Xinyi Chang
Huazhong Agricultural University
Xinyi Chang is a Graduate student at the National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University where his research interests include mechanism of stomatal development and efficient water use in cotton.
Title of presentation
Evolution and subfunctionalization of CIPK6 homologous genes in regulating cotton drought resistance
Authors
Linjie Xia1,#, Xinyi Chang1,#, Keith Lindsey3, Xianlong Zhang1, 2, Xiyan Yang1, 2*
1 National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, P. R. China.
2 Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Wuhan, China.
3 Department of Biosciences, Durham University, Durham, UK
Abstract
GhCIPK6D1 and GhCIPK6D3 were significantly up-regulated by drought stress. Functional studies revealed that GhCIPK6D1 negatively regulates cotton drought resistance, while GhCIPK6D3 is a positive regulator, indicating clear functional differentiation through the course of gene family evolution.
Genetic and biochemistry evidence confirmed the synergistic negative/positive regulation of cotton drought resistance through GhCBL1A1-GhCIPK6D1 and GhCBL2A1-GhCIPK6D3, where GhCBL1A1 and GhCBL2A1 are calcineurin B-like proteins, which recruited GhCIPK6D1 or GhCIPK6D3 to cell membrane or tonoplast, to further regulate stomatal movement by control the entry and exit of K+ in guard cells.
These results reveal regulatory innovation following duplication of the GhCIPK6 genes in upland cotton after polyploidy to regulate drought stress, which provides strong evidence supporting the hypothesis that whole-genome duplication leads to adaptability of plants at the gene level, and also provides a new perspective for exploring in the future the new functionalization and subfunctionalization that is the consequence of plant polyploidy.