Transformation and molecular identification of maize phytochrome <italic>A1</italic> gene (<italic>ZmPHYA1</italic>) in cotton

Abstract

<p indent=0mm>In order to evaluate the potential value of maize <italic>phytochrome A1</italic> gene (<italic>ZmPHYA1</italic>) in the improvement of cotton germplasm resources, we transferred it into upland cotton (<italic>Gossypium hirsutum </italic>L.) R15 <italic>via</italic> <italic>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</italic>-mediated transformation with glufosinate-resistance gene as selection marker. The regenerated cotton plants were obtained through callus induction, antibiotic resistance screening and differentiation induction. After screening the regenerated plants by the herbicide glufosinate ammonium in the field, PCR detection confirmed that both the target bands, including <sc>256 bp</sc> of the glufosinate gene and <sc>217 bp</sc> band of <italic>ZmPHYA1</italic> gene, were detected in the homozygous transgenic plants. In addition, the exogenous ZmPHYA1 protein of about 170 kD was also checked by immuno-blot in three transgenic cotton lines. The results showed that the specific proteins could be detected in different tissues, including leaves, flowers and stems in the transgenic Line 9. The plant height of transgenic Line 9, Line 14, Line 41 were significantly shorter than that of the wild type, while the differences of other yield-related agronomic traits were not observed between the transgenic lines and the wild type. In this study, new cotton germplasms with glufosinate resistance and <italic>ZmPHYA1</italic> gene were successfully obtained, which provided a material source for further utilization of phytochrome gene to innovate germplasm resources.