Co-expression of multi-gene in cotton promotes the aggregation of multi-resistance and yield traits

Abstract

Given the diminishing availability of cultivable lands and environmental degration, it has become imperative to develop cotton varieties that possess resistance against diverse abiotic and biotic stresses, and improved yields. However, conventional breeding techniques such as crossbreeding has proven to be inefficient and time-consuming for generating novel varieties. Transgenic breeding technology offers advantages such as shortened breeding cycle, overcoming reproductive isolation, and precise integration of single or multiple genes into host plants. In this study, we incorporated six genes including the apoptosis inhibitors p35 and IAP, high yield related gene Bn-cs RRM2, drought resistance gene HDG11, glyphosate resistance gene EPSPS, and insect resistance gene Cry1AC into the pBI121 vector, which was then transformed into cotton plants via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The overexpression of these genes significantly enhanced plant tolerance to Verticillium wilt, drought, glyphosate, and cotton bollworm, along with high yields in field conditions. Our results suggested that the integration of multiple genes in cotton is a potential strategy for breeding cotton varieties with broad resistance traits.