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Title: Cottonseed protein, oil, and mineral status in near-isogenic cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) lines expressing fuzzy/linted and fuzzless/linted seed phenotypes

Author
item Bellaloui, Nacer
item Stetina, Salliana - Sally
item Turley, Rickie

Submitted to: Frontiers in Plant Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/20/2015
Publication Date: 3/19/2015
Citation: Bellaloui, N., Stetina, S.R., Turley, R.B. 2015. Cottonseed protein, oil, and mineral status in near-isogenic cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) lines expressing fuzzy/linted and fuzzless/linted seed phenotypes. Frontiers in Plant Science. 6:137.

Interpretive Summary: Cotton is an important crop in the world and is a major source of oil for human consumption and cotton meal for livestock. Protein, oil, and minerals in cottonseed are important components of seed quality. We investigated the effects of the seed fuzz trait on seed protein, oil, nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, and minerals in normal and fuzzless cotton lines in a 2-year experiment under field conditions. Results showed that seed protein was higher in normal lines, but seed oil was higher in fuzzless lines. The concentrations of seed calcium and carbon were higher in all fuzzless lines. Generally, nitrogen, sulfur, and minerals were higher in leaves of normal lines, suggesting the translocation of minerals from leaves to seeds was limited. This information is beneficial to breeders to consider fuzzless cottonseed for potential protein and oil use and select for higher oil or higher protein content, and to physiologists to further understand the mobility of minerals to increase the quality of cottonseed nutrition for food and feed.

Technical Abstract: Cotton is an important crop in the world and is a major source of oil for human consumption and cotton meal for livestock. Cottonseed composition constituents (protein, oil, and minerals) determine the quality of seeds. Therefore, maintaining optimum levels of cottonseed constituents is critical. Physiological and genetic mechanisms controlling the levels of these constituents in cottonseed are still largely unknown. The use of near-isogenic lines (NILs) where lines have very similar genetic background and differ only in one trait, in our case fuzz fiber, is a novel approach to avoid the confounding effects of the genotype and to study the physiological and genetic influences of that trait. Therefore, the objective of this research was to investigate the seed fuzz phenotype (trait) effects on seed protein, oil, N, C, S, and minerals in five sets of near-isogenic mutant cotton lines for seed fuzz in a two-year field experiment. The isolines/genotypes in each set differ for the seed fuzz trait (fuzzless/linted seed line, N lines, and fuzzy/linted seed line, F lines). The five sets were: Sure-Grow (SG) 747 F vs. SG 747 N; MD51ne F vs. MD51ne N; Stoneville (STV) 7Agl F vs. STV 7Agl N; DP 5690 F vs. DP 5690 N; and DES 119 F vs. DES 119 N. Genotype SA 243 (“Ballard naked seed”, PI 528610) was the fuzzless parent and the donor of the dominant fuzzless seed allele, N1N1 for each line, and DP 444 BG/RR was used as commercial check. Results showed that seed protein was higher in the fuzzy genotype in all sets, but seed oil was higher in fuzzless genotype in all sets. The concentrations of seed Ca and C were higher in all fuzzless genotypes, but N, S, B, Fe, and Zn were higher in most of the fuzzy genotypes. Minerals K, Mg, and Mn were inconsistent. Generally, minerals were higher in leaves of F lines, suggesting the translocation of minerals from leaves to seeds was limited. The research demonstrated that fiber development could be involved in cottonseed composition. This may be due to the involvement of fiber development in carbon and nitrogen metabolism, and the mobility of nutrients from leaves (source) to seed (sink). This information is beneficial to breeders to consider fuzzless cottonseed for potential use and select for higher oil or higher protein content, and to physiologists to further understand the mobility of minerals within plants.