Glandless seed and glanded plant research in cotton. A review

Abstract

Recently the world has been entangled by insufficient food such as the lack of rice which threatens the safety of world food and affect sustainable development of the world economy, resulting in rising of food price. To address this issue, cotton appears as a possible source of both fiber and food. The research in recent years indeed showed bright prospects for this expectation. However, gossypol stored in the glands of cotton is toxic to nonruminant animals and humans, which wastes large amounts of cottonseed protein that could potentially provide the annual protein requirements for half a billion people. Gossypium species are characterized by their lysigenous glands containing terpenoid aldehydes, important secondary phytoalexins consisting mainly of gossypol, which constitute one of the important plant's defense system against pests and diseases. The best approach to address this issue is to create glandless seed and glanded plant cotton. A breakthrough in this field would realise the fulfilment of making cotton both a fiber and a food crop, which would be a feat of great magnitude for sustainable development of agriculture. Research on the relationship between glands and their secondary inclusions at the molecular level would be one approach for genetic engineering to control the glands and gossypol content. In this article, we review recent progress on glands and gossypol content for diverse gland types in Gossypium species, inheritance of glands and gossypol content, traditional breeding of glandless seeds and glanded plant cotton, the terpenoid aldehyde biosynthesis pathway, molecular cloning of the related genes, the strategy for genetic engineering, and future prospects. cotton / pigment gland / gossypol / inheritance and breeding / gene cloning and genetic engineering

Comparative Transcriptomic Analysis of Developing Cotton Cotyledons and Embryo Axis

“…Cotton is characterised by the presence of gossypol in lysigenous glands of cotton plants, including cotton seeds, which are sesquiterpenes derived from a cytosolic branch of terpenoid metabolism via the mevalonate pathway [50]. Farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) is generated as the linear carbon skeleton of the sesquiterpenes and its cyclisation catalysed by a terpene cyclase enzyme, (+)-δ-cadinene synthase, to form (+)-δ-cadinene is the first committed step in gossypol biosynthesis [51].…”

QTL Mapping Based on Different Genetic Systems for Essential Amino Acid Contents in Cottonseeds in Different Environments

“…Being used as food for human and feed for animals, cottonseeds have been mainly studied for its oil and gossypol contents [6], [22], [23]. Little attention has been paid to its amino acid contents because of high cost involved in measuring these traits.…”

Sequential Fractionation of Cottonseed Meal to Improve Its Wood Adhesive Properties

“…The presence of gossypol in cottonseed is potentially a factor that might influence adhesive performance. Gossypol is a yellow polyphenolic dialdehyde that is stored in plant pigment glands [23,24]. The samples used in this study were from glandless and glanded cotton resulting in significantly different levels of gossypol in the associated meals.…”