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Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase/hydrolase genes in cotton and their role in fiber elongation

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Abstract

Plant cell wall extensibility is mediated, in part, by xyloglucan endotransglycosylases/hydrolases (XTH) that are able to cleave and reattach xyloglucan polymers that make up the hemicelluloses matrix of type I cell walls. In Arabidopsis and other plants, XTHs are encoded by relatively large gene families that are regulated in specific spatial and temporal patterns. In silico screening of a cotton expressed sequence tag (EST) database identified 23 sequences with close sequence similarity to Arabidopsis XTH coding sequences. Analysis of full-length cotton cDNAs derived from these ESTs allow for the identification of three distinct GhXTH cDNAs (denoted GhXTH1, GhXTH2 and GhXTH3) based primarily on their 3′ untranslated sequences. The three GhXTH genes were expressed differently with GhXTH1 predominantly expressed in elongating cotton fibers. The function of GhXTH1 in mediating cotton fiber elongation was analyzed in transgenic cotton plants that express a transgene consisting of the GhXTH1 coding sequence under transcriptional control of the CaMV 35S promoter. Plants that over-expressed GhXTH1 had increased XTH activity and produced mature cotton fibers that were between 15 and 20% longer than wild-type cotton plants under both greenhouse and field growth conditions. Segregation analysis showed that the 35S::GhXTH1 transgene acts as a dominant fiber length allele in transgenic cotton. These results confirm that GhXTH1 is the predominant XTH in elongating fibers and its expression limits cotton fiber elongation.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

AFIS:

Advanced fiber information system

BAC:

Bacterial artificial chromosome

BL:

Brassinolide

BLAST:

Basic local alignment search tool

DPA:

Days post-anthesis

EST:

Expressed sequence tag

HVI:

High volume instrument

NAA:

Naphthalene acetic acid

SFC:

Short fiber content

XEH:

Xyloglucan hydrolase

XET:

Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase

XTH:

Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase/hydrolase

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Acknowledgments

This work is dedicated to the memory of Ms. Jeanie Heinen who worked tirelessly on the development of transgenic cotton plants used in this study. Jeanie succumbed to cancer, after a courageous battle. The authors also thank Dr. Norma Trolinder and Mr. Greg Cartwright for help with cotton transformation procedures, Dr. Phat Dang for technical assistance, and Dr. John Yu for providing the cotton BAC library filters, BAC clones and DNA samples. This work was supported, in part, by a research contract from the Toyobo Research Institute to RDA.

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  1. Koichi Fujisawa

    Present address: Center for Reparative Medicine, Yamaguchi University, 1-1-1 Minami-Kogushi, Ube, Yamaguchi, 755-8505, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    Joohyun Lee & Randy D. Allen

  2. Departments of Biological Sciences and Plant and Soil Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 79409, USA

    Teresa H. Burns, Ginger Light & Yan Sun

  3. Center for Biotechnology and Genomics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 79409, USA

    Mohamed Fokar

  4. Toyobo Research Institute, 1-1 Katata 2-Chome, Ohtsu, Shiga, 520-0292, Japan

    Yoshihisha Kasukabe & Koichi Fujisawa

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama-cho, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-0043, Japan

    Yoshihiko Maekawa

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  1. Joohyun Lee
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Lee, J., Burns, T.H., Light, G. et al. Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase/hydrolase genes in cotton and their role in fiber elongation. Planta 232, 1191–1205 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-010-1246-2

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