Cotton Verticillium wilt is a serious soil-borne disease that leads to significant losses in fiber yield and quality worldwide. Currently, the most effective way to increase Verticillium wilt resistance is to develop new resistant cotton varieties. Lines 5026 and 60182 are two Verticillium wilt-resistant upland cotton accessions. We previously identified a total of 25 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) related to Verticillium wilt resistance from 5026 and 60182 by assembling segregating populations from hybridization with susceptible parents. In the current study, using 13 microsatellite markers flanking QTLs related to Verticillium wilt resistance, we developed 155 cotton inbred lines by pyramiding different QTLs related to Verticillium wilt resistance from a filial generation produced by crossing 5026 and 60182. By examining each allele’s effect and performing multiple comparison analysis, we detected four elite QTLs/alleles (q-5/NAU905-2, q-6/NAU2754-2, q-8/NAU3053-1 and q-13/NAU6598-1) significant for Verticillium wilt resistance, pyramiding these elite alleles increased the disease resistance of inbred lines. Furthermore, we selected 34 elite inbred lines, including five lines simultaneously performing elite fiber quality, high yield and resistance to V. dahliae, 14 lines with elite fiber quality and disease resistance, three lines with high yield and disease resistance, and 12 lines with resistance to V. dahliae. No correlation between Verticillium wilt resistance and fiber quality traits/yield and its components was detected in the 155 developed inbred lines. Our results provide candidate markers for disease resistance for use in marker-assisted breeding (MAS), as well as elite germplasms for improving important agronomic traits via modern cotton breeding.

The cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily is the largest enzymatic protein family in plants, and it also widely exists in mammals, fungi, bacteria, insects and so on. Members of this superfamily are involved in multiple metabolic pathways with distinct and complex functions, playing important roles in a vast array of reactions. As a result, numerous secondary metabolites are synthesized that function as growth and developmental signals or protect plants from various biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we summarize the characterization of CYPs, as well as their phylogenetic classification. We also focus on recent advances in elucidating the roles of CYPs in mediating plant growth and development as well as biotic and abiotic stresses responses, providing insights into their potential utilization in plant breeding.

Allene oxide cyclase (AOC) is one of the most important enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of the plant hormone jasmonic acid (JA). AOC catalyzes the conversion of allene oxide into 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA), a precursor of JA. Using 28K cotton genome array hybridization, an expressed sequence tag (EST; GenBank accession no. ES792958) was investigated that exhibited significant expression differences between lintless-fuzzless XinWX and linted-fuzzless XinFLM isogenic lines during fiber initiation stages. The EST was used to search the Gossypium EST database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) for corresponding cDNA sequences encoding full-length open reading frames (ORFs). Identified ORFs were confirmed using transcriptional and genomic data. As a result, a novel gene encoding AOC in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum AOC; GenBank accession no. KF383427) was cloned and characterized. The 741-bp GhAOC gene comprises three exons and two introns and encodes a polypeptide of 246 amino acids. Two homologous copies were identified in the tetraploid cotton species G. hirsutum acc. TM-1 and G. barbadense cv. Hai7124, and one copy in the diploid cotton species G. herbaceum and G. raimondii. qRT-PCR showed that the GhAOC transcript was abundant in cotton fiber tissues from 8 to 23 days post anthesis (DPA), and the expression profiles were similar in the two cultivated tetraploid cotton species G. hirsutum acc. TM-1 and G. barbadense cv. Hai7124, with a higher level of transcription in the former. One copy of GhAOC in tetraploid cotton was localized to chromosome 24 (Chr. D8) using the subgenome-specific single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker analysis, which co-localized GhAOC to within 10 cM of a fiber strength quantitative trait locus (QTL) reported previously. GhAOC was highly correlated with fiber quality and strength (P=0.014) in an association analysis, suggesting a possible role in cotton fiber development, especially in secondary cell wall thickening.

Fatty acid metabolism is responsible not only for oilseed metabolism but also for plant responses to abiotic stresses. In this study, three novel genes related to fatty acid degradation designated GhACX, Gh4CL, and GhMFP, respectively, were isolated from Gossypium hirsutum acc. TM-1. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that amino acid sequences of GhACX and GhMFP have the highest homology with those from Vitis vinifera, and Gh4CL has a closer genetic relationship with that from Camellia sinensis. Tissue- and organ-specific analysis showed that the three genes expressed widely in all the tested tissues, including ovules and fiber at different developing stages, with expressed preferentially in some organs. Among them, GhACX showed the most abundant transcripts in seeds at 25 d post anthesis (DPA), however, GhMFP and Gh4CL have the strongest expression level in ovules on the day of anthesis. Based on real-time quantitative RT-PCR, the three genes were differentially regulated when induced under wounding, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), cold, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments. The characterization and expression pattern of three novel fatty acid degradation related genes will aid both to understand the roles of fatty acid degradation related genes as precursor in stress stimuli and to elucidate the physiological function in cotton oilseed metabolism.