ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Breeding
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1645239
A single nucleotide mutation of G301A in the GaIAA14 confers leaf curling in Gossypium arboreum
Provisionally accepted
- 1National Nanfan Research Institute (Sanya), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sanya, China
- 2State Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, China
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Cotton is a crucial fiber and oil crop, playing a significant role in the textile and food industries. Its yield heavily relies on photosynthesis, a process that primarily occurs in the leaves. Consequently, leaf morphology stands as a vital agronomic trait in cotton breeding. However, research on the molecular mechanisms underlying cotton leaf morphogenesis remains relatively limited. Here, we identified a curly leaf mutant (CU) in Gossypium arboreum by Ethyl methylsulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis. The genetic analysis revealed that the curly leaf trait in this mutant is a semi-dominant characteristic controlled by a single gene. The map-based cloning of the CU locus showed a single nucleotide mutation from G to A at the 301st positions in AUX/IAA14 protein (GaIAA14), which resulted in an amino acid substitution from valine (V) to isoleucine (I). After silencing GaIAA14 through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) technology in CU mutant, the leaves exhibited a flattened phenotype, indicating that GaIAA14 is a key gene regulating leaf curling in cotton. Comparative transcriptomic RNA-Seq analysis revealed significant changes in the expression levels of most auxin-related genes, suggesting that the mutation disrupts auxin signaling transduction. These findings establish a foundation for further functional studies of this gene and provide research strategies for leaf morphology improvement.
Keywords: Gossypium arboreum, Cu, GaIAA14, G301A, Curly leaf
Received: 11 Jun 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Miao, Zhang, Xu, Zhang, Hao, Song and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Guoli Song, National Nanfan Research Institute (Sanya), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sanya, China
Ji Liu, National Nanfan Research Institute (Sanya), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sanya, China
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