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Expression of the Thellungiella halophila vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase gene (TsVP) in cotton improves salinity tolerance and increases seed cotton yield in a saline field

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Abstract

The emergence and survival of cotton seedlings is crucial for cotton cultivation in saline fields. Limited seed cotton yield in saline fields is also a matter of concern for farmers. The expression of TsVP, a Thellungiella halophila gene encoding a vacuolar proton pumping pyrophosphatase, has been shown to improve the salinity tolerance of transgenic cotton under greenhouse conditions. However, the potential for TsVP to improve the seed cotton yield in saline fields has yet to be evaluated. In this study, the time of emergence, emergence rate, survival rate, carbon assimilation capacity during bud stage, seed cotton yield, and cotton fibre quality were determined in saline field trials using TsVP-overexpressing transgenic cotton and wild-type cotton plants. In a saline field, TsVP-overexpressing transgenic cotton emerged two days earlier than wild-type plants, and displayed greater emergence rate and survival rate. The seed cotton yield of TsVP-overexpressing transgenic cotton plants increased by an average of 14.81 % compared with that of wild-type plants, and cotton fibre quality also improved. In greenhouse conditions, TsVP-overexpressing plants also required a shorter time for 50 % emergence than wild-type plants when the NaCl concentration was greater than 100 mM. This research indicates that TsVP has the potential to improve seed cotton yield in saline fields.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Shandong Cotton Research Center for assistance with the HVI SPECTRUM fibre tester. We thank Wu Gao for harvesting seed cotton in the field trial experiments. We also thank Bioedit (Specialized English Editing, Writing and Publisher Services in the Life Sciences) for assistance in language editing. This project was supported by Genetically Modified Organisms Breeding Major Projects (NOs. 2014ZX0800504B-003 and 2014ZX08005-004) and a major projects of the Agricultural Seed Project of Shandong Province (Germplasm innovation for the provision of suitable apheresis and better quality, more resistant to drought and more resistant to salinity cotton).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Key Laboratory of Plant Cell Engineering and Germ plasm Innovation, Ministry of Education School of Life Science, Shandong University, 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, China

      Kewei Zhang, Jiuling Song, Tingting Yin, Changbin Liu, Kunpeng Li & Juren Zhang

    2. Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, 455000, Henan Province, China

      Xiugui Chen

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    1. Kewei Zhang
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    2. Jiuling Song
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    Correspondence to Kewei Zhang.

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    Kewei Zhang and Jiuling Song have contributed equally to this work.

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    Zhang, K., Song, J., Chen, X. et al. Expression of the Thellungiella halophila vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase gene (TsVP) in cotton improves salinity tolerance and increases seed cotton yield in a saline field. Euphytica 211, 231–244 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-016-1733-z

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