Transcriptome and QTL analyses reveal candidate genes for fiber quality in Upland cotton

摘要

cqvip:With increasing demand for high-quality cotton,it is desirable to identify genes involved in fiber development for molecular improvement of cotton.In this study,780 differentially expressed genes(DEGs)were identified in developing fibers at 10 days post-anthesis(DPA)in Gossypium hirsutum acc.DH962 and G.hirsutum cv.Jimian 5 using RNA-seq.Of 15 stable QTL for fiber quality identified in the same two parents in previous studies,4,3,6,1,and 1 QTL were associated with fiber length(FL),fiber strength(FS),micronaire(MIC),fiber elongation(FE)and fiber length uniformity ratio(FU),respectively.Integration of DEGs and QTL allowed the identification of 31 genes in 9 QTL regions,of which 25 were highly expressed in fibers based on the transcriptome datasets and 9 were preferentially expressed in different stages of fiber development.Gh_A01G0453(GhDTX19),Gh_D07G1581 and Gh_D04G0942 were expressed specifically in 5 and 10 DPA fibers,with Gh_D04G0942 showing low expression in other tissues except pistil.Gh_D07G1799(GhGAUT9),Gh_D11G0326(GhVPS29),Gh_D11G0333(GhTCP14),and Gh_D11G0334(GhNRP2)were preferentially expressed in 5 or 10 DPA fibers;Gh_A01G0397(GhABCG10)and Gh_D07G1744 were expressed specifically in 20 and 25 DPA fibers.These results suggest candidate genes for molecular improvement of cotton fiber quality.