Thellungiella halophila ST5 improves salt tolerance in cotton

Tahmina Nazish,Huangyang Zhang,Alamin Alfatih,Chengbin Xiang,Shenjie Wu,Ayesha Javaid,Jing Li,Mohsin Ali,Jie Wu,Yonghong Zhu

doi:10.1186/s42397-022-00112-z

Abstract

BackgroundSalinity is a major abiotic stress to global agriculture which hampers crop growth and development, and eventually reduces yield. Transgenic technology is an effective and efficient approach to improve crop salt tolerance but depending on the availability of effective genes. We previously isolated Salt Tolerance5 (ThST5) from the halophyte Thellungiella halophila, an ortholog of Arabidopsis SPT4-2 which encodes a transcription elongation factor. However, SPT4-2-confered salt tolerance has not been evaluated in crops yet. Here we report the evaluation of ThST5-conferred salt tolerance in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.).ResultsThe ThST5 overexpression transgenic cotton plants displayed enhanced tolerance to salt stress during seed germination and seedling stage compared with wild type. Particularly, the transgenic plants showed improved salinity tolerance as well as yield under saline field conditions. Comparative transcriptomic analysis showed that ThST5 improved salt tolerance of transgenic cotton mainly by maintaining ion homeostasis. In addition, ThST5 also orchestrated the expression of genes encoding antioxidants and salt-responsive transcription factors.ConclusionOur results demonstrate that ThST5 is a promising candidate to improve salt tolerance in cotton.

Highlights

Salinity is a major abiotic stress to global agriculture which hampers crop growth and development, and eventually reduces yield
The allotetraploid upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is the most important cultivated species providing more than 90% of the global cotton production (Abdelraheem et al 2019)
We aim to evaluate whether ThST5 improves salt tolerance in cotton by generating transgenic cotton overexpressing ThST5 in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

Summary

Introduction

Salinity is a major abiotic stress to global agriculture which hampers crop growth and development, and eventually reduces yield. Salinity is a critical abiotic stress which restricts the plant growth and its survival and decreases worldwide distribution of plants (Liang et al 2018). A member of Malvaceae family, is the world most important source of fiber and supplies 35% of the world total textile fiber. It is grown in tropical, semi-tropical and other areas of more than 80 countries/regions of the globe (Rojo-Gutiérrez et al 2020). Cotton is moderately tolerant of salt, excessive salinity decreases the seed germination and restricts the growth of seedlings, being a serious menace to cotton growth and productivity (Wang et al 2019).

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion