Abstract
Brown cotton fiber (BCF) is a unique raw material of naturally colored cotton (NCC). But characteristics of the regulatory gene network and metabolic components related to the proanthocyanidins biosynthesis pathway at various stages of its fiber development remain unclear. Here, the dynamic changes in proanthocyanidins biosynthesis components and transcripts in the BCF variety “Zong 1-61” and its white near-isogenic lines (NILs) “RT” were characterized at five fiber developmental stages (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 days post-anthesis; DPA). Enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), comparison of metabolome differences, and pathway enrichment analysis of a weighted gene correlation network analysis together revealed the dominant gene expression of flavonoid biosynthesis (FB), phenylpropanoid metabolisms, and some carbohydrate metabolisms at 15 or 20 DPA than white cotton. Eventually, 63 genes were identified from five modules putatively related to FB. Three R2R3-MYB and two bHLH transcription factors were predicted as the core genes. Further, GhANS, GhANR1, and GhUFGT2 were preliminarily regulated by GhMYB46, GhMYB6, and GhMYB3, respectively, according to yeast one-hybrid assays in vitro. Our findings provide an important transcriptional regulatory network of proanthocyanidins biosynthesis pathway and dynamic flavonoid metabolism profiles.
Highlights
Colored cotton (NCC) is a variety of cotton with natural pigmentation in its fiber
The results showed that 15 and 20 DPAs corresponded to the peak period for the dominant expression of genes related to the flavonoid biosynthesis (FB) pathway during fiber development of brown cotton
10,891 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to the pigmentation of the brown cotton genotypes were detected
Summary
Colored cotton (NCC) is a variety of cotton with natural pigmentation in its fiber. Because NCC fiber has a natural color, it does not undergo chemical bleaching and dyeing during textile processing. This advantage reduces environmental pollution and the harm to human health, and decreases. The quality of its colored cotton is not as good as that of white cotton. Breeders have developed some commercial color cotton genotypes with good fiber quality. Due to the lack of NCC genetic resources, traditional breeding programs are reluctant to change the color type (Sun et al, 2021). Genetic engineering or gene-editing technology is considered a promising tool to produce new types of fiber color
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