Acyl-CoA N-acyltransferase influences fertility by regulating lipid metabolism and jasmonic acid biogenesis in cotton.

Wenfeng Fu,Caiyun Wu,Ying Shen,Xueping Zhou,Jie Sun,Binglun Luo,Jianyong Wu,Yuqiang Sun,Juan Hao,Kai Huang,Mingfeng Xu,Xiaofei Cheng,Liping Ke,Chaozhu Xing

doi:10.1038/srep11790

Abstract

Cotton (Gossypium spp.) is an important economic crop and there is obvious heterosis in cotton, fertility has played an important role in this heterosis. However, the genes that exhibit critical roles in anther development and fertility are not well understood. Here, we report an acyl-CoA N-acyltransferase (EC2.3; GhACNAT) that plays a key role in anther development and fertility. Suppression of GhACNAT by virus-induced gene silencing in transgenic cotton (G. hirsutum L. cv. C312) resulted in indehiscent anthers that were full of pollen, diminished filaments and stamens, and plant sterility. We found GhACNAT was involved in lipid metabolism and jasmonic acid (JA) biosynthesis. The genes differentially expressed in GhACNAT-silenced plants and C312 were mainly involved in catalytic activity and transcription regulator activity in lipid metabolism. In GhACNAT-silenced plants, the expression levels of genes involved in lipid metabolism and jasmonic acid biosynthesis were significantly changed, the amount of JA in leaves and reproductive organs was significantly decreased compared with the amounts in C312. Treatments with exogenous methyl jasmonate rescued anther dehiscence and pollen release in GhACNAT-silenced plants and caused self-fertility. The GhACNAT gene may play an important role in controlling cotton fertility by regulating the pathways of lipid synthesis and JA biogenesis.

Highlights

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) has long been the world’s most important source of natural textile fiber and is one of the first genetically modified crops
virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) exploits the innate plant defense system of posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) against intracellular viral proliferation and extracellular viral movement[6]. Both RNA and DNA plant viruses can contribute to VIGS5, including the viral vectors derived from positive-strand RNA, Potato virus X (PVX), Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), and Tobacco rattle virus (TRV)[7]
The results indicated that GhACNAT played an important role in regulating the development of reproductive organs and fertility by influencing lipid and JA biosynthesis

Summary

Introduction

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) has long been the world’s most important source of natural textile fiber and is one of the first genetically modified crops. The photobleaching in the transgenic pCLCrV-PDS plants appeared in different organs, including the stem, petiole, bracts, and bolls during the growth cycle (Fig. S1), indicating that the silencing caused by this vector persisted in the cotton plants. The function annotations of the differentially expressed genes in the reproductive organs of the control plants and the transgenic GhACNAT-silenced plants were divided into several categories (Fig. 5).

Results

Conclusion