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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Water Management and Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #395776
Research Project: Improving Water Management for Arid Irrigated Agroecosystems

Location: Water Management and Conservation Research

Title: Regulation of a single inositol 1-phosphate synthase homeologue by HSFA6B contributes to fibre yield maintenance under drought conditions in upland cotton

Author
item YU, LI'ANG - Cornell University
item NELSON DITTRICH, ANNA - Cornell University
item MELANDRI, GIOVANNI - University Of Arizona
item SKIRYCZ, ALEKSANDRA - Cornell University
item Thorp, Kelly
item Hinze, Lori
item NELSON, ANDREW - Cornell University
item PAULI, DUKE - University Of Arizona

Submitted to: Plant Biotechnology Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/21/2024
Publication Date: 6/21/2024
Citation: Yu, L., Nelson Dittrich, A.C., Melandri, G., Skirycz, A., Thorp, K.R., Hinze, L.L., Nelson, A.D., Pauli, D. 2024. Regulation of a single inositol 1-phosphate synthase homeologue by HSFA6B contributes to fibre yield maintenance under drought conditions in upland cotton. Plant Biotechnology Journal. 22(10):2756-2772. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.14402.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.14402

Interpretive Summary: Understanding plant responses to drought stress can be improved by linking genes with agronomic traits expressed under water limitation. This study established linked between the genes of 22 upland cotton lines and several plant traits, including fiber quality traits, vegetation indices, and metabolite data. Results demonstrated distinct plant regulatory mechanisms that connected drought stress with production-related responses. The results will benefit plant scientists and breeders working on improving plant responses to drought stress, particularly in the cotton industry.

Technical Abstract: Drought stress substantially impacts crop physiology resulting in alteration of growth and productivity. Understanding the genetic and molecular crosstalk between stress responses and agronomically important traits such as fibre yield is particularly complicated in the allopolyploid species, upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), due to reduced sequence variability between A and D subgenomes. To better understand how drought stress impacts yield, the transcriptomes of 22 genetically and phenotypically diverse upland cotton accessions grown under well-watered and water-limited conditions in the Arizona low desert were sequenced. Gene co-expression analyses were performed, uncovering a group of stress response genes, in particular transcription factors GhDREB2A-A and GhHSFA6B-D, associated with improved yield under water-limited conditions in an ABA-independent manner. DNA affinity purification sequencing (DAP-seq), as well as public cistrome data from Arabidopsis, were used to identify targets of these two TFs. Among these targets were two lint yield-associated genes previously identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS)-based approaches, GhABP-D and GhIPS1-A. Biochemical and phylogenetic approaches were used to determine that GhIPS1-A is positively regulated by GhHSFA6B-D, and that this regulatory mechanism is specific to Gossypium spp. containing the A (old world) genome. Finally, an SNP was identified within the GhHSFA6B-D binding site in GhIPS1-A that is positively associated with yield under water-limiting conditions. These data lay out a regulatory connection between abiotic stress and fibre yield in cotton that appears conserved in other systems such as Arabidopsis.