The NAC transcription factor LuNAC61 negatively regulates fiber development in flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Flax is a crucial fiber crop that exhibits excellent textile properties and serves as a model plant for investigating phloem fiber development. The regulation of multiple genes significantly influences fiber development, notably involving NAC(NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) transcription factors in forming the fiber secondary cell wall(SCW).Overexpression of LuNAC61 in flax resulted in sparse top meristematic zone leaves and significantly reduced stem cellulose content. Scanning electron microscopy and staining observations revealed a significant reduction in fiber bundles. β-Glucuronidase(GUS) staining analysis demonstrated high activity of the LuNAC61 promoter in the bast fibers of the flax stem. Additionally, several members of the LuPLATZ and LuCesA families exhibited significant coexpression with LuNAC61. Subcellular localization indicated the presence of LuPLATZ24 protein in the nucleus and cytoplasm, LuNAC61 protein exclusively in the nucleus, and LuCesA10 in the nucleus and endoplasmic reticulum. LuPLATZ24 positively regulates LuNAC61, whereas LuNAC61 negatively affects LuCesA10, suggesting the involvement of a metabolic network in regulating flax fiber development. In conclusion, this study provides a critical opportunity for a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the mechanisms governing flax fiber development and the potential use of biotechnology to enhance flax fiber yield.

Characterization of the 19 Novel Cotton FLA Genes and Their Expression Profiling in Fiber Development and in Response to Phytohormones and Salt Stress

Fasciclin-like arabinogalactan proteins(FLAs),a subclass of arabinogalactan proteins(AGPs),are usually involved in cell development in plants.To investigate the expression profiling as well

Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes Associated with Cotton Fiber Development in a Chromosomal Substitution Line(CS-B22sh)

One of the impediments in the genetic improvement of cotton fiber is the paucity of information about genes associated with fiber development.Availability of chromosome arm substitution line CS-

Evolution of pectin synthesis relevant galacturonosyltransferase gene family and its expression during cotton fiber development

Background:Pectin is a key substance involved in cell wall development,and the galacturonosyltransferases(GAUTs)gene family is a critical participant in the pectin synthesis pathway.Systematic and comprehensive research on GAUTs has not been performed in cotton.Analysis of the evolution and expression patterns of the GAUT gene family in different cotton species is needed to in crease kno wledge of the functi on of pectin in cotto n fiber development.Results:In this study,we have identified 131 GAUT genes in the genomes of four Gossypium species(G.raimondii,G barbadense,G.hirsutum,and G.arboreum),and classified them as GAUT-A,GAUT-B and GAUT-C,which coding probable galacturonosyltransferases.Among them,the GAUT genes encode proteins GAUT1 to GAUT15.All GAUT proteins except for GAUT7 contai n a con served glycosyl transferase family 8 domain(H-DN-A-SW-S-V-H-T-F).The conserved sequence of GAUT7 is PLN(phospholamban)02769 domain.According to c/s-elemet analysis,GAUT genes transcript levels may be regulated by horm ones such as JA,GA,SA,ABA,Me-JA,and IA A.The evoluti on and transcription patterns of the GAUT gene family in different cotton species and the transcript levels in upland cotton lines with different fiber st「ength were analyzed.Peak transcript level of GhGAUT genes have been observed before 15 DPA.In the six materials with high fiber strength,the transcription of GhGAUT genes were concentrated from 10 to 15 DPA;while the highest transcript levels in low fiber st「ength materials were detected between 5 and 10 DPA.These results lays the foundation for future research on gene function during cotton fiber development.Conclusions:The GAUT gene family may affect cotton fiber development,including fiber elongation and fiber thickening.In the low strength fiber lines,GAUTs mainly participate in fiber elongation,whereas their major effect on cotton with high strength fiber is related to both elongation and thickening.

A genome-wide identification of the BLH gene family reveals BLH1 involved in cotton fiber development

Background:Cotton is the world’s largest and most important source of renewable natural fiber.BEL1-like homeodomain(BLH)genes are ubiquitous in plants and have been reported to contribute to plant development.However,there is no comprehensive characterization of this gene family in cotton.In this study,32,16,and 18 BLH genes were identified from the G.hirsutum,G.arboreum,and G.raimondii genome,respectively.In addition,we also studied the phylogenetic relationships,chromosomal location,gene structure,and gene expression patterns of the BLH genes.Results:The results indicated that these BLH proteins were divided into seven distinct groups by phylogenetic analysis.Among them,25 members were assigned to 15 chromosomes.Furthermore,gene structure,chromosomal location,conserved motifs,and expression level of BLH genes were investigated in G.hirsutum.Expression profiles analysis showed that four genes(GhBLH1_3,GhBLH1_4,GhBLH1_5,and GhBLH1_6)from BLH1 subfamily were highly expressed during the fiber cell elongation period.The expression levels of these genes were significantly induced by gibberellic acid and brassinosteroid,but not auxin.Exogenous application of gibberellic acid significantly enhanced GhBLH1_3,GhBLH1_4,and GhBLH1_5 transcripts.Expression levels of GhBLH1_3 and GhBLH1_4 genes were significantly increased under brassinosteroid treatment.Conclusions:The BLH gene family plays a very important role in many biological processes during plant growth and development.This study deepens our understanding of the role of the GhBLH1 gene involved in fiber development and will help us in breeding better cotton varieties in the future.

Cloning GhSCFP Gene and Its Function in Cotton Fiber Development

As a major raw material for the textile industry and the most important fiber crop in the world,cotton is of great significance in Chinese economy.The development of cotton fiber can be divided

Expression Profile Analysis of Genes Involved in Brassinosteroid Biosynthesis Pathway in Cotton Fiber Development

Cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.) is the leading fiber crop and one of the mainstays of the economy in the world.Cotton fibers,as the main product of cotton plants,are unicellular,linear

Genes Expressing Differences in Upland Cotton Fiber Development Between 12 DPA and 16 DPA

Cotton is the major dominant natural fiber crop on the earth.Although some current cotton genetics and breeding programs had made great progresses in cotton lint yield increases and disease resistance(tolerance),fiber quality has little improvement.Global understanding genes expression

Comparative phosphoproteomic analysis of BR-defective mutant reveals a key role of GhSK13 in regulating cotton fiber development

Brassinosteroid(BR), a steroid phytohormone, whose signaling transduction pathways include a series of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation events, and GSK3 s are the main negative regulator kinases. BRs have been shown to play vital roles in cotton fiber elongation. However, the underlying mechanism is still elusive. In this study, fibers of a BR-defective mutant Pagoda 1(pag1), and its corresponding wild-type(ZM24) were selected for a comparative global phosphoproteome analysis at critical developmental time points: fast-growing stage(10 days after pollination(DPA)) and secondary cell wall synthesis stage(20DPA). Based on the substrate characteristics of GSK3, 900 potential substrates were identified. Their GO and KEGG annotation results suggest that BR functions in fiber development by regulating GhSKs(GSK3s of Gossypium hirsutum L.) involved microtubule cytoskeleton organization, and pathways of glucose, sucrose and lipid metabolism. Further experimental results revealed that among the GhSK members identified, GhSK13 not only plays a role in BR signaling pathway, but also functions in developing fiber by respectively interacting with an AP2-like ethylene-responsive factor GhAP2L, a nuclear transcription factor GhDNFYB19, and a homeodomain zipper member GhHDZ5. Overall, our phosphoproteomic research advances the understanding of fiber development controlled by BR signal pathways especially through GhSKs, and also offers numbers of target proteins for improving cotton fiber quality.

Cotton functional genomics reveals global insight into genome evolution and fiber development

Due to the economic value of natural textile fiber, cotton has attracted much research attention, which has led to the publication of two diploid genomes and two tetraploid genomes. These big data facilitate functional genomic study in cotton, and allow researchers to investigate cotton genome structure, gene expression, and protein function on the global scale using high-throughput methods. In this review, we summarized recent studies of cotton genomes. Population genomic analyses revealed the domestication history of cultivated upland cotton and the roles of transposable elements in cotton genome evolution.Alternative splicing of cotton transcriptomes was evaluated genome-widely. Several important gene families like MYC, NAC, Sus and GhPLDal were systematically identified and classified based on genetic structure and biological function. High-throughput proteomics also unraveled the key functional proteins correlated with fiber development. Functional genomic studies have provided unprecedented insights into global-scale methods for cotton research.

Developmental and hormonal regulation of fiber quality in two natural-colored cotton cultivars

Cotton cultivars with brown （Xiangcaimian 2）, green （Wanmian 39） and white （Sumian 9） fiber were investigated to study fiber developmental characteristics of natural-colored cotton and the effect of hormones on fiber quality at different stages after anthesis. Fiber lengths of both natural-colored cottons were lower than the white-fibered control, with brown-fibered cotton longer than green. Fiber strength, micronaire and maturation of natural-colored cotton were also lower than the control. The shorter fiber of the green cultivar was due to slower growth during 10 to 30 days post-anthesis （DPA）. Likewise, the lower fiber strength, micronaire and maturation of natured-colored cotton were also due to slower growth during this pivotal stage. Indole-3-acetic acid （IAA） content at 10 DPA, and abscisic acid （ABA） content at 30 to 40 DPA were lower in the fibers of the natural-colored than that of the white-fibered cotton. After applying 20 mg L-1 gibberellic acid （GA3）, the IAA content at 20 DPA in the brown and green-fibered cottons increased by 51.07 and 64.33%, fiber ABA content increased by 38.96 and 24.40%, and fiber length increased by 8.13 and 13.96%, respectively. Fiber strength, micronaire and maturation were also enhanced at boll opening stage. Those results suggest that the level of endogenous hormones affect fiber quality. Application of external hormones can increase hormone content in natural-colored cotton fiber, improving its quality.

Transcriptome Profiling and Analysis during Cotton Fiber Cell Development

In this project,we aim to elucidate the molecular mechanism controlling initiation and elongation of tetraploid Gossypium hirsutum fiber cells by setting up a high throughput custom-designed

Technology Development Road for Chemical Fiber Industry in China (Part One)

Speech given by Mr. Zheng Zhiyi, President of China Chemical Fiber Association, at the 13th China International MMF Conference (Ke Qiao 2007)

Brassinosteroids and Auxin Down-Regulate DELLA Genes in Fiber Initiation and Elongation of Cotton

Plant hormones play important roles in cotton fiber growth and development.However,the interaction of phytohormones is largely unknown in fiber cells up to now.DELLA proteins are critical component in GA （gibberellic acid） signal transduction,which are also regulated by other phytohormones,such as auxin and ethylene.To understand the regulation of DELLA genes in cotton fiber growth and development,we cloned four DELLA genes from upland cotton fibers （Gossypium hirsutum L.）,named GhGAI1,GhGAI2,GhGAI3,and GhGAI4.Alignment of the four predicted proteins with other reported DELLA proteins in various species displayed that they shared conserved domains and high homology.Expression profiles of the four GhGAIs in various tissues and organs as well as cotton fibers in different stages displayed that GhGAI1 has higher transcriptional levels than other GhGAIs in all detected samples.Furthermore,the expression level of GhGAI1 was significantly reduced in 0 dpa （day post anthesis） ovules by addition of IAA and epi-BL,and exogenous epi-BL decreased GhGAI1 level in 7 dpa fiber.Similarly,the levels of the other three GhGAIs in 0 dpa ovules and 7 dpa fibers were also regulated by applied phytohormones.In addition,the levels of GhGAI1 were higher in Xuzhou142 fl mutant （fuzzless-lintless） than in FL （Gossypium hirsutum vs.Xuzhou 142） from-1 to 3 dpa ovules,suggesting that GhGAI1 engaged in cotton fiber cell initiation.These results indicated that DELLA genes are involved in the process of fiber cell initiation and elongation regulated by different phytohormones.

The laccase gene Gh Lac1 modulates fiber initiation and elongation by coordinating jasmonic acid and flavonoid metabolism

Cotton fibers are single cells originating in the epidermis of cotton ovules,and serve as the largest natural fiber source for the textile industry.In theory,all epidermal cells have the potential to develop into fibers,but only 15%–25%of epidermis cells develop into commercially viable lint fibers.We previously showed that Gh Lac1 participates in cotton defense against biotic stress.Here we report that Gh Lac1 also has a role in cotton fiber development.Gh Lac1 RNAi lines in cotton showed increased differentiation of fiber initials from epidermis and shortened fiber length,resulting in unchanged lint percentage.Suppression of Gh Lac1 expression led to constitutively hyperaccumulated jasmonic acid(JA)and flavonoids in ovules and fiber cells.In vitro ovule culture experiments confirmed the distinct roles of JA and flavonoids in fiber initiation and elongation,and showed that fiber development is spatially regulated by these chemicals:the increased fiber initiation in Gh Lac1 RNAi lines is caused by hyperaccumulated JA and rutin content during the fiber initiation stage and shortened fiber length is caused by constitutively increased JA and naringenin content during the fiber elongation stage.

Molecular Cloning and Characterization of an Allene Oxide Cyclase Gene Associated with Fiber Strength in Cotton

Allene oxide cyclase （AOC） is one of the most important enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of the plant hormone jasmonic acid （JA）. AOC catalyzes the conversion ofallene oxide into 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid （OPDA）, a precursor of JA. Using 28K cotton genome array hybridization, an expressed sequence tag （EST; GenBank accession no. ES792958） was investigated that exhibited significant expression differences between lintless-fuzzless XinWX and linted-fuzzless XinFLM isogenic lines during fiber initiation stages. The EST was used to search the Gossypium EST database （http：//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/） for corresponding cDNA sequences encoding full-length open reading frames （ORFs）. Identified ORFs were confirmed using transcriptional and genomic data. As a result, a novel gene encoding AOC in cotton （Gossypium hirsutum AOC; GenBank accession no. KF383427） was cloned and characterized. The 741-bp GhAOC gene comprises three exons and two introns and encodes a polypeptide of 246 amino acids. Two homologous copies were identified in the tetraploid cotton species G. hirsutum acc. TM-1 and G. barbadense cv. Hai7124, and one copy in the diploid cotton species G. herbaceum and G. raimondii, qRT-PCR showed that the GhAOC transcript was abundant in cotton fiber tissues from 8 to 23 days post anthesis （DPA）, and the expression profiles were similar in the two cultivated tetraploid cotton species G. hirsutum acc. TM- 1 and G. barbadense cv. Hai7124, with a higher level of transcription in the former. One copy of GhAOC in tetraploid cotton was localized to chromosome 24 （Chr. D8） using the subgenome-specific single nucleotide polymorphism （SNP） marker analysis, which co-localized GhAOC to within 10 cM of a fiber strength quantitative trait locus （QTL） reported previously. GhAOC was highly correlated with fiber quality and strength （P=0.014） in an association analysis, suggesting a possible role in cotton fiber development, especially in secondary cell wall thickening.

Targeted myostatin loss-of-function mutation increases type Ⅱ muscle fibers in Meishan pigs

Myostatin(MSTN) is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth and development. The skeletal muscle in MSTN^(-/-)mice is significantly hypertrophied, with muscle fiber type II increasing significantly while muscle fiber type I decreasing.However, it is still not clear how the skeletal muscle types change in MSTN^(-/-)pigs, and how the mechanism for MSTN regulates fiber types, especially in large animals like pigs. This study conducted a comprehensive analysis of the composition of skeletal muscle fibers in MSTN^(-/-)pigs produced in our laboratory. It was observed that, compared with wild-type(WT) pigs, both the total mass of skeletal muscle and type IIb muscle fibers increased significantly(P<0.01),while the type I and type IIa muscle fibers decreased significantly(P<0.01), in MSTN^(-/-)Meishan pigs. In addition, to explore the influence of MSTN on muscle fiber type and its regulation mechanism in the embryonic stage, this study selected a few genes(Myf5, Mef2 d, MyoD and Six1) associated with muscle fiber type and validated their expression by quantitative RT-PCR. Herein, it was found that Myh7, Myh2, Myh4 and Myh1 can be detected in the skeletal muscle of pigs at 65 days of gestation(dg). Compared with WT pigs, in MSTN^(-/-)Meishan pigs, Myh7 decreased significantly(P<0.01), while Myh4(P<0.001) and Myh1(P<0.05) increased significantly. Meanwhile, the increased expression of Myf5(P<0.05), Mef2 d(P<0.01) and Six1(P<0.05) in MSTN^(-/-)Meishan pigs suggested that MSTN should regulate the directional development of muscle fiber types in the early stage of embryonic development. Thus, at the embryonic stage, the type II muscle fibers began to increase in MSTN^(-/-)pigs. These results can provide valuable information not only for pig meat quality improvement, but also for the study of human skeletal muscle development and disease treatment.

A Single-Frequency Linearly Polarized Fiber Laser Using a Newly Developed Heavily Tm3+-Doped Germanate Glass Fiber at 1.95 μm

A compact linearly polarized, low-noise, narrow-linewidth, single-frequency fiber laser at 1950nm is demonstrated. This compact fiber laser is based on a 21-mm-long homemade Tm3＋-doped germanate glass fiber. Over 100-mW stable continuous-wave single transverse and longitudinal mode lasing at 195Ohm are achieved. The measured relative intensity noise is less than -135dB/Hz at frequencies over 5 MHz. The signal-to-noise ratio of the laser is larger than 72dB, and the laser linewidth is less than 6kHz, while the obtained linear polarization extinction ratio is higher than 22 dB.

柑橘果实膳食纤维的研究

以柠檬、玉环柚、椪柑、脐橙、温州蜜柑和胡柚为试材,测定了果皮和果肉中总膳食纤维(TDF)、不溶性膳食纤维(IDF)、水溶性膳食纤维(SDF)、中性洗涤剂纤维(NDF)、酸性洗涤剂纤维(ADF)、纤维素(CEL)、半纤维素(HC)、木质素(Lignin)、总果胶(TP)、原果胶(Protopectin)和水溶解性果胶(WSP)含量。以柚和温州蜜柑为试材,分别测定了不同的发育阶段膳食纤维及其具体组分的含量,总结了不同发育阶段果实膳食纤维的变化情况。结果表明,除柠檬和脐橙果肉的SDF含量稍多于果皮中含量外,其他各组分均是果皮中的含量大于果肉。除果皮中TDF和IDF的品种间变异较小外,其它组分在品种间的变异均较大。除HC外,各组分在果肉中的变异均大于果皮。柠檬果实中TDF、SDF、NDF、ADF、CEL、木质素和WSP含量都高于其它柑橘类水果。柚和温州蜜柑TDF和IDF随着果实的成熟而有所下降,但降幅不明显;而SDF则随着发育阶段的推移而渐渐增加。