Abstract
Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is one of the most important cash crops worldwide. Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is an excellent breeding system for exploitation of heterosis, which has great potential to increase crop yields. To understand the molecular mechanism of CMS in cotton, we compared transcriptome, cytomorphological, physiological and bioinformatics data between the CMS line C2P5A and its maintainer line C2P5B. By using high-throughput sequencing technology, 178,166 transcripts were assembled and 2013 differentially expression genes (DEGs) were identified at three different stages of C2P5A anther development. In this study, we identified DEGs associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS), peroxisomes, aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH), cytochrome oxidase subunit VI, and cytochrome P450, and DEGs associated with tapetum development, Jojoba acyl-CoA reductase-related male sterility protein, basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) and MYB transcription factors. The abnormal expression of one of these genes may be responsible for the CMS C2P5A line. In gene ontology (GO) annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment, DEGs were mainly related to carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, transport and catabolism, and signal transduction. Carbohydrate metabolism provides energy for anther development, starch and sucrose metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis and metabolism and ascorbate and aldarate metabolism. These results showed that numerous genes and multiple complex metabolic pathways regulate cotton anther development. Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) indicated that three modules, ‘turquoise,’ ‘blue,’ and ‘green,’ were specific for the CMS C2P5A line. The ‘turquoise’ and ‘blue’ modules were mainly related to carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism, peroxisomes, pyruvate metabolism as well as fatty acid degradation. The ‘green’ module was mainly related to energy metabolism, carbon metabolism, translation, and lipid metabolism. RNA-sequencing and WGCNA polymerization modules were screened for key genes and pathways related to CMS in cotton. This study presents a new perspective for further research into the metabolic pathways of pollen abortion in the CMS C2P5A line and also provides a theoretical basis for its breeding and production.
Highlights
Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is one of the most important cash crops in the world and a renewable source of natural fiber [1]
Molecular function, binding, and catalytic activity were related to the highest differentially expression genes (DEGs) number, followed by transporter activity. These results suggest that anther development in Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) may be associated with different genes
We identified seven genes associated with fertility at three different stages of anther development, choline/ethanolamine kinase (Ghir_A10G019450.1), aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH) involved in the glyoxylate cycle (Ghir_A12G015390.1), cytochrome c oxidase subunit VI (Ghir_D04G009060.1), cytochrome P450 (Ghir_A07G012860.1), ACS1(Ghir_A07G013740.1), and two transcription factors involved in tapetal development (Ghir_D08G011870.1, Ghir_A03G007860.1) (Table 2)
Summary
Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is one of the most important cash crops in the world and a renewable source of natural fiber [1]. Upland cotton accounts for more than 90% of commercial cotton production worldwide because of its excellent characteristics such as high fiber yields, strong adaptability, high resilience, and good quality [2,3,4]. Heterosis is the most effective way of high yield breeding. Heterosis systems have been used to increase yields in several crop species such as wheat [7,8], rice [9], cereals [7,10], soybeans [11], barley [7,12], cotton [13], and rapeseed [14]
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