The 30th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR 2019)

755 / 2019-05-23 09:41:43

Functional analysis of the GbDWARF14 gene associated with branching development in cotton

GbD14, Cotton, Branch, Hormone, Strigolactone, Gene function

Plenary track > Hormones

Functional analysis of the GbDWARF14 gene associated with branching development in cotton

Ping Wang, Sai Zhang, Chaowei Cai, Xiao Zhang and Yingfan Cai


State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, China


Plant architecture, including branching pattern, is an important agronomic trait of cotton crops. In some species such as Arabidopsis, DWARF14 is an unconventional receptor that plays an important role in the strigolactones (SLs) signaling pathway involving branch development. However, studies on SL receptors in cotton are still lacking. Here, we cloned and analysed the structure of the GbD14 gene in Gossypium barbadense and found that it contains the domains necessary for a SL receptor. The GbD14 protein was determined via GFP to localize to the cytoplasm and nucleus. GbD14 was expressed mainly in the axillary buds of normal-branching cotton, while it was expressed the most in the leaves of nulliplex-branch cotton. In cotton, the GbD14 gene can be induced by SL and other plant hormones, such as indoleacetic acid, abscisic acid, and jasmonic acid. Compared with wild-type Arabidopsis, GbD14-overexpressing Arabidopsis responded more rapidly to SL signals. Moreover, we also found that GbD14 can rescue the multi-branched phenotype of Arabidopsis Atd14 mutants. Our results indicate that the function of GbD14 is similar to that of AtD14, and GbD14 may be a receptor for SL in cotton and involved in regulating branch development.