Abstract
Salinity is a critical abiotic factor that significantly reduces agricultural production. Cotton is an important fiber crop and a pioneer on saline soil, hence genetic architecture that underpins salt tolerance should be thoroughly investigated. The Raf-like kinase B-subfamily (RAF) genes were discovered to regulate the salt stress response in cotton plants. However, understanding the RAFs in cotton, such as Enhanced Disease Resistance 1 and Constitutive Triple Response 1 kinase, remains a mystery. This study obtained 29, 28, 56, and 54 RAF genes from G. arboreum, G. raimondii, G. hirsutum, and G. barbadense, respectively. The RAF gene family described allopolyploidy and hybridization events in allotetraploid cotton evolutionary connections. Ka/Ks analysis advocates that cotton evolution was subjected to an intense purifying selection of the RAF gene family. Interestingly, integrated analysis of synteny and gene collinearity suggested dispersed and segmental duplication events involved in the extension of RAFs in cotton. Transcriptome studies, functional validation, and virus-induced gene silencing on salt treatments revealed that GhRAF42 is engaged in salt tolerance in upland cotton. This research might lead to a better understanding of the role of RAFs in plants and the identification of suitable candidate salt-tolerant genes for cotton breeding.
Highlights
Cotton is a major crop around the globe that might be used as a pioneer crop for salinealkali soil reclamation, resulting in a more suitable cropland for plant growth [1]
The expression of GhRAF42 was highest in salt-tolerant cotton lines. These findings suggested that GhRAF may be a significant transcription factor in response to upland cotton genotypes to salt tolerance
Raf-like kinases belong to the family MAPK kinase kinase (MAPKKK), which is phosphorylated by serRaf-like kinases belong the belong family to MAPKKK, phosphorylated by serine/threonine
Summary
Cotton is a major crop around the globe that might be used as a pioneer crop for salinealkali soil reclamation, resulting in a more suitable cropland for plant growth [1]. Soil salinity is a key factor that threatens crop productivity, the environment, and agricultural sustainability [2,3]. Salinity has afflicted almost one billion hectares of dry and semi-arid land worldwide [4]. By 2050, salt salinity is expected to impact more than half of the arable land [6]. Excessive salt buildup in soil creates a severe menace to agricultural productivity [7,8]. Cotton is a relatively resistant plant to salt stress [9,10]. The exact mechanism behind the salt tolerance of cotton is still unknown
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