The GhREV transcription factor regulate the development of shoot apical meristem in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)

Doudou Yang,Tian Xiaoli,An Jing,Li Zhaohu,Eneji A Egrinya,Li Fangjun

doi:10.1186/s42397-020-0045-y

Doudou Yang, Tian Xiaoli + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s42397-020-0045-y

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Abstract

BackgroundManual topping is a routine agronomic practice for balancing the vegetative and reproductive growth of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in China, but its cost-effectiveness has decreased over time. Therefore, there is an urgent need to replace manual topping with new approaches, such as biological topping. In this study, we examined the function of GhREV transcription factors (a class III homeodomain-leucine zipper family, HD-ZIP III) in regulating the development of shoot apical meristem (SAM) in cotton with the purpose of providing candidate genes for biological topping of cotton in the future.ResultsWe cloned four orthologous genes of AtREV in cotton, namely GhREV1, GhREV2, GhREV3, and GhREV4. All the GhREVs expressed in roots, stem, leaves, and SAM. Compared with GhREV1 and GhREV3, the expression level of GhREV2 and GhREV4 was higher in the SAM. However, only GhREV2 had transcriptional activity. GhREV2 is localized in the nucleus; and silencing it via virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) produced an abnormal SAM. Two key genes, GhWUSA10 and GhSTM, which involved in regulating the development of plant SAM, showed about 50% reduction in their transcripts in VIGS-GhREV2 plants.ConclusionGhREV2 positively regulates the development of cotton SAM by regulating GhWUSA10 and GhSTM potentially.

Highlights

Manual topping is a routine agronomic practice for balancing the vegetative and reproductive growth of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in China, but its cost-effectiveness has decreased over time
The shoot apical meristem (SAM) can be divided into three zones, the central zone (CZ), the organizing center (OC) and the peripheral zone (PZ)
The full amino acid sequence of the HD-ZIP III family members in Arabidopsis was used as the query for a Basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) analysis against the G. hirsutum National Biological Information (NBI) protein database

Summary

Introduction

Manual topping is a routine agronomic practice for balancing the vegetative and reproductive growth of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in China, but its cost-effectiveness has decreased over time. We examined the function of GhREV transcription factors (a class III homeodomain-leucine zipper family, HD-ZIP III) in regulating the development of shoot apical meristem (SAM) in cotton with the purpose of providing candidate genes for biological topping of cotton in the future. The HD-ZIP III family of Arabidopsis consists of five members, including REVOLUTA (REV), PHABULOSA (PHB), PHAVOLUTA (PHV), CORONA (CNA) and ATHB8 (Baima et al 1995; Green et al 2005) All of these HD-ZIP III proteins possess the HDZIP domain containing a homeodomain (a leucine zipper domain acting on DNA binding and protein dimerization), a steroidogenic acute regulatory protein lipid transfer domain (START), and a MEKHLA domain (Ponting and Aravind 1999; Mukherjee and Bürglin (2020) 3:4

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