Regeneration and identification of interspecific asymmetric somatic hybrids obtained by donor-recipient fusion in cotton

Asymmetric hybrids between Gossypium hirsutum （YZ-1） and G. davidsonii were obtained by donor-recipient fusion. YZ-1 was considered the recipient and was pretreated with iodoacetamide （IOA）, while G. davidsonii was considered the donor and was irradiated with ultraviolet （UV） before fusion. YZ-1 protoplasts stopped growth when treated with 0.5 mmol/L IOA for 20 min, and G. davidsonii protoplasts stopped growth when irradiated with 38.7 J/cm2 UV for 30 s. Asymmetric somatic hybrids were obtained by electrofusion between the separately treated protoplasts of the 2 species. The regenerated plants were identified by morphological, cytological, and molecular analysis. Most regenerated plants derived from fused protoplasts displayed new morphology; some were intermediate between the two parents and a few displayed recipient-like morphology. Chromosome numbers in these somatic hybrids mostly ranged from 40 to 73. The hybridity was confirmed by random amplified polymorphic DNA and simple sequence repeat analysis. Organelle DNA inheritance of the YZ-1 and G. davidsonii somatic hybrid was investigated by cleaved amplified polymorphism sequence and chloroplast simple sequence repeat analysis, which indicated that recombination and rearrangements might have occurred in some regions of mitochondrial and chloroplastic DNA. This is the first report of completely asymmetric hybrid production via donor–recipient fusion between G. hirsutum and G. davidsonii, which is a novel case in hybrid production following the symmetric fusion and asymmetric fusion based on UV irradiation in cotton.     

Suitable internal control genes for qRT-PCR normalization in cotton fiber development and somatic embryogenesis

The mechanisms of cotton fiber development and somatic embryogenesis have been explored sys-tematically with microarray and suppression subtractive hybridization. Real-time RT-PCR provides the simultaneous measurement of gene expression in many different samples,with which the data from microarray or others can be confirmed in detail. To achieve accurate and reliable gene expression re-sults,normalization of real-time PCR data against one or several internal control genes is required,which should not fluctuate in different tissues during various stages of development. We assessed the gene expression of 7 frequently used housekeeping genes,including 18S rRNA,Histone3,UBQ7,Actin,Cyclophilin,Gbpolyubiquitin-1 and Gbpolyubiquitin-2,in a diverse set of 21 cotton samples. For fiber developmental series the expression of all housekeeping genes had the same down tendency after 17 DPA. But the expression of the AGP gene(arabinogalactan protein) that has high expression level at the later fiber development stage was up-regulated from 15 to 27 DPA. So the relative absolute quanti-fication should be an efficient and convenient method for the fiber developmental series. The expres-sion of nonfiber tissues series varied not so much against the fiber developmental series. And three best control genes Histone3,UBQ7 and Gbpolyubiquitin-1 have to be used in a combinated way to get better normalization.     

Analysis of genes differentially expressed during initial cellular dedifferentiation in cotton

The early phase of phytohormone induction is a vital stage of somatic embryogenesis. This phase includes a key process for acquiring cellular totipotency through cellular dedifferentiation. To unravel the molecular mechanism of cellular dedifferentiation in cotton, we constructed a cDNA library using the suppression subtractive hybridization method. A total of 286 differential cDNA clones were sequenced and identified. Among these clones, 112 unique ESTs were significantly up-regulated during the early phase of phytohormone induction, and 40.2% of the ESTs were first identified. GST was highly ex- pressed from 6 to 24 h after induction with phytohormone treatment. PRPs were predominantly ex- pressed and exhibited distinct expression patterns in different treatments, suggesting that they are closely related to cellular dedifferentiation in cotton. Putative GhSAMS, GhSAMDC, GhSAHH and GhAC03 involvement in SAM metabolism was identified in this library. The analysis of qRT-PCR showed that two remarkable increased expressions of the four SAM-related genes happened during the early phase of phytohormone induction, and that a highly positive correlation existed between GhSAMS and GhSAHHo The highest expression level of GhSAMS might be associated with its reentry into the cell cycle. The histological observations further showed that some cells accomplished cellular dedifferentiation and division within 72 h in 2,4-D treatment, and that cellular dedifferentiation might be regulated through two alterations in SAM-dependent transmethylation activity in cotton. In addition, the expression patterns of differential genes in different treatments disclosed the complicated interaction between 2, 4-D and kinetin.     

Studies of new EST-SSRs derived from Gossypium barbadense

Existing cotton EST-SSR markers are mostly derived from Gossypium arboreum and Gossypium hir-sutum, but EST-SSR markers from Gossypium barbadense are scarce. One hundred and nineteen EST-SSRs were developed based on 98 unique ESTs from a cDNA library constructed in our laboratory using developing fibers from G. barbadense cv. Pima3-79. Among the SSRs, trinucleotide AAG appeared at a high frequency of 11.76%. 36 accessions (consisting of 13 diploids of the A genome, 11 diploids of the D genome and 12 allotetraploids of the AD genome) were employed to test new EST-SSRs. 76 EST-SSRs were successfully amplified, and 313 polymorphic fragments were yielded, with an average of 4.11 fragments per primer pair. The PIC ranged from 0.17 to 0.95 with an average of 0.53. Based on Jaccard’s genetic similarity coefficient, these 36 accessions were clustered into three groups. 21 EST-SSRs exhibited polymorphisms in BC1 population ((Emian22 × Pima3-79) × Emian22), 24 polymor- phic loci were generated, while 22 of the 24 polymorphic loci were integrated with our interspecific BC1 backbone genetic linkage map, and anchored in 12 chromosomes. This study effectively proved that EST-SSRs from G. barbadense are valuable for genetic diversity analysis and genetic mapping.