Summary MYB transcription factors have been implicated in regulation of the development of ovule epidermal cells into the elongated seed fibres of cotton. An R2R3 MYB, GhMYB25-like, identified from its reduced expression in a fibreless mutant of cotton (Xu142 fl), is here shown to play a key role in the very early stages of fibre cell differentiation. A GhMYB25-like promoter-GUS construct was expressed predominantly in the epidermal layers of cotton ovules before anthesis (-3 days post-anthesis, dpa), increasing in expression in 0-dpa ovules, primarily in those epidermal cells expanding into fibres, and then in elongating fibres at +3 dpa, declining thereafter. This was consistent with GhMYB25-like transcript abundance during fibre development. RNA interference suppression of GhMYB25-like resulted in cotton plants with fibreless seeds, but normal trichomes elsewhere, phenocopying the Xu142 fl mutant. Like Xu142 fl these plants had reduced expression of the fibre-expressed MYBs, GhMYB25 and GhMYB109, indicating that GhMYB25-like is upstream from those MYBs. This hierarchy was supported by the absence of any change in transcript level of GhMYB25-like in GhMYB25- and GhMYB109-silenced transgenic lines. Transgenic cotton with an additional copy of the native gene had elevated expression of GhMYB25-like in ovules, but no obvious increase in fibre initials, suggesting that there may be other factors that interact with GhMYB25-like to differentiate epidermal cells into fibre cells. © 2011 The Authors. The Plant Journal © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
CITATION STYLE
Walford, S. A., Wu, Y., Llewellyn, D. J., & Dennis, E. S. (2011). GhMYB25-like: A key factor in early cotton fibre development. Plant Journal, 65(5), 785–797. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-313X.2010.04464.x
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