Comparative Transcriptomics Reveals Jasmonic Acid-Associated Metabolism Related to Cotton Fiber Initiation

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 16;10(6):e0129854. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129854. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Analysis of mutants and gene expression patterns provides a powerful approach for investigating genes involved in key stages of plant fiber development. In this study, lintless-fuzzless XinWX and linted-fuzzless XinFLM with a single genetic locus difference for lint were used to identify differentially expressed genes. Scanning electron microscopy showed fiber initiation in XinFLM at 0 days post anthesis (DPA). Fiber transcriptional profiling of the lines at three initiation developmental stages (-1, 0, 1 DPA) was performed using an oligonucleotide microarray. Loop comparisons of the differentially expressed genes within and between the lines was carried out, and functional classification and enrichment analysis showed that gene expression patterns during fiber initiation were heavily associated with hormone metabolism, transcription factor regulation, lipid transport, and asparagine biosynthetic processes, as previously reported. Further, four members of the allene-oxide cyclase (AOC) family that function in jasmonate biosynthesis were parallel up-regulation in fiber initiation, especially at -1 DPA, compared to other tissues and organs in linted-fuzzed TM-1. Real time-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis in different fiber mutant lines revealed that AOCs were up-regulated higher at -1 DPA in lintless-fuzzless than that in linted-fuzzless and linted-fuzzed materials, and transcription of the AOCs was increased under jasmonic acid (JA) treatment. Expression analysis of JA biosynthesis-associated genes between XinWX and XinFLM showed that they were up-regulated during fiber initiation in the fuzzless-lintless mutant. Taken together, jasmonic acid-associated metabolism was related to cotton fiber initiation. Parallel up-regulation of AOCs expression may be important for normal fiber initiation development, while overproduction of AOCs might disrupt normal fiber development.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cotton Fiber*
  • Cyclopentanes / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Gossypium / genetics
  • Gossypium / growth & development*
  • Gossypium / metabolism*
  • Intramolecular Oxidoreductases / genetics
  • Intramolecular Oxidoreductases / metabolism
  • Mutation
  • Oxylipins / metabolism*
  • Up-Regulation

Substances

  • Cyclopentanes
  • Oxylipins
  • jasmonic acid
  • Intramolecular Oxidoreductases
  • hydroperoxide isomerase

Grants and funding

This program was financially supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31471539), a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (010-809001), and Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production (No.10). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.