of JA signaling.
基金supported by funding from the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFD0101402)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32072024)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2021ZKPY019)。
文摘The double-recessive genic male-sterile(ms)line ms5 ms6 has been used to develop cotton(Gossypium hirsutum)hybrids for many years,but its molecular-genetic basis has remained unclear.Here,we identified the Ms5 and Ms6 loci through map-based cloning and confirmed their function in male sterility through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.Ms5 and Ms6 are highly expressed in stages 7–9 anthers and encode the cytochrome P450 mono-oxygenases CYP703A2-A and CYP703A2-D.The ms5 mutant carries a single-nucleotide C-to-T nonsense mutation leading to premature chain termination at amino acid 312(GhCYP703A2-A^(312aa)),and ms6 carries three nonsynonymous substitutions(D98E,E168K,and G198R)and a synonymous mutation(L11L).Enzyme assays showed that GhCYP703A2 proteins hydroxylate fatty acids,and the ms5(GhCYP703A2-A^(312aa))and ms6(GhCYP703A2-D^(D98E,E168K,G198R))mutant proteins have decreased enzyme activities.Biochemical and lipidomic analyses showed that in ms5 ms6 plants,C12–C18 free fatty acid and phospholipid levels are significantly elevated in stages 7–9 anthers,while stages 8–10 anthers lack sporopollenin fluorescence around the pollen,causing microspore degradation and male sterility.Overall,our characterization uncovered functions of GhCYP703A2 in sporopollenin formation and fertility,providing guidance for creating male-sterile lines to facilitate hybrid cotton production and therefore exploit heterosis for improvement of cotton.