Characterization of cotton ARF factors and the role of GhARF2b in fiber development

BMC Genomics

Xia Liu¹  Yugao Zhang¹  Lingjian Wang²  Xiufang Zhang²  Xiaoxia Shangguan²  Zhiwen Chen³  Junfeng Cao⁴  Chaochen Huang⁵  Zishou Zheng⁶ 

[1] Esquel Group, 25 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong, China;National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics and National Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology/CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032, Shanghai, China;National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics and National Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology/CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032, Shanghai, China;Institute of Carbon Materials Science, Shanxi Datong University, 037009, Datong, China;National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics and National Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology/CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032, Shanghai, China;Plant Stress Biology Center, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology/CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032, Shanghai, China;University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032, Shanghai, China;National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics and National Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology/CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032, Shanghai, China;School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, 201210, Shanghai, China;National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics and National Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology/CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032, Shanghai, China;University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032, Shanghai, China;

关键词: Cotton;    GhARF2b;    Fiber elongation;    Fiber initiation;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12864-021-07504-6

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCotton fiber is a model system for studying plant cell development. At present, the functions of many transcription factors in cotton fiber development have been elucidated, however, the roles of auxin response factor (ARF) genes in cotton fiber development need be further explored.ResultsHere, we identify auxin response factor (ARF) genes in three cotton species: the tetraploid upland cotton G. hirsutum, which has 73 ARF genes, and its putative extent parental diploids G. arboreum and G. raimondii, which have 36 and 35 ARFs, respectively. Ka and Ks analyses revealed that in G. hirsutum ARF genes have undergone asymmetric evolution in the two subgenomes. The cotton ARFs can be classified into four phylogenetic clades and are actively expressed in young tissues. We demonstrate that GhARF2b, a homolog of the Arabidopsis AtARF2, was preferentially expressed in developing ovules and fibers. Overexpression of GhARF2b by a fiber specific promoter inhibited fiber cell elongation but promoted initiation and, conversely, its downregulation by RNAi resulted in fewer but longer fiber. We show that GhARF2b directly interacts with GhHOX3 and represses the transcriptional activity of GhHOX3 on target genes.ConclusionOur results uncover an important role of the ARF factor in modulating cotton fiber development at the early stage.

【 授权许可】

CC BY